Datasheet

Digitally signing your macros

You’ll probably find that those macros you relied on in previous versions of

Visio no longer work. That’s because most people don’t sign their macros. In

order to use macros successfully in many cases, you must digitally sign the

file that contains them. Since Microsoft is making this particular feature more

robust as it introduces new versions of Office and Windows, it’s probably a

good time to start signing your macros now.

In addition to macros, you’ll find that Vista makes it more difficult to perform

some tasks using Explorer or typing from the command line. For example,

you must have administrative privileges to perform tasks such as deleting a

file. These changes work along with the macro protection to make it less

likely that an errant macro will destroy your data. If your macro performs any

command line tasks, such as deleting a file, it also requires the correct privi-

leges. The bottom line is that no matter how you try to perform some tasks,

Vista won’t let you unless you have the correct rights. Many macros will

simply stop working as currently written.

This book doesn’t discuss how to create or use macros. A book such as

VBA

For Dummies,

5th Edition (published by Wiley) provides complete coverage

of this topic.

Relying on trusted locations

Vista is also quite fussy about where you store your data. Trying to open a

file on a network drive or store data on a network drive will normally meet

with a number of permission requests. Generally, you must have administra-

tive privileges or specific rights on the network drive to use it. In this case,

however, you can get around the problem by setting Visio to use trusted loca-

tions. See the “Saving Drawings” section of Chapter 2 for more details on

using trusted locations.

Jumping Head First into Visio

The best way to get started with Visio is to open a new drawing page, so you

can cruise around the screen and get a feel for what’s there. Then, in Chapter 2,

you create a drawing.

To start Visio, choose Start

➪Programs➪Microsoft Office➪Microsoft Office

Visio 2007. Visio displays the window shown in Figure 1-1.

Part I: Starting with Visio 2007 Basics

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