Datasheet

The Shapes Window

You drag and drop shapes from the stencils in the Shapes window onto a drawing page. The

Shapes window docks by default on the left, as previously shown in Figure 1-4. However, you can

reposition the Shapes window or even individual stencils to suit your needs. For example, you can

dock the Shapes window at the top or the bottom of the drawing area to provide more room for

pages set to landscape orientation.

Here are some methods for configuring the Shapes window:

To add another stencil to the Shapes window, choose File ➪ Shapes, and choose the cate-

gory and then the stencil you want.

To display the shapes for an open stencil in the Shapes window, click the stencil’s title bar.

To resize the Shapes window, drag the vertical divider between the Shapes window and

the drawing window to the left or right.

To change the information displayed in the Shapes window, right-click the Shapes win-

dow title bar and choose one of the options, such as Icons Only, from the shortcut menu.

To change the information in the Shapes window, you can also right-click a stencil title

bar, choose View, and then choose the type of information you want to see.

By default, in the Shapes window you see the title bars for all open stencils, but only the shapes for

the active stencil. To view multiple stencils at the same time, you can

Drag a stencil from the Shapes window and float it on the screen, as shown in Figure 1-5.

Drag a stencil to the top or bottom of the Shapes window to create a second stencil pane,

also shown in Figure 1-5.

The Drawing Explorer

The Drawing Explorer, shown in Figure 1-6, offers a hierarchical view of your drawing. You can

use the Drawing Explorer to find, add, delete, or edit the components of your drawing, including

pages, layers, shapes, masters, styles, and patterns — sometimes, more easily than performing the

same task on the drawing page. For example, you can select and highlight a shape on a drawing by

double-clicking its name in the Drawing Explorer window. To display the Drawing Explorer,

choose View

➪ Drawing Explorer Window.

You can conserve screen real estate by docking and merging view windows. You can

dock other view windows within the Shapes window or merge several windows into

one. To dock a view window, such as Pan & Zoom, drag it into the Shapes window. To merge view

windows, drag one window by its title bar into the center of another window. To switch between

merged windows, select the tab for the view you want.

TIP

NOTE

Understanding Visio Fundamentals

Part I

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