Visio 2013 gives you a lot of the tools that are available in other Office programs to add colors, styles, themes, and even special effects to your drawings.

In this article, you'll discover how to:

• Use the rulers and grid

• Align shapes

• Position shapes

• Apply themes, variants, and Quick Styles

• Work with fill colors and patterns

• Change line style and color

• Add special effects

Using Rulers and Grids

There is one thing that can make even the most organized chart or diagram look bad.   That one thing is if your shapes are out of alignment, and your drawing looks like a small earthquake came through and bounced around your shapes.

These arrows should all be evenly spaced on the page.   The two top arrows should be aligned, and the two bottom arrows should be aligned.

Use the rulers at the top and left sides of the page to place objects.

You can use the grid to line up your shapes and create equal spacing between shapes.

Aligning Shapes

Visio 2013 gives you the ability to align shapes horizontally or vertically. If you align shapes vertically, you can them shapes to either their left or right edges – or their centers.

To align them horizontally, align them to either the top, middle, or bottom by making the matching selection from the Align dropdown menu.

To further illustrate how align works, we have aligned to the top of the shapes in the snapshot below.

Positioning Shapes

Having even spacing between shapes is also important in drawings. In order to position shapes so they have even spacing between them, first select the shapes to put a bounding box around them.

Hover your mouse over Auto Space to see how the anchor shape stays in place, but the other shapes are moved to that the distance between the edges of the shapes is the same. The anchor shape is the furthermost left shape. It will have a darker border than the rest when the bounding box is around the shapes.

Of course, you can click on Auto Space if you'd like to select it. 

However, you can also choose to distribute the shapes evenly.   If you choose Distribute Horizontally, the two outer shapes are left in place, and the other shapes' spacing is adjusted accordingly. 

Applying Themes, Variants, and Quick Styles

Themes, variants, and Quick Styles are aspects that you can apply to your drawings to add and change color, apply special effects, and further customize your drawings to achieve the look and feel you want. 

• A theme includes the colors, fonts, and effects in your entire drawing.

• A variant is simply a variation of a theme.

• A Quick Style applies to individual shapes whereas themes and variants apply to the entire drawing. 

You can see how the new theme changed the colors.

As you can see, we added a horizontal text box and the text "My Office."

You can see how the font has changed, as well as the colors.

If you want to apply a theme, just click on the theme thumbnail in the ribbon.

We've selected the theme above as our new theme. Now, we're going to apply a variant of the theme.

We're going to choose an effect first. Ion is the effect we've chosen.

Remember, in addition to themes and variants, we can also apply Quick Styles to individual shapes. Let's apply a Quick Style to the door.

To do this, first select the door.

Fill Colors and Patterns

There are two types of colors that apply to shapes. These two types of colors are line and fill colors. Line colors are the borders of your shapes. Fill colors are the colors inside your shapes.

To apply a fill color to a shape, you can right click on the shape, select Format Shape.  

Click the arrow beside Fill to see the options displayed below.

You can choose to apply:

• No fill

• Solid Fill

• Gradient Fill

• Pattern Fill

Solid Fill

Let's apply a solid fill first by putting a check in the box.

If you want to apply a fill to more than one shape, hold down the Shift key while selecting shapes.

Gradient Fill

Select the angle of the gradient and the gradient stops. 

Next, choose a color, as well as the position, transparency, and brightness.

If you want the gradient to rotate with the shape, make sure the "Rotate with Shape" box is checked.

Pattern Fill

A pattern fill does just as the name applies. It fills your shape with a pattern.

Next, choose the foreground and background colors.   In the patterns above, orange is the foreground color, and white is the background color.

Changing the Line Color and Style

Just as with fills, you can change the line color of shapes in two different ways. You can right click on a shape, then select Format Shape.

From here, you can set your line options, including the type of line.   It's a good idea to play around with these options to see what they do.   There are endless combinations you can use to customize your line. 

Keep in mind that most of these options apply to lines you've drawn on your pages and not the lines that create the borders for your shapes.

Adding Special Effects

If you've used other Office 2013 programs, then chances are you're already familiar with special effects. The same special effects that are available in programs such as MS Word are also available to apply to shapes in Visio 2013.

We've chosen to add a shadow to our shape below:

 Working with Data

Data is one of the most important aspects of Visio 2013. Without the data capabilities that the program contains, it would be nothing more than an overdressed SmartArt or chart creation program like you see in other Office programs such as Word. 

While it's true that Visio 2013 gives you all the tools you need to create all types of drawings, then customize the look and feel of each, the true benefit if Visio lies in the data tools that it provides. Flowcharts and diagrams are only mere drawings without data to back them up, and Visio gives you all the methods that you need to incorporate and link to that data.

In this article, we'll learn about:

• The different types of shape data

• How to view shape data

• Shape data attributes

• Linking diagrams to external data sources

• Updating diagrams with refreshed data from external sources

• Linking data to shapes

• Creating predefined and custom reports

• Creating hyperlinks to link shapes to websites and local files

Types of Shape Data                              

Shape data is data that describes properties of your shape.  There are eight types of shape Data in Visio 2013. These are:

• String, which is free form text.

• Number, which is numeric data.

• Fixed List, which is a dropdown list that allows viewers to choose an option.

• Variable List, a dropdown list that allows viewers to choose an option or add some of their own by filling out a text box.

• Duration, which is time expressed in either seconds (es.), minutes (em.), hours (eh.), days (ed.), or weeks (ew.).

• Date, which is a calendar date.

• Currency, which is money units based on the user's region and language (in Windows).

• Boolean, which is true or false. 

Viewing Shape Data

To view shape data, right click on the shape, then select Data. You will see the data submenu.

Choose Shape Data.

Shape Data Attributes

You can also add data fields for a Visio shape.   For example, maybe you want to add the warehouse location for the chair selected in the snapshot below.

To do this, right click on the shape, go to Data, then Define Data Shape.

You will then see the Define Shape Data dialogue box. 

Click the New button for a new attribute.

Let's discuss the information you'll need to enter in this dialogue box.

• Label is field name.

• Type is one of the eight data types 

• Format will dtermine how data will be presented.

• Value is the value entered when a shape was defined.

• Prompt is a tooltip that appears when the mouse is over the shape. 

Click OK when you're finished.

The new attribute appears in the shape data.

Linking Diagrams to External Sources

You've already learned how to manually enter shape data in Visio 2013. However, you can also link to data from external sources, such as a spreadsheet, database, or other source.

While data linking to external sources was complicated and confusing with prior versions of Visio, Visio 2013 makes it a lot easier.   All you have to do is link the diagram to a data source, then link the individual shapes to the data.

Let's learn how to do this.

First, go to Data>Data Graphics. 

Remove the checkmark that comes before "Apply after Linking Data to Shapes." 

Next, go to Data>Link Data to Shapes. You will then see the Data Selector wizard.

Select where the data is located, then click Next.

Locate the data file, then click Next again. 

In the snapshot above, we'll select our range, then click Next.

As shown in the snapshot above, you'll next be asked to specify what columns and rows you want to include. 

Click Next.

If you update the data in the external source, the data in your diagram can also be refreshed. Visio 2013 asks you to choose how you want to identify changes in the data. 

Since our rows have unique identifiers (the column headers), we specified that.

Click Next.

Click the Finish button.

You'll then see the rows of data below your drawing.

Drag a row of data to a shape to link the data to that shape.

Refreshing Linked Data

Once you have data linked to an outside source, you need a way to refresh that data to reflect additions, subtractions, or changes. 

The first step in doing this is making the changes in the external data source, then saving those changes.   Using the example above, we would make changes to our Excel workbook.

Next, go to Visio, then Data>Refresh All.  

Click the button and not the arrow for Refresh All.   Visio will then look at the data from the lined source. You'll see the results in the Refresh Data dialogue box.

Click Close.

Linking Data to Shapes

Earlier in this article, we talked about linking diagrams to external data. Now we're going to learn how to link data to shapes. 

For this example, we're going to use the process map shown below:

We're going to assign sequential numbers to each process shape. We're going to assign 12 to the first process shape in the Process Number field (go to shape data to do this).   We're going to assign 13 to the second process shape.

Next, make sure that your diagram is linked to external data using the steps you learned earlier in this article.

Go to Data>Automatically Link.

You will then see the wizard.  

Click Next.

Go to the Data Column section. Click Process Number.

In the Shape Field, click Process Number.

Click Next. 

You will then see a summary of your choices in the final window.  

Click Finish.

Creating Predefined Reports

Now that you've entered data into your drawings, you'll want to be able to view that data when you need it.   You can do so by running reports.  

To run a predefined Visio report, go to Review>Shape Reports. 

You will then see the Reports dialogue box.

Click on the Flowchart report to select it. 

Click Run.

Choose the format for viewing your report.

• Excel. The report will be presented in Excel.

• HTML. The report will be presented in Internet Explorer.   However, it will be read only.

• Visio Shape.  A new shape will be created to hold your report data.   The shape is an embedded Excel object.

• XML. The report will be presented in an SML file. 

For this example, let's choose Excel.

Click OK. 

This is a flowchart report. An inventory report will count the occurrences of every shape on a page. 

Creating New Reports

 You can create your own reports.

Let's learn how to do this.

Go to Review>Shape Reports.  

Click the New button.

Select Shapes on the Current Page.

Click Next.

Choose the data you want displayed in the report. 

Click Next.

Click Sort to determine the order of the data in your report.

You will then see the Sort dialogue box.

Choose how you want your data sorted, then click OK.

Click Next in the Report Definition dialogue box.

You can now choose to save the report in the drawing or in a file. 

Click Finish.

In the Reports dialogue box, click Run. 

Choose your report format, then click OK.

Creating a Hyperlink to a Website

As well as linking to data, you can also link to websites and documents. We'll learn how to create hyperlinks to documents in the next section. For now, let's focus on hyperlinks to websites.

To create a hyperlink to a website, start out by selecting a shape in your drawing.

Next, right click on the shape and click Hyperlink.

You will then see the Hyperlink dialogue box.