Microsoft Visio 2010 : Working with Text (part 1) - Creating and Editing Text Blocks

2/17/2014 2:49:08 AM

When it comes to shape text, there are two things to think about: the characters and the text block that contains them. You edit text in Visio similarly to the way you edit text in Word or Excel. The text block, however, is the region of a shape that the text occupies. You could compare text blocks to paragraphs or sections in Word, but they are really a feature unique to Visio shapes.

In this section, you look at how to manipulate text blocks and shape text, and explore a few other text-related issues while you’re at it.

Creating and Editing Text Blocks

A text block is a region on a shape that holds text. By default, this region is exactly the same size as the shape itself, but it doesn’t have to be. If you look at shapes like those in the workflow or network equipment stencils, you see text blocks that are below the shape.

All Visio shapes contain text blocks by default. If you draw a rectangle, you can type text directly on to it. If you group several shapes together, the group has its own text block, as does each subshape inside the group.

Figure 1 shows the Phone call shape from the Flowchart, Workflow Objects stencil. In the left window, you see the resize handles for the shape itself. In the right window, you see resize handles for the text block.

Figure 1. The selection rectangles for the Phone call shape. On the left, the shape is selected using the Pointer tool; on the right, it is selected using the Text Block tool.

There are two tools for working with text: the Text tool and Text Block tool. Both are found in the Tools group of the Home tab. They have similar names and similar icons. The Text tool has a big A, and the Text Block tool has a smaller A with a circular arrow around it.

You can use both tools to create text anywhere on the page. Click a blank region of the page or drag out a rectangle and then start typing. You just created a text shape.

I call it a “text shape” because what you really did is create a no-fill, no-line rectangle with text in it. You could just as easily draw a box with the Rectangle tool, type in some text, and apply no-line and no-fill styling to achieve the same result. Conversely, you can apply line and fill styling to your new text shape and make it look as though it was drawn with the Rectangle tool. There isn’t really a separate text entity in Visio. If you are editing text in Visio, you are editing the text of some shape.

The two text tools differ in behavior when you click on existing shapes, however. The Text tool simply enters text-editing mode, so you edit, format, add, and delete words and characters. The Text Block tool enables you to resize, reposition, and rotate the text block. You saw the Text Block tool in action in Figure 1.

Modifying a Text Block Using the Text Block Tool

1.	On a new, blank drawing, draw an oval using the Ellipse tool.
2.	Type some text on the shape. Type enough text so that the text wraps to a second line.
3.	On the Home tab in the Tools group, select the Text Block tool and click on your shape. Notice that all the selection handles look the same as when you draw the shape or when you select it with the Pointer tool.
4.	Pause your cursor over the selection handles and the “lollipop” handle atop the shape. Notice the word balloons that appear: “Size Text Block” and “Rotate Text Block.” These ToolTips are helpful reminders that you have the Text Block tool and are working with the shape’s text block, not the shape itself.
5.	Change the size of the text block. Grab any resizing handle and move it. Notice that the text block resizes, but the ellipse is unchanged. You are only editing the text block. Make the text block wider. Notice that you can make it wide enough so that the text no longer wraps to a second line. This is one reason you might want to edit a shape’s text block.
6.	Move the text block. Position the cursor over the blue dashed outline of the text block. When you see the crosshair cursor, click and drag the text block around. It can be anywhere on or outside the shape.
7.	Rotate the text block by moving the mouse cursor over the “lollipop” handle. When you see the circular arrow cursor, click and drag to rotate the block. Note that the closer you are to the center of rotation, the coarser the rotation—just as when you rotate shapes. Figure 2 shows the rotated, resized, translated text block for an ellipse shape. Figure 2. Using the Text Block tool to manipulate a shape’s text block.
8.	Switch back to the Pointer tool and select your shape. Notice that the shape handles match the size of the shape, as expected, independent of those of the text block.

Using Text with Control Handles

Now that you’ve worked your way through text block training, let’s discuss an easier way to move the text block. You may have noticed small, yellow diamond handles in the middle of text blocks on some Visio shapes Most of Visio’s network shapes have this feature, but you won’t see the control handle unless the shape has some text.

Pulling on such a control handle moves the text of the shape without the need to switch to the Text Block tool, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Many of Visio’s shapes have built-in control handles for easily moving the text block of a shape. Here, you can quickly move the text out of the way of the outgoing connector.

You usually find these text-positioning control handles added to shapes where it doesn’t make sense to have text inside the shapes, such as the network shapes I mentioned earlier. They aren’t a built-in Visio feature, but are added by shape developers to make things easier for you. Note that text control handles don’t help you to rotate the text block. Also notice that the text blocks expand automatically as you add more text. If you need new lines, you’ll have to manually press Enter, as the text never wraps by itself.