When you drop shapes
onto the Visio drawing page, they are usually oriented the way you want
them to be. However, there are times when you will want the shapes to
appear at a different angle. Visio provides several ways to accomplish
this.
In this exercise, you will add several shapes to the Visio drawing page and rotate the shapes to different angles.
Tip
The font size for some of the graphics in this exercise has been
increased for readability. The font in your shapes may be smaller.
Note
SET UP Click the File tab, and then click New. Click Categories, click General, and then double-click the Block Diagram thumbnail. To improve visibility of key diagram elements for this exercise, on the Design tab, in the Themes group, click the More button in the lower-right corner of the Themes gallery, and select No Themes. Save the drawing as Orient Shapes and Text. Then follow the steps.
-
On the View tab, in the Zoom
group, click the Page Width
button, and then position the page so you can view the top edge.
-
Drag a Box
shape from the Blocks
stencil and drop it
so the center is approximately 8 inches (200 mm) up from the bottom and
3 inches (75 mm) in from the left side of the page.
Tip
Use the ruler on the left and top edges of the drawing page to guide shape placement.
Important
The shapes in the US Units version of the Block Diagram stencil contain the word text, whereas the same shapes
in the Metric Units version of the stencil do not. Because the examples
in this chapter were created using the US version, you will notice the
word text. If you are using the Metric stencil, add the word text to each shape.
In addition to the regular selection handles surrounding the box, notice the rotation handle at the top center just above the box.
When you point to the rotation
handle, the cursor changes from an arrow to a circular arrow. Notice
also that a dot appears in the center of the rectangle. This dot shows
the geometric center of the shape, that is, the point around which the
shape will rotate when you drag the rotation handle. Though you won’t
do it in this exercise, you can alter the rotation characteristics of
the shape by dragging the center of rotation handle to a different
location.
Tip
If a rotation handle does not appear above a shape, it’s because the shape designer has turned off the rotation feature.
-
Grab the rotation handle and rotate the shape 90 degrees to the left (counterclockwise). Both the shape and the text rotate.
Tip
If you keep the cursor near the rotation handle as you drag it, the
shape rotates in 15-degree increments. However, if you move the cursor
away from the rotation handle as you drag it, the shape rotates in
5-degree increments, giving more precise control.
-
Drag the rotation handle counterclockwise another 90 degrees so the
box is inverted. Notice that the text is also upside down—more about
that in the next exercise.
-
Return the box to its original upright position to continue with
this exercise, thereby demonstrating that you can rotate the shape
freely through 360 degrees of arc.
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Drag a Circle onto the page so its center is approximately 3 inches (75 mm) to the right of the center of the box, using the Dynamic Grid to align it with the box.
-
Right-click the drawing page and select the Connector Tool
from the Mini Toolbar
.
Tip
The Visio 2013 Mini Toolbar introduces a single use Connector Tool: the pointer reverts to the Pointer Tool as soon as you draw one connector.
-
Draw a connector from the right side of the box to the left side of the circle.
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With the new connector still selected, type Demonstration Text and then press the Esc key.
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Draw a bounding box around all three shapes to select them.
-
On the Home tab, in the Font group, in the Font Size list, click 14 pt. to make it easier to read the text in the steps that follow.
Tip
You can apply the same change to multiple shapes at one time.
-
Draw a bounding box around all three shapes
to select them, and then rotate the entire selection 90 degrees
clockwise. Notice the difference in behavior between the text in the
box or circle and the text on the connector.
Tip
You can rotate selections of shapes as easily as you can rotate individual shapes.
-
Rotate the selection another 90 degrees clockwise so the shapes are inverted.
At this point, it’s quite obvious that the text in some shapes seems to behave better—or at least differently—than the text
in other shapes when the shapes are rotated. The next exercise will
make this even clearer and will show you how to change the text
orientation.
Note
CLEAN UP Press Ctrl+Z twice to undo the last two rotations. Save your changes to the Orient Shapes and Text drawing but leave it open if you are continuing with the next exercise.
