What’s changed
Search box
In Visio 2010, the search box is not visible until you click More Shapes in the Shapes window, and then select Search for Shapes. To free more space in the Shapes window, you can also hide the search box.
Stencil tab visibility
Stencil tabs always stay at the top of the Shapes window. To free more space to display shapes, some stencil tabs are hidden when you open a diagram. To see all the stencils in a template, use the scroll bar beside the tabs or expand the tab area by dragging the bottom divider bar down.
Status bar
The following status items are removed from the status bar in Visio 2010, but still appear in the Size & Position window:
- X
- Y
- Begin X
- Begin Y
- End X
- End Y
Customize ink pens
The Customize Pens dialog box is removed in Visio 2010 and replaced with the new Pens model that is used by OfficeArt and OneNote. You can now customize ink pen properties by using the controls on the Ink Tools tab.
Color by Value
The Color By Value add-on is replaced by the Data Graphics feature set, which provides more functionality.
Cross-functional flowcharts
In the Cross-Functional Flowchart template, the swimlanes are now containers, a new feature in Visio 2010.
Cross-functional flowchart diagrams that have been created in Visio 2010 can still be opened in Visio 2007 and Visio 2003, but will behave differently than cross-functional flowcharts created in earlier versions of Visio:
- The Cross-Functional Flowchart menu does not appear.
- Shapes may not behave as expected when moved between swimlanes.
- When you open a diagram created in Visio 2007 in Visio 2010, the file is updated and you are prompted to save the file under a new name.
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What’s removed
Find Shape feature
The Search for Shapes feature previously available in Visio enabled you to search for shapes online and on dedicated servers (as well as on your computer). These online servers made it possible to provide new shapes, but also slowed performance for all searches. Now when you click Find Shapes Online in the More Shapes menu, Visio starts a Web browser. You can download shapes from the Microsoft Download Center and other providers to use on your computer.
The Search for Shapes feature is still available to help you find Visio shapes already on your computer.
Stencil docking on top or bottom
You can dock stencils on the left and right side of the drawing window, but no longer on the top or bottom.
Clip Art task pane
Several changes have been made to the Clip Art task pane:
- Search in box The Search in box is no longer available, which means that you can no longer limit your search to specific collections of content. To narrow your search, you can use multiple search terms in the Search for box.
- Organize clips link The Organize clips link is no longer available. To open Microsoft Clip Organizer from Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, click the Windows Start button, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, click Microsoft Office 2010 Tools, and then click Microsoft Clip Organizer.
Clip Organizer
Clip Organizer is no longer accessible directly from the Clip Art task pane in Microsoft Office programs. In addition, the following changes were made to Clip Organizer:
- Automatic organization The command for automatically finding media files on your computer and organizing them into collections no longer exists. However, you can still add clips manually to Clip Organizer or import them from a scanner or camera.
- Send to e-mail recipient as attachment The command for sending a clip as an attachment in e-mail message is no longer available.
- Delete from collection Although you can delete clips from Clip Organizer, you can no longer delete a clip from a specific collection.
- Find similar style The command that allowed you to find clips of a similar style is no longer available.
- List and Details views The List and Details views are no longer available. Instead, all clips appear as thumbnails in the Clip Organizer window.
Hide the status bar
The ability to show or hide the status bar is not available in Visio 2010. The status bar is always visible.
Application Color Settings
The Color Settings dialog box in Visio 2007 (found on the Tools menu, in the Options dialog box, on the Advanced tab) is not available in Visio 2010. You cannot change the default page color, background colors for the UI, Shapes window color, Print Preview background color, or full-screen background color.
You can make changes to the entire interface by doing the following:
- Click File, and then click Options.
- In the Visio Options dialog box, on the General tab, under User Interface options, in the Color scheme list, select the UI color scheme that you want.
Caution Making changes to the UI color scheme in the Visio Options dialog box can affect the UI color scheme of other Office programs.
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