New to Visio? Customer research shows that people new to Visio have two main questions: How to create drawings quickly, and what type of drawing is best for what they want to show. Visio 2003 includes two tools to help provide these answers: Getting Started Tutorial and Diagram Gallery.

Getting Started Tutorial

With Getting Started Tutorial you can learn about Visio basics and new features in less than an hour. The tutorial walks you through the main tasks you're most likely to perform in Visio, providing animation you can watch to see how those tasks are done, and the step-by-step instructions to follow in performing them. It's also a handy reference you can use at any time for quick brush-ups on your Visio skills.

Jump to different lessons in the tutorial.

Start and stop the animation.

Move through the step-by-step instructions.

To start the tutorial, on the Help menu, click Getting Started Tutorial.

The Diagram Gallery

Whether you're brand new to Visio or have lots of experience using it, Diagram Gallery can help you find the template for the drawing you want to create, or just jump-start your creativity. A quick glance through Diagram Gallery acquaints you with the drawing types you can create with Visio 2003 and new ways to use those diagrams.

Jump to the Microsoft Office Online Templates Web site, where you can download templates to quickly get started.

Jump to the Microsoft Office Online Downloads Web site, where you can download a file containing real-world diagram examples. Type Visio samples in the Search box and then press ENTER.

If you want to download the sample drawing files later, you can find them at http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate. Type Visio samples in the Search box and then press ENTER.

You can enlarge many of the examples in Diagram Gallery to display more details.

Click to open a larger drawing in another window.

To open and use Diagram Gallery, on the Help menu, click Diagram Gallery.

As an added bonus in today's cost-conscious environment, consider impressing your boss with a diagram that illustrates how much money you've saved by participating in self-paced Visio 2003 training. (We suggest using a bar graph or pie chart diagram.)