1. On the File menu, point to New, point to Building Plan, and then click Floor Plan.

   By default, this drawing type opens a scaled drawing page (scaled drawing page: A drawing page with a drawing scale, such as 1/4" = 1' or 2 cm = 1 m.) in landscape orientation . You can change these settings at any time.

2. Create the basic exterior wall structure in one of the following ways:

   Use room shapes

   From the Walls, Shell, and Structure stencil (stencil: A collection of masters associated with a particular Visio drawing type, or template. By default, stencils that open with a template are docked on the left side of the drawing window.), drag one of the room shapes onto the drawing page.

   Resize the room shape by dragging the control handles and selection handles on individual walls.

   Use wall shapes

   1. From the Walls, Shell, and Structure stencil, drag Exterior wall shapes onto the drawing page.
   2. Resize walls by dragging an endpoint ( or ).
   3. Drag an endpoint of one wall to another wall.

      The endpoints turn red when the walls are glued. Intersections between two walls are cleaned up automatically.

       Note   For walls to join properly, Glue to Shape geometry must be selected in the Snap & Glue dialog box (on the Tools menu).

3. Create the interior wall structure.

   How?

   1. Drag Wall shapes onto the drawing page, positioning them inside the exterior structure.
   2. Resize walls by dragging an endpoint ( or ).
   3. Drag an endpoint of one wall to another wall.

      The endpoints turn red when the walls are glued. Intersections between two walls are cleaned up automatically.

       Note   For walls to join properly, Glue to Shape geometry must be selected in the Snap & Glue dialog box (on the Tools menu).

4. Add other structural elements.

   How?

   1. From the Walls, Shell, and Structure stencil, drag structural shapes, such as columns, onto the drawing page.
   2. From the Building Core stencil, drag building core shapes, such as stairs, onto the drawing page.
   3. From the Walls, Shell and Structure stencil, drag door and window shapes on top of walls.

      Doors and windows rotate to align with the wall and to glue to the wall. They also acquire the wall's thickness and move with the walls when you reposition them.

   4. After you assemble the building shell and wall structure, add the electrical symbols and dimension lines.

      1. From the Electrical and Telecom stencil, drag the wall switches, outlets, and other wall fixtures onto the wall shapes. Release the mouse button when a red square appears, indicating that the symbol is glued to the wall. Wall fixtures rotate to align with the wall.

         You can also drag ceiling fixture shapes, such as the Ceiling fan, onto the drawing page.

      2. Add dimension lines to walls

         1. Select the wall shape, and then on the Shape menu, point to Actions, and click Add a Dimension.
         2. Reposition the dimension lines and dimension text by dragging a control handle .

             Note   To see a tip about a control handle for a selected shape, pause the pointer over the handle.

         3. If you add a dimension to a wall, you can resize the wall by selecting the dimension shape, typing the dimension that you want, and then clicking away from the dimension shape.

5. After you create a floor plan, you can modify it by adding or removing walls, doors, and windows and repositioning the structural elements and electrical symbols.

1. Open your floor plan.
2. From the Points of Interest stencil, drag the emergency planning shapes, such as Fire extinguisher or First Aid, onto their correct locations on the plan.

   Points of Interest is one of several stencils that open automatically when you open a new or existing building plan.

1. Select the shape or shapes that contain the symbol that you want to color.
2. On the Format menu, click Line.
3. Under Line, click the options that you want from the Pattern, Weight, Color, and Cap lists, and set the level of transparency that you want.

 Tip   You can also color the background of the shape. Select the shape and on the Format menu, click Fill. Under Fill, click the options that you want from the Color, Pattern, and Pattern color lists, and then set the level of transparency that you want.

1. Select the shape, and then type the text.
2. When you finish typing, press ESC or click outside the text block (text block: The text area associated with a shape that appears when you click the shape with the text tool or select it with the pointer tool.).

 Tip   To format the text, double-click the shape, and then select the text that you want to format. Next, on the Format menu, click Text, and select the formatting options that you want.

1. To add a legend, from the Points of Interest stencil, drag the Legend shape onto the drawing page.

   Shapes already on the drawing page will automatically appear in the Legend shape. New shapes will be added as you drag them onto the drawing page.

2. To change the appearance of the Legend shape, select it, and then on the Shape menu, point to Actions, and click Configure Legend.
3. To edit the text in the Legend shape, double-click the text that you want to edit and type. If the Legend shape is already selected, just click once and type.

Read more about working with the Legend shape.

1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. In the Name list, choose a printer.
3. Under Page range, choose the range of pages that you want to print.
4. For Number of copies, type or select the number of copies that you want.

 Note   Because floor plans are often quite large, to print the map the way you want, you need to specify printing options. You can read more about how to print large drawings or follow the links in the See Also section of this article for in-depth online training on how to print large drawings.