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In Microsoft Office Visio, you'll find a shape for each element in the UML notation. These shapes behave as you would expect the UML element to behave. For example, the Class shape has three compartments for name, attributes (attribute: An individual formatting element, such as line color, fill color, or line weight, that you can apply to shapes. A style can have more than one attribute.), and operations (operation: A service that an instance of a class may be requested to perform. The behavior of a class is represented by a set of operations. Each operation has a name and a list of arguments.), and the shape expands automatically as you add values.

The UML diagrams you create are views of the models displayed in a tree view (tree view: Displayed in a window in the UML Navigator, a hierarchy in which each UML element or view (diagram) is represented by an icon. The UML template automatically creates a tree view of your model.) format in the Model Explorer.

UML shapes must be properly glued together for the shapes to communicate with the model. When you connect UML shapes, the UML Model Diagram template helps you connect these shapes correctly by displaying a red outline around connection points or the entire shape.

To get help on any UML shape, right-click the shape, and then click Help on the shortcut menu.