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Quick Reference Card - Use Visio drawings in presentations, documents, and publications

Methods for using Visio® drawings in presentations, documents, and publications

To Use this method

Quickly add a drawing to a file and be able to revise it using Visio

Insert and embed the drawing.

Add a drawing that is updated frequently and always have the most current version in the file

Insert and link the drawing.

Keep the file size as small as possible

Paste the drawing as a picture (paste special).

Add a drawing to a file that will be printed commercially

Paste the drawing as a picture—metafile format (paste special).

Use the methods

To Do this
Insert a drawing as an embedded object
  1. On the Insert menu, click Object, and then click Create from file.

    Tip    In Word, Create from file is a tab in the dialog box.

  2. Click Browse to locate the drawing you want to embed, and then click OK or Open.
Insert a drawing as a linked object
  1. On the Insert menu, click Object, and then click Create from file.

    Tip    In Word, Create from file is a tab in the dialog box.

  2. Click Browse to locate the drawing you want to link to. Then select Link or Link to file, and click OK.

To control when a linked drawing is updated, on the Edit menu in the destination file, click Links. In the Links dialog box, under Links, click the drawing.

  • If you want to be prompted to update the linked drawing each time you open the destination file, click Automatic.
  • If you don't want to be prompted but rather you want to update the linked drawing manually using the Links dialog box, click Manual.

To re-establish a link if you move the drawing or destination file:

  1. In the destination file, on the Edit menu, click Links.
  2. In the Links dialog box, click the broken link and then click Change Source.
  3. Locate the drawing, and then click Open.
Paste a drawing as a picture
  1. In Visio, on the Edit menu, click Copy Drawing.
  2. In the destination program, on the Edit menu, click Paste Special. Then click Picture (Enhanced Metafile), Picture (Windows Metafile), or Device Independent Bitmap and click OK.

Revise drawings

To Do this
Revise an embedded drawing
  1. Double-click the embedded drawing to open it in a small Visio window.

    To adjust your view of the drawing, use the Zoom box on the Standard toolbar.

  2. When you're finished revising, click away from the Visio window somewhere else in the presentation, document, or publication—this closes the Visio window.

Tip    If you don't like the small Visio window, right–click the drawing, and then click Visio Object and click Open to edit the drawing in Visio proper.

Note    Visio must be installed for you to be able to edit an embedded drawing.
Revise a linked drawing

Open the original drawing in Visio, make the changes, and then save the file. Next time you open the presentation, document, or publication, you will be asked if you want to update the drawing it contains.

Tip    If you are not asked if you want to update the drawing, links may be set for manual update. To manually update a link, on the Edit menu, click Links. Click the link you want to update, and then click Update Now.
Revise a drawing pasted as a picture
  • In Word and Publisher: The drawing is a completed picture file, and you can't revise the drawing content in a picture. If you have to revise the drawing content, delete the picture in the document or publication. Open the original drawing, revise it, and then paste it in again as a picture.

    Note   In Word if you paste the drawing as a metafile then you can make some small edits to text or shapes.

  • In PowerPoint: Paste the picture as an enhanced metafile; this allows you to convert it to a drawing object—though results can look rough. (To convert the pasted picture, you right-click it, click Edit Picture, and click Yes when prompted.)

Other things you can do

Resize the drawing
  1. Click the drawing to select it. Position your pointer over one of the corner resize handles—the pointer will change to a two–headed arrow Two-pointed arrow cursor for sizing..
  2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the resize handle to resize the drawing. Release the mouse button when the desired size is reached.

In PowerPoint, to resize an embedded drawing, it's helpful to double-click the drawing and resize it and its drawing page within Visio (you can drag the Visio window to affect drawing page size, and select and drag sides of the drawing itself to alter it).

Reposition the drawing

In PowerPoint:

  • Point to a border, and when you see the four-headed pointer Four-pointed arrow cursor., drag.

In Word and Publisher:

  1. Position your pointer over the drawing, and then hold down the left mouse button and drag the pointer to the desired position.
  2. When you release the mouse button, the whole drawing moves to that position in the text.
Add a caption

In PowerPoint:

Click the Text Box button on the Drawing toolbar, type text for the caption, and then style and position it.

In Word:

  1. Click the drawing to select it. On the Insert menu, point to Reference, and then click Caption.
  2. In the Caption dialog box, look at the various options that are available. Click OK to add a basic Figure 1 caption to the drawing (you can change the Label and Position as well as use New Label to enter more specific label text).

In Publisher:

Click the Text Box tool on the Objects toolbar. Draw a text box to contain the caption, and then type the caption, and choose a style and alignment for the caption text.
PowerPoint tips

Apply the PowerPoint color scheme to an embedded drawing

  1. Double-click the drawing to open it in the Visio window within PowerPoint. Then point to an area on the drawing page (away from shapes), right-click, and click Color Schemes.
  2. In the list of color schemes, click PowerPoint, click Apply, and click OK.

Important    If you open the Visio drawing in the full Visio window, the PowerPoint color scheme is not available.
Word tips

Use the Picture toolbar to edit the drawing.

Lock a picture in place

Note    You can only lock a drawing in place if it's a floating object. It cannot be in line with text.

  1. Right–click the drawing, and then click Format Object. The Format Object dialog box opens. Click the Layout tab and then click the Advanced button.
  2. Click the Picture Position tab. Toward the bottom of the dialog box, under Options, clear the Move object with text check box. This detaches the drawing from the text so that it stays in the same position as you add text. Click OK twice to close the dialog boxes.

Insert a drawing as an icon

Follow the normal steps for inserting your drawing (linked or embedded), and then, in the Insert Object dialog box, select the Display as icon check box.

Tip    To choose the icon you want to use or change the caption, click the Change Icon button.
Publisher tips

To recolor the drawing so it matches the publication color scheme, click the drawing, and then, on the Format menu, click either Object (if the drawing is linked or embedded) or Picture (if you pasted the drawing as a picture). Click Recolor, select the color you want, and then click OK twice.

To add a colored background to the drawing, click the drawing, and then click the Fill Color tool on the Formatting toolbar.
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