Shapes, the components that make up any Visio diagram, are no doubt effective in communicating information, ideas, processes, and so on. But shapes alone do not make a diagram. Text — long or short, descriptive or instructional — is also essential.

In this course, we'll talk about text. How to add it to shapes, and how to add it on its own. You'll also grasp how to edit it, and how to avoid common pitfalls.

To learn more about this course, read the overview information or the table of contents in the left column. When you're done reading this page, click Next to start the first lesson.

Before taking this course, you should be familiar with how to select shapes, zoom in and out, and add shapes to the page; know the differences between 1-D and 2-D, move shapes by dragging the mouse, and what grouped shapes are. Or, take the following courses:

• Shapes I: Introductory basics you can't live without
• Shapes II: Expertly position, stack, and group shapes