A Multi-Time Zone Clock for Visio

I wrote a post about making a clock face in Visio fifteen years ago, but a reader recently asked about displaying multiple time zones. Well, I have previously written about time zones in Visio, so I accepted the challenge to improve upon my earlier work.

In this update, an alternate time zone can be selected from a drop-down list. The Time Zone Time will be calculated, and, if a label is added, then the label and alternate time zone time is displayed rather than the PC time.

The Visio file can be downloaded from here, or viewed below:

The Clock master can be dragged from the local Document Stencil in this file, and dropped onto any other Visio page.

BTW, I have noticed that the NOW() function works every minute, if the Synchronize option is TRUE, when the document is open in Visio desktop, and it uses the Windows datetime values. My laptop is set to UK time, but when I save the document to OneDrive, and then view the file online, I see that the time display is that of the MIcrosoft server. And, of course, the NOW() function does not work online.

Fixing dimensions of 2D shapes

I am often asked what makes Visio unique and makes it stand out from the crowd, especially in today’s online world. Well, I think there are many reasons, but one of them is the ability to create scaled drawings with parametric components of specific dimensions. This was crucial for my adoption of Visio back in…

Smart Radio Buttons and Check Boxes in Visio

A recent project requires an interactive tutorial within Microsoft Visio desktop where a lot of the questions need a single answer using radio buttons, or multiple-choice answers using check boxes. I thought that this would be a great use of the list containers capability because the questions and answers could be part of the container…

Using Button Face Ids in Visio

Microsoft Visio desktop has the ability to display icons from a built-in list of Office icons on Actions and Action Tags (nee Smart Tags). These can be set in the ShapeSheet by using the desired number from several thousand in the ButtonFace cell. Although there is the ability to add better icons using code, the…

Grid Snapping Revisited

I have previously tackled the subject of snapping to grids in Visio desktop (see https://bvisual.net/2018/06/19/really-snapping-to-grids-in-visio/ ) but a recent project required me to improve the example because it did not respond to all cursor arrow keys. The problem was that the previous solution could not understand which arrow key had been clicked, therefore it did…

Synchronizing Visio Shape Fill Color (or almost any cell) across pages

I was recently asked how the color of one shape can be changed and for other shapes to be automatically updated to the same color … even if they are on different pages! Well, it is possible with Microsoft Visio’s awesome ShapeSheet formulas. In fact, this capability is not limited to the FillForegnd cell ……

Positioning Visio Shape Text Block with a Control Handle

I was recently asked how a control handle can be added to a Visio shape so that it can be used to re-position the text block. Fortunately, it is extremely easy to setup, and requires just two formulas to be updated in the ShapeSheet. This is a great use of the SETATREF(…) function. (more…)