Microsoft Visio is the leading business diagramming application worldwide, and is part of the Office 365 eco-system. It therefore has all of the document management and security credentials that goes with Microsoft 365 environment. But Visio is much more than just diagramming because it is a complete data visualization application, due to its smart shapes and programming interface. All of Visio shapes are controlled by their ShapeSheet, which contains formulas just like a worksheet in Excel, and can be edited in much the same way. If that is not enough, then there are application programmers interfaces (API) that can be utilised in Visio add-ins and applications, and even in web pages.
Custom Visio templates can speed up productivity dramatically, and really embody your business requirements and corporate branding.
Visio documents and shapes can be linked to data so that they always reflect the one truth by automatically updating the text, icons, databars, colors, and more, if necessary.
This will enable you to visualize your business in an intelligent and insightful way, that has never been previously possible. We can show you how to ensure that you are creating and utilizing these Visio data graphics in the most efficient manner.
Visio for Web can now be integrated in SharePoint pages or Teams to ensure that everybody can benefit from a visual interactive dashboard.
Latest blog articles about Visio
Merging Linked Data from Similar Tables
I was recently asked how to link data from different tables but with similar column names to Visio shapes. In this case, each table has the same unique identifier, but some of the column names are the same. The problem is that the data linking matches the column name with the label of a Shape…
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…
Optimize Visio Flowcharts: Swimlane Reordering Tips
Microsoft Visio desktop Plan 2 and Professional editions provides the ability to create and synchronize cross-functional flowcharts between the diagram and an Excel table. This is great, and widely used for many types of processes. The Excel table normally has a Function / Swimlane column that contains text that becomes labels on the swimlane containers,…
The importance of #layers in Visio for Power BI
Judging by the number of downloads of my free Visio and Power BI GuIde, there is an increasing recognition of this great feature. I recently started to prepare an example for someone, but found that their sample Visio document has just over the 1,000 shape limit, so what can you do about that? The answer…
How to migrate from Lucidchart to Visio
I am pleased to announce that I will be presenting a webinar on Thursday 10th October 2024 where I will be demonstrating how to convert many types of diagrams from Lucidchart to Visio, and keep their smartness. Over the 30 years that I have been using and developing solutions with Visio, I have seen many…