Align, Size and distribute shapes in Visio for VS Architect Enterprise!

[Coleen]

Does no one know the answer, or are you just unwilling to answer because I
keep slamming Microsoft? This is one of the reasons I am EXTREMELY unhappy
with Microsoft right now - NO ONE ANSWERS SIMPLE REQUESTS!!!! Please tell
me how to EASILY Align, Size and distribute shapes in Visio for VS Architect
Enterprise! Why is this so difficult?

 

[Michael]

ever hear of the phrase RTFM? or type the align, distribute in the online
help?
a small hint... look in the tool bar, guess what there is align and
distribute.

Frankly I am not a Microsoft fan (but hey I like Visio ), but seen your
posts and IMHO you should tone down your posts,
nobody including yourself re-acts to a request after being slapped in the
face first... get it?

Michael

 

[Dawn Wright [MSFT]]

Coleen,

It appears that Ian did answer your posting in
microsoft.public.visio.software.modeling on 7/28:
http://groups.google.com/groups?th=fd8222b3e6db409f

If this does not work, can you provide more details of the problem you are
encountering? Which solution and shapes are you using (is it the software
modeling shapes, and if so which ones)? Does the problem only occur with
those shapes or does it occur with other types of drawings, too? Each
solution can have unique layout behavior, so if you're encountering this
problem only with the software modeling shapes, you might follow up with
more details in your thread in the m.p.v.software.modeling group, since
those folks are more knowledgeable about that particular solution. It would
also help if you gave specific step-by-step instructions for how you
encountered the problem, i.e. what buttons or menu items did you use and
when, what shapes did you select, and any other relevant information.
Hopefully this information would help folks in the newsgroup to troubleshoot
your issue.

 

[Michael]

Same here, I probably over reacted too... probably caused by the fact that I
don't get the thing (visio)
to do what I want

 

[Coleen]

I did not use a template - there wasn't one that had all the shapes/objects
that I wanted. I used three different stencils - Forms Shapes, Windows User
Interface and Calendar Shapes. The problem is that I have many objects that
I want to size to be the same width - whether it's an info box, an edit box
or a small month calendar, I want them all to be the same height, and then I
have 14 "Buttons" that all need to be the same width. This used to be easy
to do, now, there isn't even a size option in the Shape drop down menu!
Why? I don't understand why Microsoft would do away with that
functionality!

Thanks for answering - I do appreciate it - I'm just VERY frustrated at NOT
being able to do something that USED to be very simple!

Coleen

 

[Coleen]

Thank you! That is very simple - I wish I'd know about it a week ago, since
I've finished my User Interface Design, and now will only be making minor
changes - but you 're right, that is much easier. The problem with the new
versions of Visio, is that you almost have to re-learn how to use it!
Options have moved, functions have changed and stencils/templates have
changed, moved been removed. I would (and obviously didn't) never have
thought to find a size event under the View menu, when that functionality
has always been under the shapes menu in the past...

Thanks again for responding

Coleen

 

[Dawn Wright [MSFT]]

Coleen,

You're right -- it does get confusing when menu items move around. The
Visio product team is very aware of that and does try to minimize the amount
of disruption that occurs to the menus. But sometimes there's a tradeoff
when we find that some users are confused by the location in one place and
others expect it in a different place. Also, in many cases, the older Visio
product had menu items in very different locations from the other Office
applications, so new users familiar with, say, Word couldn't easily transfer
their knowledge to Visio. In this case, having all of the anchored window
features (size & position, pan & zoom, etc.) in the same place outweighed
leaving them in the old locations and having them scattered around where new
users wouldn't find them easily. Your feedback is good to hear, since it's
useful to know what works and what doesn't.