How do I get my often used stencils to show up?

[Viseo1]

I have trouble accessing my often used stencils in Viseo. Is there a way to
get my stencils to always show up no matter what viseo file I am working on?

 

[Paul Herber]

I have trouble accessing my often used stencils in Viseo. Is there a way to
get my stencils to always show up no matter what viseo file I am working on?

Depends partly upon which version of Visio, but assuming recent ..

you can always get to all the stencils from the menu
File -> Stencils
which will show you all the built in stencils, as well as showing
stencils that are in ..
'My Documents\My Shapes', you can put any stencils here

and,
from menu Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> File Paths
and add paths to where you have stored any stencils.

 

[Steve Thackery]

This is something I've always wanted, and although I appreciate Paul's
advice I don't think it addresses quite what I would like.

For instance, I want the 'Drawing Tools' and 'Connectors' stencils to be
present, regardless of what drawing type I've decided to use, because I find
both incredibly useful.

At the moment - after I've chosen my drawing type - I have to mess about
opening up the stencils list, select the 'Visio Extras', and then the
'Drawing Tools' stencil. Then I have to repeat the process to open the
'Connectors' stencil!

I have defined a couple of 'templates' which open up the required stencils
for me, but of course then I lose the Drawing Type functionality.

Ideally I'd like to somehow 'pin' my preferred stencils, and let the
'Drawing Type' screen choose the rest. I bet this is possible using some
sort of automation, but I wouldn't know where to start.

Steve

 

[Paul Herber]

This is something I've always wanted, and although I appreciate Paul's
advice I don't think it addresses quite what I would like.

For instance, I want the 'Drawing Tools' and 'Connectors' stencils to be
present, regardless of what drawing type I've decided to use, because I find
both incredibly useful.

At the moment - after I've chosen my drawing type - I have to mess about
opening up the stencils list, select the 'Visio Extras', and then the
'Drawing Tools' stencil. Then I have to repeat the process to open the
'Connectors' stencil!

I have defined a couple of 'templates' which open up the required stencils
for me, but of course then I lose the Drawing Type functionality.

Ideally I'd like to somehow 'pin' my preferred stencils, and let the
'Drawing Type' screen choose the rest. I bet this is possible using some
sort of automation, but I wouldn't know where to start.

I'm working on something that should do this.

 

[Steve Thackery]

I'm working on something that should do this.

Great! Could you announce it here, do you think? I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks, Paul.

Steve

 

[Zenon]

Step 1 on my list is probably what you are looking for and the best I can do.
Also Visio has a macro recorder that would probably work. I use visio 2007
now, but this should work for earlier versions. I wish I knew an easier way.
It only makes common since that the user of visio will always want visio to
open certain stencils.

There are 4 things I do.
1. This is the real kicker - Open all the stencils you use or expect you
may use - for me that is about 12 stencils. Then in the shapes window on
left, right click on each stencil's title bar and click save as. Save each
one to your my shapes folder or create a special folder for them. When you
open a drawing, just click file, shapes, open stencil, (add that button to
your toolbar) and then browse to your stencils and use shift + click to
highlight and select all of the stencils and then click open. Voila! You
just opened a bunch of stencils in one step! For me that would take 12 steps
opening them individually not to mention the time it takes you to find them
all.
2. When I find a shape I use often, I right click on it and add it to the
favorites stencil which is stored in My Shapes.
3. Use step 1 for stencils that you use every once in while, and create a
seperate folder for them - it is more efficient to find them later - for me
anyway.
4. Because I deal with multiple clients, I have a template visio file which
contains the standard shapes, text boxes, etc, that I may use on any new
diagram that I create - I actually move the shapes to the drawing and save
the template.

 

[Paul Herber]

Great! Could you announce it here, do you think? I'll keep an eye on it.

OK, it took a while as I've been busy doing other things, but there is
now a menu containing the last 10 most recently used stencils.

http://www.visio-utilities.sandrila.co.uk/

 

[Dlivny]

Here’s what I do, which is a bit of an improvement for Zenon's 'step-1':
After I opened the template (from “get startedâ€, for instance) and added all
of my favorite stencils, I save the file (file->save as) as “VST†type (for
template), overwriting the original template file. It’s kinda tricky: you
need identify the original template file name (and make a backup copy!!!).
These files are normally in:

<drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\1033\*.vst –(Visio 2007)

If you hover over any of the VST files, it should display the properties,
including the title of the template, which is the friendly name you are used
to see when you open one. After you saved the template (again back it up
first), open it as you would normally do – it should have all of the stencils
you have added to it.
Hope this helps.
-DL