Joining shapes that act independently

[John V]

I am trying to create a shape that is essentially five auto-height text boxes
stacked together that remain joined together but allow independent text
within each box. I am trying to use this for a call script where the top box
is a questions and the lower four boxes are possible answers. Each of the
possible answers would then joined to a different question. I'm new to Visio
and have not been able to create this shape or find and existing shape that
would work in this situation. Any help is appreciated

 

[Brian W.Bush]

Hi John,

Have you tried creating the shape using a stack of Process boxes. Format
them to hide the lines. Group them to keep them together. You can still use
the connection points to link to other boxes.

Alternatively draw rectangles and hide the lines and group in the same way.
Using the snap and glue tool bar select the 'Glue to Shape Geometry tool'
(Kojack's Lolly!!) and you can connect any part of any shape to any part of
another shape.

I am a Visio trainer. (e-mail address removed)

 

[John V]

Thanks Brian,

I tried your suggestions, but it is not giving me the functionality I'm
looking for. I'm not sure if what I need is even possible and I'm certain
I'm not explaining what I'm trying to do clearly. Essentially I want to
create five auto-height text boxes stacked on top of each other where the top
and bottom lines that touch each adjoining box are permanently connected. If
I write in a middle box with enough text that it causes the box to expand the
height I would want the boxes above and below to adjust their positions
accordingly automatically so that the top and bottom lines are still
connected to the adjoining box.

I can do this manually, but I need to reposition all the boxes when I make a
change. I was hoping there might be a way to create a shape or "join"
several shapes together that allow text entries independently in each box,
but each adjoining box adjusts its position accordingly. When I tried to
group the shapes or glue them, I ended up needing to reposition all the
adjoining boxes if the text caused the box to expand. Perhaps I doing
something wrong using these functions.

Thanks much for your help,

John