Lining up connection points.

[deckart@hkx]

I have a variety of shapes and I need to be able to connect them lined up
with single, straight lines (no jogs). I'm relatively new to Visio but an
experienced CAD user. I believe we could switch 90% of our CAD over to Visio
provided we can make straight lines to shapes. Much like using ORTHO in CAD
where all lines are forced straight, unbroken, and at right angle. As it is,
the shape dictates the line, which is cool. But can it be made that the line
can only be straight and unbroken, forcing the shape to follow if another
shape is moved?

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Getting lines to be straight is a matter of keeping the shapes in the
drawing aligned. Visio has a number of features designed to help you do
this.

Visio has a grid to help you position shapes. Shapes snap to gridlines by
default and you can increase the snap strength even further to make sure
that it is impossible not to snap to the grid. Visio also has an Align
Shapes feature that can force shapes into alignment. Guides are another way
to keep things organized.

If you want to set the positions of shapes manually, you can type in
coordinates in the Size & Position window.