Creating your First Diagram

Quick reference

• 00:04 Let's go ahead and make our first diagram in Microsoft Visio.
• 00:08 So I'm going to go ahead and double click on the Visio icon on the desktop.
• 00:13 Then notice how at this point you can either make a blank drawing, or
• 00:17 you can pick one of these templates and there's other templates available.
• 00:21 Now if you choose one of the templates, you'll get certain shapes and
• 00:24 certain stencils, but you can always add more.
• 00:27 So, a very common use of Visio is to make a flowchart.
• 00:31 So let's go into the basic flowchart template.
• 00:35 Now here I can choose one of these preset diagrams or I'm going to make a blank one.
• 00:39 So I'll pick on the blank one over here, I'm going to use US Units and
• 00:43 I'll pick on create.
• 00:46 Now we're in a blank diagram, these are called shapes and
• 00:50 the collection of shapes is called a stencil.
• 00:52 And then if I picked on this one, you would get different shapes,
• 00:55 as you can see.
• 00:57 So each stencil has different shapes, so
• 00:59 I'm going to pick up that shape and just drag it into the diagram.
• 01:05 Now as you move your shape around,
• 01:07 sometimes you're going to get these green lines, that means that's in the center.
• 01:11 And then if I move it to over here,
• 01:14 I can see how it will be in the center vertically and horizontally.
• 01:17 So as you move your shapes around, you might get those lines,
• 01:21 here it tells me I'm centered horizontally on the diagram.
• 01:24 So I'm going to lift my finger and now you have that first shape in there.
• 01:28 Now, you could always move that shape and resize that shape and format it.
• 01:32 And we'll see how to do that as we go through the different lessons.
• 01:36 Now, in this case, you can also apply text to that shape, so
• 01:40 I'll type in the word, Start.
• 01:43 This text will be associated with that shape, and
• 01:46 now I'm going to go ahead and just click over here.
• 01:50 And then see how the word start is within that shape, okay?
• 01:55 So naturally the diagram will be made up of many, many shapes.
• 02:00 Another way to add the shapes is to pick on the Home menu and
• 02:04 you click on this pull down.
• 02:06 And you'll have basic shapes like a rectangle, an ellipse,
• 02:10 a line, free form, an arc, or you can draw your own shapes with the pencil.
• 02:15 So let's continue to use some of the shapes that are over here.
• 02:18 So next, I'll pick on a process and I'm just going to pick it up and
• 02:23 drag it into the diagram.
• 02:25 Now watch how as I approach that other shape,
• 02:28 you're going to get these other lines and then we can tell that's lined up okay?
• 02:33 So those lines help you quite a bit, see how I can tell that's lined up now,
• 02:38 and I'm going to lift my finger.
• 02:40 And from there, we'll say enter a user ID, I'm just going to type that in.
• 02:47 And then just click over here, and now we have the second shape.
• 02:52 So making your diagram is going to be a matter
• 02:56 of moving the shapes into the diagram.
• 02:59 So next in the flowchart, we'll have a decision, so
• 03:04 I'm going to pick up the decision shape.
• 03:06 And drag it right there, so
• 03:08 notice how as I approached the other shapes, then you'll get these arrows.
• 03:13 So this tells me that that's lined up.
• 03:16 Now as you get more sophisticated with Visio, I can kind of move that up or down.
• 03:22 And when I get those two green arrows on the right hand side,
• 03:25 that means it's evenly spaced, so those lines really help you.
• 03:30 Now you can always move things after the fact, or
• 03:32 there's other ways to make sure they're evenly spaced.
• 03:34 Or perfectly lined up, but those lines are really guiding us, as you can see.
• 03:40 I'm going to type in, is the login correct, and
• 03:43 now that text is within that decision.
• 03:47 Now with the decision, you can have a branch that would say like, no over here.
• 03:53 And yes over here, and then it would go in different directions.
• 03:57 Now if you noticed,
• 03:59 when I move my mouse to that shape, you're going to find another way to make a shape.
• 04:04 So I can actually click on these arrows and
• 04:07 then you would see other shapes that go along with your current template.
• 04:11 This especially works with the flowchart, so
• 04:14 notice how as I hover my mouse on that shape.
• 04:17 You get these arrows and then I could just click another quick shape over there.
• 04:22 Or you can drag the shapes in from the left hand side.
• 04:25 So in this case, I'll click on the process and drag it over here and
• 04:30 then I move the Start and End over here, okay?
• 04:34 So I'm just dragging the shapes in, so in this case, maybe if they picked on yes.
• 04:40 Then I want it to go to another
• 04:44 procedure. They can continue on.
• 04:51 But if they did not enter a correct login, then I want to stop it,
• 04:59 so I just typed in the word Stop there.
• 05:02 So of course, we're going to move these shapes around and
• 05:05 format the shapes, but now you have an idea.
• 05:08 of how to get your Visio diagram started.
• 05:12 Keep in mind, you'll always be able to add more shapes and
• 05:14 more stencils as you go forward.
• 05:17 Let's go ahead and save this, so I'll pick on File and then Save.
• 05:22 And then you want to give it a good name of course, so
• 05:24 I'll pick in the Browse choice.
• 05:27 And then usually it's going to put it into the Documents folder although you can pick
• 05:31 a different folder.
• 05:32 And I'm going to call this one, 1st
• 05:39 Diagram, and notice how it's going to have a vsdx extension and I'll click on Save.
• 05:47 And then notice how that name shows up on your title bar and
• 05:51 now we've made our first diagram in Microsoft Visio.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.