Dynamic and Static Visio Shape Connectors

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About this lesson

In this module, you will learn several ways to quickly and easily connect the shapes with many built-in connectors.

Quick reference

Instructions

You can find the Connector Tool on the Home Menu.

If you click on the Connector Tool before you add shapes, it will connect the shapes as you add them in. Otherwise, you can connect the shapes manually by dragging the connector between two shapes.

You can find many different types of connectors by clicking on More Shapes, and then Visio Extras, and then Connectors. This will open a new stencil on the left side of the screen that will have many connectors.

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  • 00:03 In this lesson,
  • 00:04 I want to talk about different kinds of connectors within Visio.
  • 00:08 So let's go into Visio.
  • 00:11 And this time, I'm just going to use the basic flow chart template.
  • 00:16 And then we'll just use a basic flowchart over here and
  • 00:20 then I'll pick on create, good.
  • 00:22 Notice how that does give us the basic flow chart shapes that we've seen before.
  • 00:28 Now I'm going to click on the home menu and
  • 00:30 then I'm going to turn the connector on over here to connector tool.
  • 00:35 See this way as you add your shapes, it's automatically going to connect them.
  • 00:40 So let's say we'll use the start and the end shape of this pickup starting and
  • 00:45 to move it up to the top here.
  • 00:47 Now, I'm just going to move a process shape and
  • 00:50 that is because I have the connector tool on it that automatically connects this.
  • 00:55 So this is a pretty quick way to get this flow chart going to turn the connector on.
  • 01:01 Then as I add more shapes, it's going to automatically connect them.
  • 01:05 I'll pick on a decision tree here and then I'll pick on another process.
  • 01:10 See how they're automatically be connected.
  • 01:13 Now in that case, what I should have done is I should have clicked on the diamond
  • 01:18 first and then added that shape, but we can always readjust that.
  • 01:23 So when you're done with your connector tool,
  • 01:26 make sure you pick on the pointer tool to turn that back off again.
  • 01:31 So that was a dynamic connector, because it was automatically there
  • 01:37 and then it happened as soon as we added the shapes in.
  • 01:41 Now, I like to get rid of this connector.
  • 01:45 I'll just click on it and then press my delete key.
  • 01:48 Now, let's see if I wanted to connect these two shapes.
  • 01:50 This is more of a static connector.
  • 01:53 So I'm going to click on the diamond, I'll turn on the connector this way.
  • 01:56 Then as you move your mouse to a shape, you'll get the connector points.
  • 02:01 I'll just drag it from this shape over to this one and
  • 02:03 then it'll find the connector point there, as well.
  • 02:06 And now, those shapes are connected.
  • 02:09 So you can either put the connector tool on Azure, add your shapes and
  • 02:13 automatically connect them.
  • 02:15 Or once the shapes are there, you can pick on the connector tool and
  • 02:19 then connect the shapes that way.
  • 02:21 When you're done with your connector tool,
  • 02:23 you can always pick on the pointer tool to turn it back off again.
  • 02:26 Now let me show you where you can find many, many more connectors.
  • 02:30 It's actually going to be a whole different stencil.
  • 02:32 So I'm going to come over here and I'll pick on More Shapes,
  • 02:36 then we're going to pick on Visio Extras and then I'll pick on the word Connectors.
  • 02:41 So it's actually a separate stencil.
  • 02:45 And then notice how we have a lot more connectors over here.
  • 02:49 So we have a curve connect, the double tree is
  • 02:54 almost like a forecast, a multiple tree square.
  • 02:59 So then you have lots of different connectives to experiment with.
  • 03:03 So let's say I want this top shape to be connected to this one over here, so
  • 03:08 maybe I'll use that curve connect.
  • 03:10 I'm just going to drag it into the shape.
  • 03:14 And now watch what I'll do, then I'm going to move this point to this one.
  • 03:19 See how it finds the connector points when the shape and
  • 03:22 I move this one down over here.
  • 03:24 So that's how all of these connectors are going to work.
  • 03:27 You drag connector into the shape and then connect the different shapes.
  • 03:31 So let's try something like that again.
  • 03:33 So I'll say bottom to top connector.
  • 03:36 I'm just going to drag this one in.
  • 03:39 So in this case, I'll pick on this point and
  • 03:41 move it down to this shape and then see how the connector points light up.
  • 03:46 Good, I'll just tried this one over here.
  • 03:49 So all the shapes over here will work in a similar way.
  • 03:53 But this gives you many, many more connectors to work with.
  • 03:58 You can turn the connector tool on.
  • 04:01 And then as you add the shapes, they're going to connect automatically.
  • 04:05 Or once the shapes are there, I can pick on the connector tool.
  • 04:09 And then as you move your mouse towards a shape, the connector points will light up.
  • 04:14 So I'm just going to drag it from here down to this one, okay, for
  • 04:18 maybe like a different path.
  • 04:21 Then I picked on more shapes and then Visio Extras and
  • 04:25 then we did the connectors, and
  • 04:28 that gave us all of these other connectors that you can experiment with.
  • 04:32 Nobody's going to drag them into the shape and
  • 04:36 then reposition them so the points line up with the different shapes.
  • 04:40 That should give you a pretty good idea of how to work with the connectors here in
  • 04:44 Microsoft Visio.

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