Microsoft Visio 2021: Applying Layers to a Drawing

Name: Microsoft Visio 2021: Applying Layers to a Drawing
Author: Ali Green

Learn how to add Shapes to the Layer Properties and select particular shapes with the Selection Tool

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, this is Ali Green and in this lesson, we're gonna explore our zoom tools. Now, our zoom is gonna help us get really close and really far away on our drawings. Let's get started. And our drawing is composed of our various shapes. Now, really quickly, if we wanted to zoom, in the lower right-hand corner, you'll have your plus sign to zoom in and you'll also see the percentage in the corner and you'll also have your minus sign to zoom out. And if you go a little bit further over to the right, you'll see fit page to current window, we'll click on that, and that's gonna fit our page to the window. Also as a shortcut, if you hold down Control and you scroll up with your mouse wheel, you can zoom in, still hold the Control and you scroll down with your mouse wheel, you can zoom out. So quick, easy way for us to zoom in and zoom out. Let's come up to View and we'll come on over to the left. In our zoom area, we have zoom, fit to window, and the page width. Now, if we click on the page width, that's gonna fit our page width in our zoom view. We also have fit to window so we can see the entire page with fit to window. Above, we have zoom, so we'll click on zoom and we'll click on a number. Right now, we're at whole page. If we click on 200, click on OK and we're zoomed in super duper close. We'll click on zoom again and we'll come down to 75, click on OK and we're zoomed out. And let's click on fit to window. And again, that'll fit our page to our window. Another way for us to zoom is to come on over to left, click on the task pane and come down to pan and zoom. And with our pan and zoom, we'll get a bar over on the right and we'll grab this little bar and we'll zoom in. And within the pan and zoom, you'll see a blue outline. And if we hover, we'll get our four-way arrows and we can drag around. Now within our blue rectangle is our zoom area. Outside we can't see it. So if we hover at the edge and we expand on the view of our drawing, we can see more of the zoom area. We can also click on this rectangle on the right. Drag up, that's gonna get us really close. Drag down, that's gonna get us far away. And those are some of our zoom tools. We've talked about our zoom tool at the bottom, our shortcut keys, we've also talked about our fit to width and our page width. Thank you guys for watching and I'll see you in the next lesson.

Intermediate Provider : Ali Green 3 Lessons · 11m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

As our drawing becomes more extensive and more complex, we want to think about ways to manage them. By understanding the Layers tools in Microsoft Visio, working with shapes can be more straightforward. This module will teach you how to control the printing and the visibility of a shape through the Layer Properties and automatically assign new shapes to a diagram when you choose the active layer option. To make the most of the tools and templates available within Microsoft Visio, it is important to know how to use the Select and Layer tools.

This module will explain how Microsoft Visio’s shape tool makes it easier to work with large amounts of data without the hassle of getting bogged down with data overload. We will also explore how the Layers panel can allow you to assign shapes to any layer you create. Within the Layers properties, we will look at how you can lock a shape on the page, control the visibility, and decide whether a shape will print.

What You'll Learn

Create layers and add shapes to layers in a Microsoft Visio drawing
Use the options available in the Layers panel to assign shapes to any layer you create
Apply layers to shapes using the active layer option to automatically assign new shapes
Control a shape's visibility, locking, and printing through the Layer Properties window
Use the Selection Tool effectively when working with shapes
Manage large, complex drawings by organizing shapes with the Layers tools

Key Takeaways

The Layers tools in Microsoft Visio help manage drawings as they become more extensive and complex, making working with shapes more straightforward.
Through the Layer Properties, you can control whether a shape prints, lock a shape on the page, and control its visibility.
Choosing the active layer option automatically assigns new shapes to a diagram.
The Layers panel lets you assign shapes to any layer you create.
Knowing how to use the Select and Layer tools helps you make the most of the tools and templates available within Microsoft Visio.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will this Microsoft Visio 2021 module teach me?

It teaches you how to create layers and add shapes to them, use the options in the Layers panel, and use the Selection Tool effectively. You will also learn to control a shape's printing and visibility through the Layer Properties and to automatically assign new shapes to a diagram using the active layer option.

What lessons are included in this module?

The module includes three lessons: Explore the Layer Properties Window, Applying Layers to Shapes, and Using the Selection Tool.

Who is this module helpful for?

It is helpful for those working with extensive or complex Microsoft Visio drawings who want to manage them more easily, since understanding the Layers tools makes working with shapes more straightforward and helps handle large amounts of data without data overload.

What can I control through the Layer Properties?

Within the Layers properties, you can lock a shape on the page, control its visibility, and decide whether a shape will print.