connector line help needed

[Charlie Brookhart]

I have created several flowcharts in Visio and one of things that I am
having problems with is using a connector line to come off of a decision
shape and run back up to one of the main connector lines for purposes of
creating a loop. For example, I will have the start shape, connector line,
pre-defined process shape for a module called startup, a connector line,
another pre-defined process shape for a module called main, a connector
line, and then a decision shape with a text label. I want to run the
connector line from the decision shape back to the connector line that
appears just before the main module and have this connector line point to
the left.

I have noticed that the connector lines seem to have their own idea on where
to go because I sometimes end up with a connector line that appears as a
double arrow head pointing up and down when it reaches another connector
line. I also find the connector line I am drawing from the decision shape
will not simply go up and to the left like I want it to. It will instead go
up, to the left, and then up again.

In order to get around this, I am having to make my connector lines at least
5 blocks long on the grid sheet just to get the line to appear the way I
want it.

Can anyone tell me why it has to be done this way? For a long flowchart, a
lot of space would be wasted with just the connector lines.

 

[Khoshravan]

Dear Charlie
I have the same problem as you mentioned. If you got answer for your
problem, please share it in newsgroup so that others can from it. Thanks in
Advacnce.

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

There could be several things causing this.

One thing you might check is the shape size and spacing defaults in the page
layout. Go to File > Page Setup > Layout and Routing tab > Spacing button.
See if the dimensions in there roughly correspond to your shapes. You may
need to make these values smaller. I would suggest experimenting by
changing each value to be half its current amount. If you have a fixed grid
size, I would use values that equal half the size of a grid square.

--
Mark Nelson
Office Graphics - Visio
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.