Expand / Collapse

[Paul D (Aus)]

I'm creating a very large flow chart and I've been asked to create one that
can expand/collapse various areas, so that the audience can either view a
high level diagram or view a lower level diagram simply by clicking on the
area. Similar function to what is available in MS Project.

Does anyone know if such functionality exists in Visio?

Cheers,
Paul

 

[John]

Hello Paul,

You could setup a 'high-level' view of the process on the first page and
then insert hyperlinks (Insert/Hyperlinks/Browse Subaddress) into the
respective shapes that link to other more detailed pages. There are a
number of other options such as 'off page reference' shapes (see Basic
Flowchart Stencil), but it sounds like hyperlinks would be the way to go.

You may want to consider, though, how you are intending to distribute the
diagram. Will all user's have Visio installed on their machines and if not
are you considering:

Visio Viewer
PDF / XPS
Web page

Different formats will impact your choice.

Hope that helps.

Best regards

John

 

[ScottFisher2004]

I like the hyperlink option if the supporting files are all online and users
are only accessing the flow online. Otherwise, I prefer to set up the
high-level view as described by John; and then modify the behavior of the
high-level shapes to launch the supporting pages when the shape is
double-clicked.

To accomplish this in Visio 2003, simply select the shape, select
Format-Behavior, go to the 'Double-Click' tab of the popup window, select 'Go
to Page', click the 'Go to Page' drop-down, and select the name of the page
you want launched when the shape is double-clicked.

If you take this approach, you probably want to insert a off-page reference
shape (see John's note) on every page that links back to the main, high-level
page.

Hope you find this helpful! Good luck!

-Scott