Free Line Rotation in Visio Pro 2007

[rosco]

I've been using Visio 2000 for the past 8 years but decided to give the
trial version a test to see if upgrading was worth doing. The first thing
that struck me was it all seemed very familiar. Seems to have a bunch of
refinements but the fundamentals seem very simlar.

One of the things that appear different is that shapes automatically show
their rotation point and rotation drag point when selected, so there doesn't
appear to be a dedicated rotation tool except for text.

The only problem I'm having is with the simple line. In Visio 2000 you can
free rotate a simple line. Haven't been able to figure out how to do the
same thing in the new version. Am I missing something?

 

[WapperDude]

I don't believe you're missing anything. But, there is a "work-around".
When you draw your line, add a small segment in some other direction. Then
click the select tool. The rotation drag point will appear since this is no
a shape not just a simple line. You can rotate it as you wish. When done,
delete the extra segment.

Hope this helps.
Wapperdude

 

[rosco]

Thank you.

Using your trick it works like a charm.

Interesting little anomaly. Played around with it a little. Even if you
create your straight line segment in two parts your trick still works. If
you build your line in that manner you don't even have to delete anything at
the end.

Was there ever a reason given for not allowing free rotation of a line?

 

[WapperDude]

Thank you for the feedback. Glad you could improve the technique. We've
both learned from your quesiton. I should mention there is one other way to
rotate the line. If you go to View and select the size and position window,
then, in that window there is a spot to type in the desired angle. This
would be more useful if you wanted very precise angles, but not nearly as
much fun. Should have mentioned this the first time.

Enjoy!

 

[Philippe C.]

Isn't this the whole point between 1D and 2D schapes ?
You can also change its behaviour.

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

The reason that that technique works is that you are changing a 1-d shape
into a 2-d shape. 2-d shapes have a rotation handle. To "rotate" a 1-d shape
you need to grab one of the end points and move it or set the angle in the
size position window. The only problem with using the end points is that the
line length may also change. You can lock the line length, but that is a lot
of extra work.far easier to use the size position window and set the angle
( or length )

John... Visio MVP

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