Inserting Visio into Word

[Elbert]

Hello,

I haven't found a convenient way to insert Visio objects into a Word
document. Here's how I'd like to be able to do it:

1. "Insert|Object|Microsoft Visio drawing" would open Visio in separate
process with a large (say 8.5x11 inch) drawing space. (By default, Visio
edits in place with a 3x5 drawing space.)

2. When I return to Word, Visio would automatically remove the white space
from around the drawing for me. (By default, Visio leaves the white space;
I
can get rid of it, but I haven't found a way to do it that comes even close
to convenient.)

3. When I double click on the drawing in Word, Visio would open in a
separate process with the drawing on the large drawing space exactly as it
was when I created it. (By default, it edits in place, and if I've
eliminated the white space there's no room to add to the drawing.)

I'd appreciate any guidance you can give me to set up Visio so it will work
this way, or a way that would be equally convenient.

Thanks,

Elbert

 

[Elbert]

In case somebody else has the same question I have, and since there has been
no response to my question, here's what I've been able to find out on my own:

If you need to insert a lot of drawings into Word documents, then you will
quickly come to prefer root canal to using Visio. Try to insert a drawing
with more than a couple of simple shapes. Try to get rid of the white space
around the drawing. Try to put some white space around it again when you
open it to make a change, then get rid of the extra white space again. After
hours of trying, I figured out how to do all of these things, but they're so
tedious I finally gave up on Visio.

It's discouraging. I tried Visio around 10 years ago before it got gobbled
up by Microsoft. Although they claimed it did, it just didn't do object
linking and embedding at all--the best advice I could get from Visio was to
do the drawings in Visio and copy and paste them into Word, saving the Visio
document in case a change was needed. I thought surely when Microsoft took
over they'd fix the OLE. It now works, but it's awful. There's probably a
reason Microsoft doesn't do OLE well (or even at all--ever try to insert an
equation into OneNote?), but I can't imagine what it is.

So much for the venting. My suggestion is to try SmartDraw
(www.smartdraw.com, free trial.) Inserting into Word goes just the way you'd
like it to: SD opens in a separate process with a nice big drawing space (not
3x5 like Visio), automatically eliminates the white space when you return to
Word, and puts it back so you have room to work when you double click on the
drawing to make a change.

Elbert

 

[Amled]

Elbert, have you tried saving the visio drawing as a jpeg and then inserting
it into a word document. This is the only way I have been able to do it,
but........ the print quality is lousy

Delma

 

[Elbert]

Delma,
Thanks for the suggestion. I have not tried that because I think it would be
complicated for me. I'm writing a document with a lot of drawings (maybe
100-200), so I'd have to save a lot of jpeg files and figure out some way to
associate a jpeg file with a drawing in the book. And then how do you make a
change? I guess I'd also have to save the Visio version of each file, open
that, make the change, save the new version over the old jpeg, save the new
Visio file, and update the jpeg in the Word document. If I'm right about
what I'd have to do, life is too short.

Treble (aka Elbert)

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Thanks for taking the time to articulate your desires and the steps you
tried. This is excellent information for the product team as we look for
ways to improve Visio and Word interaction.

I would suggest that using OLE to embed a lot of drawings into Word is not a
good idea, regardless of the drawing application you use. Each of those OLE
embeds has to save a full copy of the drawing file in them. Your resulting
Word document will be huge and Word performance is likely to be slow.

For reference, the Office development teams create their 30 - 100 page
feature specification documents in Word. Visio is used to create the flow
diagrams and mock user interfaces. Once the number of images exceeds half a
dozen, embedding does not become practical. Usually we paste the drawings
into Word as Enhanced Metafiles. The Visio drawings are stored separately.

 

[Elbert]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for taking my rant seriously, and for the warning about inserting
many Visio objects into a Word document. I still hope you'll consiser my
suggestions, because I also create lots of short (say 5 pages) documents
with a few (say 5) drawings, and I really don't want to have to maintain two
files for each document (if I put all 5 drawings into one visio file) or 6
(if I put them in separate files.) By the way, I didn't think up the things
I suggested--SmartDraw has been working that way for the 10 or so years I've
been using it.

As for long documents, I keep each chapter in a separate file and have
noticed no serious performance problems with a few SmartDraw drawings in it.
But I think what you warned me about will probably kick in soon. I'm
planning (against the conventional wisdom that it's suicidal) to combine all
chapters into a master document. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again,

Elbert

 

[Pemo]

I haven't found a convenient way to insert Visio objects into a Word
document. Here's how I'd like to be able to do it:

1. "Insert|Object|Microsoft Visio drawing" would open Visio in separate
process with a large (say 8.5x11 inch) drawing space. (By default, Visio
edits in place with a 3x5 drawing space.)

I think the "8.5 x11 inch" is some sort of odd-sized page a bit wider and
shorter that A4. I suppose with Word it's assumed a graphic object within
a page is required - hence the default. However, one can drag the Visio
window to resize if required.

2. When I return to Word, Visio would automatically remove the white space
from around the drawing for me. (By default, Visio leaves the white
space; I can get rid of it, but I haven't found a way to do it that comes
even close
to convenient.)

Not Visio - it's a Word default to have any inserted object "in Line with
Text". It's just one of the more agricultural features of Word.
(Disclaimer - I only use Word because so many clients require Word format.
Personally I loathe Word)

3. When I double click on the drawing in Word, Visio would open in a
separate process with the drawing on the large drawing space exactly as it
was when I created it. (By default, it edits in place, and if I've
eliminated the white space there's no room to add to the drawing.)

I don't have that behaviour. If I resize the Visio Window while drawing the
object, dbl-click re-opens the Visio Window at the resized size. And I can
further resize if needed.

Notwithstanding the OLE behaviour, I tend to insert Visio Drawings into any
document (Word, WordPerfect, Corel Draw, Excel, Presentations, PowerPoint,
OpenOffice, etc) as Paste Special | Drawing (in Word terminology). It
gives crisp definition and minimum file-size.

I appreciate your point about Smart Draw and its OLE behaviour; however it
must also be said that Smart Draw is a very poor relation to Visio when it
comes to drawing capability.

Pemo

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

I think the "8.5 x11 inch" is some sort of odd-sized page a bit wider and
shorter that A4

Pemo

That's a North American thing called "letter" size paper. The other two non
standard sizes used up here are legal (8.5x14) and tabloid (11x17). A4 is
part of the A series, the metric standard.

John... Visio MVP

 

[Elbert]

Pemo,

Thanks for the information and suggestions.
I meant to say the white space inside the Visio object, not the space Word
leaves around the object.
But not in a separate process, at least not my copy. If I want a separate
process I have to right click and select Visio object open.
And then suppose you want to edit the drawing and add another shape below
the ones already in the drawing. Where do the new shapes go? With my copy,
there's no "paper" around the current drawing (A4 or 8.5x11 inch either one)
on which to add shapes.
Most of what I do is pretty simple stuff, and I've found Visio so
frustrating to use for what I need to do that I've never gotten around to
trying fancier stuff. I'll give the paste special route a try with
SmartDraw, though--smaller file sizes and better definition are always
welcome.

Thanks again,

Elbert

 

[Pemo]

Thanks for the information and suggestions.

(snip)

What it comes down to is that different users have different needs.

I've used Visio since the pre-Microsoft days; I still have Visio 4
Technical, and am able to use all its Technical stencils in later versions.

I use it for mechanical drawings, electrical/electronic circuit diagrams;
line diagram illustrations, architectural floor-plans and electrical,
plumbing, HVAC layouts, electrical phasor (vector) diagrams, etc etc etc
etc.

I thinks it's a pity MS downplay it as a flowcharting etc package, when it
is capable of so much more.

Pemo

 

[Pemo]

That's a North American thing called "letter" size paper. The other two
non standard sizes used up here are legal (8.5x14) and tabloid (11x17). A4
is part of the A series, the metric standard.

Ah! That's what it is. I've sometimes idly wondered. Odd proportions:
11:8.5 is 1.294:1
14:8.5 is 1.647:1
17:11 is 1.545:1

Metric A series is uniform 1.414:1 or (Root 2):1 or 1:0.7071

This is the RMS ratio; the ratio one uses to reduce a picture to 1/2 the
original area. All very rational.

I note that today is 4th July. Congratulations to USA on Independence Day;
yet why do you persist with those strange Imperial thingies????



Pemo

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

I'm north of there in that other British colony that celebrated last Friday,
Canada Day. ;-)

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://www.mvps.org/visio/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://www.mvps.org/visio/VBA.htm
Common Visio Questions http://www.mvps.org/visio/common_questions.htm

 

[Elbert]

I tried using paste special rather than insert object, and here's what I got
by way of file sizes:

no drawing: 273KB; drawing inserted using OLE: 354KB; drawing inserted using
paste special: 527KB.

Similar results using SmartDraw. Either I'm doing something wrong, or paste
special doesn't save any memory. Also, on my printer the OLE-inserted
drawing looks to the naked eye (well, not quite naked--I do wear glasses)
looks identical with the one pasted special.

Elbert

 

[Pemo]

I'm north of there in that other British colony that celebrated last
Friday, Canada Day. ;-)

Ah! I didn't notice the ---.ca; A cousin!

Pemo

 

[Pemo]

I tried using paste special rather than insert object, and here's what I
got
by way of file sizes:

no drawing: 273KB; drawing inserted using OLE: 354KB; drawing inserted
using
paste special: 527KB.

Similar results using SmartDraw. Either I'm doing something wrong, or
paste
special doesn't save any memory. Also, on my printer the OLE-inserted
drawing looks to the naked eye (well, not quite naked--I do wear glasses)
looks identical with the one pasted special.

Hmmmm. I'll play with it. What sort of drawing is it? Line diagram?
colour fills? gradients fills? containing vba?

I've always found that a Visio drawing into Word by Paste Special | Picture
always gives a smaller Word doc than OLE.

Will play with it. If not confidential, you could email the Visio VSD file
to me at (e-mail address removed) - underscore between "pemo" and "832". (I
have Visio versions 4.1, 2000, 2003). You have me intrigued.

Pemo