Mai-lan's Visio Blog
Interesting Process Modeling Tool
Readers have asked me for examples of other tools that use Visio for business process analysis. One...
Author: mailant Date: 06/10/2005
Saving Visio Diagrams as Metafiles Within Word Documents
One of the most common questions that I get involves how to paste Visio diagrams into Word without...
Author: mailant Date: 06/10/2005
Japanese Visio blog
Makoto writes a great Visio blog in Japanese. He knows a ton about Visio. I don't read Japanese but...
Author: mailant Date: 04/23/2005
Visio shortcuts mousepad
Dan Brown has put together a neat little Visio accessory -- a Visio reference mousepad with the...
Author: mailant Date: 04/23/2005
Dev Luv: Visio Drawing Control In VS 2005 Beta 2
Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 has a bug that breaks debugging for WinForm applications that host the...
Author: mailant Date: 04/23/2005
BPMN stencils for Visio
Visio does not natively support BPEL or BPMN, which are both commonly used in business process...
Author: mailant Date: 04/13/2005
Visio Use at Microsoft: Vaca Bubble Chart for Revenue Reporting
Visio lets people communicate business information in a variety of innovative ways. One example is...
Author: mailant Date: 03/30/2005
Dev Luv: Editing Visio Masters
The shapes that you see on the stencil on the left pane of Visio are called “masters.” Think of a...
Author: mailant Date: 03/24/2005
Office 2003 SP1 Whitepaper (Includes Visio 2003 SP1 Details)
I’ve posted a whitepaper from the Office Supportability Group that details what is in Office SP1,...
Author: mailant Date: 03/16/2005
Dev Luv: Hotfix for Control Developers
If you're developing on the Visio 2003 ActiveX control, please install this hotfix:...
Author: mailant Date: 03/15/2005
Dev Luv: Webcast on Programming Visio
I’m doing a webcast tomorrow called “Programming the Visio Development Platform” if you want to...
Author: mailant Date: 03/03/2005
Visio Integration With MS Products: Graphical “Strategy Maps” for Balanced Scorecard
There is a whole methodology called “Balanced Scorecard” which focuses on providing access to...
Author: mailant Date: 02/18/2005
Visio Integration with MS Products: Export Topology to Visio From MOM Server
The customer base for the Microsoft Operations Server (MOM) overlaps pretty significantly with...
Author: mailant Date: 02/18/2005
Dev Luv: Visio --> SVG --> XAML
I’ve gotten some questions about Visio’s ability to import or export XAML-based graphics files....
Author: mailant Date: 02/17/2005
Dev Luv: Step-by-Step Tutorial on Developing Visio Shapes Using ShapeStudio
We just published an article on MSDN that provides a step-by-step tutorial for using ShapeStudio to...
Author: mailant Date: 02/16/2005
Get Better at Visio Using Free MS Online Tutorials
Do you struggle with getting your shapes just right in your Visio diagrams? Do you have limited time...
Author: mailant Date: 02/16/2005
Dev Luv: Visio 2003 Drawing Control in Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1
The Visio 2003 Drawing Control does not work in the Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1. We’ve done some...
Author: mailant Date: 02/15/2005
Dev Luv: Distributing Custom Visio Stencils
Visio 2003 lets developers integrate their Visio content installation with a Windows Installer...
Author: mailant Date: 02/14/2005
Viewing Visio Files
When I gave my talk at the Microsoft Office System Developer Conference, I was surprised how few...
Author: mailant Date: 02/10/2005
Visio at the Microsoft Office System Developer Conference 2005
Last week, Microsoft hosted the Microsoft Office System Developer conference, the first ever...
Author: mailant Date: 02/10/2005
Dev Luv: Follow-up on Digital Certificate Question
A blog reader asked if it was possible to get a cheaper digital certificate for a smaller dev shop....
Author: mailant Date: 02/04/2005
Dev Luv: More Info on Digital Signing
I’ve gotten lots of mail from Visio blog readers who are still confused about how digital signing...
Author: mailant Date: 02/01/2005
Free 30-Day Visio 2003 Trial
There is a 30-day trial version of Visio 2003, if you want to check it out. Almost everything I blog...
Author: mailant Date: 01/31/2005
Visio Use at Microsoft: New Product User Interface Design for Program Managers
Among other things, Program Managers at Microsoft design the user interface experience for the next...
Author: mailant Date: 01/31/2005
Visio Use at Microsoft: Business Process Management Automation
Visio's “visualize information” mantra applies to many different customer scenarios. In the next...
Author: mailant Date: 01/28/2005
Dev Luv: Digital Signatures for Visio Documents
If you are shipping a custom ActiveX control in your Visio solution, it’s important to know that...
Author: mailant Date: 01/23/2005
Dev Luv: Guidelines for Developing Visio Managed COM Add-ins
If you are developing a Visio (or any Office) managed-code COM add-in, these resources will come in...
Author: mailant Date: 01/23/2005
Visio Program Manager Job Opening
In the spirit of networking, can you recommend or refer anyone that you think may be qualified or...
Author: mailant Date: 01/14/2005
Dev Luv: Determining When a Shape is Copied versus Added
A blog reader recently sent me mail asking how to programmatically determine if a shape has been...
Author: mailant Date: 01/14/2005
Visio for Information Architecture
Dan Brown, a blog reader, writes for Boxes and Arrows, an online magazine for information...
Author: mailant Date: 01/11/2005
Dev Luv: Are You A Visio Shape Developer?
Which option best describes how you use Visio shapes? (a) I only use the shapes that ship in the box...
Author: mailant Date: 01/10/2005
Great Shapes for Conceptual Architecture Diagrams in Visio (Part 3)
Jeff, a blog reader, noticed a cool Web service shape in a .NET article posted on MSDN. Here’s what...
Author: mailant Date: 01/07/2005
Using Visio Diagrams in Word Documents
Geetesh Bajaj, who owns https://www.indezine.com, has a nice, quick summary of how to use Visio...
Author: mailant Date: 12/06/2004
Great Shapes for Conceptual Architecture Diagrams in Visio (Part 2)
Sorry that I haven’t been posting frequently since Thanksgiving -- it gets super busy around the...
Author: mailant Date: 12/05/2004
Dev Luv: Identify Visio Shapes By ID, Not Name
The name of a Visio shape is not unique on a page. The name is only unique in its container. Visio...
Author: mailant Date: 11/24/2004
The Difference Between Visio’s Two Resource Toolkits
Visio 2003 has two resource toolkits which have similar names. The Microsoft Office Visio 2003...
Author: mailant Date: 11/23/2004
Visio for Enterprise Architects Versioning (and other responses to blog feedback)
Readers of my last blog on conceptual architecture shapes asked why they couldn’t find the new...
Author: mailant Date: 11/23/2004
Great Shapes for Conceptual Architecture Diagrams in Visio (Part 1)
I’ve gotten multiple requests from blog readers to show how to get the same visual quality as seen...
Author: mailant Date: 11/21/2004
Dev Luv: Four Best Practices When Event Handling in Visio
- Avoid Holding onto Multiple Visio Objects: If you need to keep track of Visio, pages, documents...
Author: mailant Date: 11/15/2004
Network Shapes and Auto-discovery Bundle for Visio 2003
We’ve put together a kit with two Visio partners, Fluke Networks and Altima Technologies, that...
Author: mailant Date: 11/14/2004
Christmas and Batman (in Visio)
Alexey Nichkov, a creative and expert Visio user, put together this varient on the person shape as a...
Author: mailant Date: 11/10/2004
What’s the Difference between a Cause and Effect diagram and a Workflow diagram? What’s a Brainstorming Diagram Anyway?
Visio has a depth and variety to templates that you will miss if you only use the Basic Shapes or...
Author: mailant Date: 11/08/2004
Visio Books and Resources
If you’re new to Visio, check out the Step-by-Step with Visio 2003 book. It provides an introduction...
Author: mailant Date: 11/04/2004
Dev Luv: New blog on Visio solution development!
Chris Castillo, Visio’s Application Development Consultant and .NET developer extraordinaire, has...
Author: mailant Date: 11/03/2004
Dev Luv: Storing Custom XML in Visio XML File Format
The Visio XML file format, as discussed earlier, is a physical file format with all the information...
Author: mailant Date: 11/03/2004
Getting back to blog commentors...
Just a reminder: If you post a comment to me through the blog's Contact form, remember to put your...
Author: mailant Date: 10/29/2004
Summary Reporting on Shape Properties in a Visio Diagram
Visio shapes often host properties in which users add details about the shape. For example, a...
Author: mailant Date: 10/29/2004
Dev Luv: Transforming Visio’s XML File Format
As I mentioned in my last blog on the Visio XML file format, Visio documents can be saved into a...
Author: mailant Date: 10/27/2004