Exporting Shapes and Diagrams

If you plan to use shapes as a Web graphic, or if you want to distribute a diagram to someone who doesn’t have Visio 2007 or the Visio Viewer, you can export the contents of a drawing file as a graphic file. Visio can save files in many different formats, including JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, WMF, EMF, and several less common formats. You can also save your Visio diagram as an HTML file.

Which format should you use? It depends, of course, on how you plan to use the diagram. If you want to include shapes as Web graphics, save them as GIF, JPEG, or PNG files. If the shapes are to be used in a document that will be professionally printed, save them as TIFF files. For use in other Windows applications, save them as WMF or EMF files. A general guideline is to consider whether you’ll need to edit the shapes after exporting them. If you export shapes as a graphic in bitmap format (which includes BMP, TIFF, and JPEG files), the graphic cannot be edited easily in other non-image-editing applications. If you export shapes in a vector graphic format, such as WMF and EMF, you probably can edit them in other applications.

When you export in a graphic format, Visio 2007 converts objects on the drawing page into the graphic format. The resulting image might not look exactly the same when you import it into another application, because the importing application probably also goes through a conversion process to bring the image in.

Troubleshooting: You need to share a Visio diagram with someone who doesn’t have Visio

You can share your diagram with others if you take a few extra steps:

  • As described earlier in the chapter, your co-workers can now view Visio documents even if they don’t have Visio installed on their computers. They need only download the Visio Viewer from the Microsoft Download Center.

  • You can publish the diagram on an internal Web site or distribute an HTML file. Use the Save As Web command on the File menu to save a Visio diagram as an HTML file or a Web-compatible graphic file. For details, see the section titled “Exporting Visio 2007 Diagrams for Use on the Web” in Chapter 5, “Using Visio Diagrams on the Web.”

  • You can use one of the methods described in this chapter to include the Visio 2007 diagram in a document in another application. For example, if your diagram’s audience has Word, you can export the Visio diagram as a graphic file, insert it in a Word document, and then distribute the Word document.

  • If people in your organization use Adobe Acrobat, you can create a PDF file of the diagram as described later in this chapter. That way, others can view it in Adobe Acrobat Reader, a freely available viewer.

  • In Visio 2007, you can also share your documents in a Document Workspace site. This is a Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services site centered on your document. Eligible co-workers can view and edit your drawing from the site. See Chapter 8, “Saving and Printing Your Work,” for more information.


Exporting a Shape as a Graphic

You can export a single shape, or multiple shapes, as a graphic that can be inserted or imported into another application. The Save As Type option of the Save As dialog box, shown in Figure 7-8, lists all the formats that Visio 2007 can export.

Figure 7-8. Visio 2007 can save a shape or diagram in many different formats.

[View full size image]

To export a shape or multiple shapes as a graphic, follow these steps:

1.
Select the shapes you want to export. Or, to export an entire page, display the page you want.

2.
Select File, Save As.

3.
In the File Name box, type a name for the file.

4.
Click the Save As Type drop-down list arrow to display a list of file formats, and then select the format you want.

5.
Click Save.

For many file formats, one of the following format-specific dialog boxes appears with additional options:

  • When you save your diagram as a JPEG image, you can choose operation type, format (RGB color, VCC color, Grayscale, or YCC color), background color, quality, transformation, resolution, and size for the image. You can also specify whether it will be a baseline JPEG (a simple JPEG) or a progressive image (a more complex JPEG, which provides a slightly better image but uses slightly more memory).

  • The GIF Output Options dialog box provides options for color reduction, background color, transparency, transformation, resolution, and size. You can also specify whether you want the GIF image to be interlaced.

  • The options for exporting a PNG file are the same as they are for a GIF file, but you can also choose a color format.

  • When you export a TIFF image, you can choose data compression method, TIFF color format, background color, transformation, resolution, and size.

Troubleshooting: Some shapes don’t appear when exported to other formats

If the Visio 2007 shape that you’re trying to export is actually a group, as is the case with Visio Network Equipment shapes, the shape might not appear in the exported file. One way to tell whether a shape is a metafile is to select the shape and then choose Format, Special. (You must be in Developer Mode. Choose Tools, Options, select the Advanced tab, and turn on the Run In Developer Mode check box.) You’ll see Type: Group if the shape is a metafile. Then, you can ungroup the shape, which converts it to separate Visio shapes. You might need to use the Ungroup command (Shape, Grouping, Ungroup) more than once until all parts are ungrouped and converted. You can then export the resulting shapes.


Exporting a Diagram in PDF Format

If you need to distribute a Visio 2007 drawing to people who don’t have Visio, consider saving your diagram in PDF format. That way, you can hand someone a Visio drawing they can look at right away in Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free and widely available viewer. (You can download it from the Adobe Web site.)

A PDF file is a great way to save your diagram in a format others can read without compromising the integrity of the image. Formerly in Visio 2003, you could not directly save your diagram to PDF file format. You had to use the Adobe Reader Distiller to save your work in PDF format.

For more information on PDF files, see the section titled “Exporting Visio 2007 Diagrams as PDF Files” in Chapter 5, “Using Visio Diagrams on the Web.” Another option for distributing your Visio 2007 drawings is to save them as Web pages. For details, see the section titled “Exporting Visio 2007 Diagrams for Use on the Web” in Chapter 5.


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