When you want to control the precise location of text with respect to a shape, you can rotate, size, and even move a shape’s text block. A text block can appear anywhere. When you create a new shape, its text block is set to the same size as the shape, but that’s not always the best location for text. In fact, in many Visio 2007 shapes, the text block appears below or beside the shape like a label. If shapes are crowded on a page, you can move text blocks to make labels more legible or rotate text used as an annotation. When you need to make text more readable and setting the margins isn’t enough, it makes sense to move or resize the text block, as Figure 4-23 shows.
To work with the text block, use the Text Block tool on the Standard toolbar. It works in much the same way that the Pointer tool works on shapes, but affects only the text block.
When you want to rotate a shape’s text, but not the shape itself, you can use either the Text Block tool on the Standard toolbar or the Rotate Text 90° tool on the Action toolbar (View, Toolbars, Action to display the Action toolbar). Both tools rotate only the shape’s text block. The Text Block tool lets you drag to any angle you want, whereas the Rotate Text 90° tool does what its name says.
To rotate, size, or move a text block, follow these steps:
Text Block tool
Most Visio 2007 shapes include a control handle that makes it easy to move and rotate the text block.
Follow these steps to quickly rotate a text block in 90-degree increments:
1. | If the Action toolbar is not visible, select View, Toolbars, Action. |
2. | Select a shape, and then click the Rotate Text 90° tool. Visio 2007 moves the text block 90° counterclockwise.
|