Using Themes
Themes are one of the neatest new features in Visio 2007. With a single click of the mouse, you can apply a professional formatting finish to your diagrams. With a couple more clicks, you can custom make your own finish. Themes apply to your entire diagram and incorporate not only colors, but also effects, as shown in Figure 23-5. Let’s take a look at how to apply a theme.
Applying a Theme Color
There’s really nothing to applying a theme. Here’s how.
1. | Open a diagram by selecting File, Open, and then browsing to your diagram. Alternatively, you can create a new diagram by selecting File, New and then choosing a template. You can also press Ctrl+N to open a new diagram. |
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3. | To apply theme colors to your diagram, select Theme-Colors from the drop down menu at the top of the Theme Task Pane. |
4. | Scroll through the themes and select the one you want by clicking it. Note that pausing your mouse over a theme displays its name. |
5. | The theme will be applied to your diagram. Note that by clicking the arrow to the right of each theme, you can choose whether to apply the theme to the current page or to the entire diagram. |
Note
You must have a background shape in your diagram if you want the theme’s background color to display.
Applying a Theme Effect
Theme Effects lets you control how your font, fills, shadows, lines, and connectors look. Here’s how to apply a theme effect to your diagram.
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2. | Open the Theme Task Pane by selecting Format, Theme or by clicking the Theme button on the Formatting Tool Bar.
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3. | Select Theme-Effects from the drop down menu at the top of the Theme Task Pane. |
4. | Scroll through the themes and select the one you want by clicking it. Note that pausing your mouse over a theme displays its name. |
5. | The theme will be applied to your diagram. Note that by clicking the arrow to the right of each theme, you can choose whether to apply the theme to the current page or to the entire diagram. |
Note
You can choose not to apply your selected theme to a new shape by simply removing the check from the Apply Theme To New Shapes checkbox at the bottom of the Theme Task Pane.
Making a Custom Theme
Although you can mix and match theme colors and styles to satisfy almost any need, Visio 2007 also provides the ability to create custom themes. Here’s how.
1. | Open a diagram by selecting File, Open, and then browsing to your diagram. Alternatively, you can create a new diagram by selecting File, New and then choosing a template. You can also press Ctrl+N to open a new diagram. |
2. | Open the Theme Task Pane by selecting Format, Theme or by clicking the Theme button on the Formatting Tool Bar. |
3. | If you want to apply custom colors, select Theme-Colors from the Theme Task Pane. |
4. | Now, at the bottom of the Theme Task Pane choose New Theme Colors (or New Theme Effects if you are applying Theme Effects), as shown in Figure 23-6. This displays the New Theme Colors window. Figure 23-6. You can create a limitless number of color combinations. Click the New Theme Colors link to display the New Theme Colors dialog box.
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5. | Visio 2007 themes apply a background color (shown in the large box in the Theme Task Pane), and other colors shown in the other rectangles to its right. These rectangles are used as the theme accents and are applied to different shapes as they are dragged onto the page. The New Theme Colors window lets you set the colors for all the components of your drawing. Click Apply to apply them to the drawing. |
6. | Click OK to close the New Theme Colors window. |
There is more, however, to a custom theme than bright colors. You can also combine your custom colors with custom effects. To do so, select Theme–Effects from the drop down menu at the top of the Theme Task Pane, and then click the New Theme Effects link at the bottom of the pane. That opens the New Theme Effects window, as shown in Figure 23-7.
Figure 23-7. You aren’t limited to new color combinations. Click the New Theme Effects link to display the New Theme Effects window.
There are six tabs in the New Theme Effect window, as described below.
General Under the General tab you can name your new theme something creative, like “Mark’s Theme.”
Text The Text tab, as you would imagine, allows you to select the default text your theme uses when you add text to a shape.
Line The line tab allows you to choose your type of line. You can choose the pattern (dotted, solid, etc), weight, transparency (the higher the percentage of transparency the more transparent the line is), and how the corners round. The larger the rounding measurement, the more gradual the rounding.
Fill On this tab you specify the shapes’ fill pattern and transparency. Again the higher the transparency percentage, the easier it is to see through the shapes.
Shadow Allows you to set the shadow that shapes project. The changes you make are displayed in the preview window. The degree of shadow offset dictates which direction the shadow falls in relation to the shape.
Connector These selections are similar to the line selections, with the following difference. In addition to determining what your connector’s body (i.e., line) looks like (including the ever-present transparency), you can also select the connector’s ends.
Comparing Themes and Styles
Applying a theme is somewhat similar to applying a style in that it’s a quick technique for making widespread changes in a diagram. Themes, however, are different from styles in the way they interact with locally formatted shapes. When you apply a theme in a diagram type that supports their use (most diagrams do), all the shapes, titles, borders, and backgrounds adopt coordinating colors from the scheme—unless you choose Format, Protection, and put a check in the From Theme Colors and From Theme Effects boxes. For example, a flowchart is a diagram type that supports themes. To apply a theme, choose Format, and then choose Theme. All the flowchart shapes you dropped into the diagram from the flowchart stencil will be filled with a color from the scheme—with the exception of any shapes that include manually formatted line and fill colors, as Figure 23-8 shows. Manually formatted colors remain unchanged.
Figure 23-8. This flowchart’s locally formatted Decision shape remains the same before (left) and after (right) applying a theme to the drawing.
What if you want all the shapes to adopt the theme colors? This is where styles and themes overlap to your advantage. If you restore the original styles to a shape, it will assume the theme automatically.
Why does this work? The answer lies in how Visio 2007 really applies a theme. A theme maps new color values to existing style definitions. All shapes formatted with those styles adopt the new themes. That’s why reapplying the master’s format also applies the theme, and that’s also why some master shapes don’t work with themes.
Overriding and Protecting Shape Formats
If you format a shape and then apply a style or theme, you run the risk of losing the formats you applied. That’s because applying a style or theme resets all the formatting options that come with the shape. In Visio 2007 terms, styles override local formatting. This behavior can be a little unsettling if you’re used to the way Word works. In Word, if you individually format one word in a sentence—for example, apply italics—and then choose a different theme for the paragraph, the italics format will be retained. Visio 2007 doesn’t preserve individual, local formats as Word does unless you know a few tricks.
One trick is to use the Style command on the Format menu, rather than the style lists on the toolbars. (For this to work you must be in Developer Mode. Choose Tools, Options, select the Advanced tab, and turn on the Run In Developer Mode check box.) Then you can apply a theme and prevent it from overriding your local formatting by selecting the Preserve Local Formatting check box, as Figure 23-9 shows. If you don’t select the Preserve Local Formatting check box, Visio 2007 applies the new theme and overrides any local formatting.
Figure 23-9. The Preserve Local Formatting check box in the Style dialog box lets you save any manual formatting you’ve applied to a shape and still apply the style.
Another trick is to use the toolbar style lists, but choose your style carefully. For example, if you’ve manually formatted the text for a number of flowchart shapes but want to apply a style that changes their fill color, choose a style from the Fill Styles list. When Visio 2007 displays the message that asks you whether you want to apply the style’s line and text formats as well, click No. That way, Visio 2007 applies only the fill formatting in the style, thus preserving your local text formatting.
Note
Of course you can also format multiple shapes. First select them by either holding down the Shift key and clicking each shape in turn or by lassoing the shapes. Then right-click your selection and select Format. The format you choose is applied to the selected shapes. Alternatively, you can select a shape with the format you desire, double–click the Format Painter tool, and then click multiple shapes you wish to format. It’s no fuss, and very little muss.
Inside Out: Checking for local formattingHow can you tell that a shape has been locally formatted? You can’t—not if you look on the drawing page. However, if you look at the shape in the ShapeSheet window, the settings that represent local formats—that is, your edits to the shape—appear as blue formulas. |
Restoring the Factory Default Shape Formats
If you are running in Developer Mode (choose Tools, Options, select the Advanced Tab, and turn on the Run In Developer Mode check box), you can remove local formatting from a shape and restore its original styles. One reason to do this is to make sure shapes look consistent when you’re creating a new stencil or to make sure a shape adopts a diagram’s theme. The Styles command provides an easy way to restore the styles that came with the master shape, as Figure 23-10 shows.
Figure 23-10. You can restore the default styles with the Format, Style command.
To restore default styles to a shape, first select a shape, and then choose Format, Style. Next, click the Text Style drop-down arrow, and then select Use Master’s Format. Repeat for the Line Style and Fill Style lists, and then click OK.
Note
This technique works only when you’re using shapes that you dragged from a stencil. If you created the shape on the page, it didn’t come from a master, so nothing happens when you select Use Master’s Format. If, however, you save the shape to a custom stencil, it becomes a master, with its own master properties. If you subsequently use that stencil in another drawing you can change and reset the format.
Formatting Locked Shapes
Visio 2007 shapes can be protected against formatting. When you try to apply a style or theme to a protected shape, you might see the error message shown in Figure 23-11, or you might see nothing at all. It depends on whether the shape was locked or guarded, two methods of protecting formatting that can affect your ability to interact with shapes on the drawing page. Shape designers usually have good reasons for locking a shape, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an equally good reason for unlocking it. It’s always fun to defeat shape protections and have your way, but be prepared for odd results. Sometimes those locked formulas can have a domino effect on shape appearance or behavior.
Figure 23-11. Visio 2007 prevents you from editing a shape that’s been locked.
Removing Style Locks
To reset a shape so that you can apply a style or theme, you must edit its ShapeSheet settings. To be on the safe side, make a copy of the shape first, and then edit the copy.
Follow these steps to unlock a shape:
1. | Select the locked shape, and then choose Window, Show ShapeSheet. |
2. | Scroll down until you see the Protection section. 
If you don’t see this section, choose View, Sections, select the Protection check box, and then click OK. |
3. | Click in the LockFormat cell, type 0, and then press Enter. The shape is now unlocked, because a value of 0 (or false) disables the lock. You can close the ShapeSheet window and then apply a style or format. |
Note
The ShapeSheet-challenged among us might prefer to right-click the locked shape, choose Format, Protection, and click None. Click OK and you are done.
Formatting Guarded Shapes
Sometimes you try to apply a style, choose a format, or apply a theme, and nothing happens—no error message, no format change, nothing. It might be that the shape includes guarded ShapeSheet settings that prevent you from making the change. If you’re a shape programmer, the GUARD function is a useful way to protect your formulas. If you’re a user who wants to format a guarded shape, there aren’t any simple workarounds. Formulas are guarded so that they aren’t overwritten when users interact with shapes, and usually that’s a good thing. It keeps the shape behaving the way it’s supposed to.
For details about the GUARD function, see the section titled “Protecting Shape Formulas” in Chapter 25, “Making Shapes Smart.”