Visio® 2007 Bible

Chapter 8. Inserting, Linking, and Embedding Objects

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Using hyperlinks to navigate

• Understanding linking and embedding

• Using OLE links

• Embedding objects

• Inserting graphics in Visio

• Fine-tuning Visio drawings for PowerPoint

Microsoft Visio diagrams typically don't exist in a vacuum, because the very point of Visio is to communicate information in a visual way to others out there. Sometimes, Visio drawings stand alone, but most of the time, they become a part of larger communications, in reports or presentations, for example.

To facilitate this kind of information sharing, you can create hyperlinks to Visio drawings from Word documents, Excel workbooks, PowerPoint presentations, and other programs. Click the hyperlink, just as you do in a web site, and Visio and the drawing are launched. Taking this concept of linking a step further, you can insert Visio drawings as links in other application files, ensuring that any edits to the Visio drawings automatically appear in the linked documents. A third method is to insert, or embed, separate copies of Visio drawings in other application files, where you can view the drawings and use Visio tools to edit them at will. And finally, you can always save Visio drawings in another file format, such as JPEG graphic files, to share the drawings while preventing any editing by others.

These methods work in the other direction as well. Hyperlinks can take you from Visio to documents in other applications. You can link or embed text from Word ...