Laying Out Office Space

Core Training for Microsoft Visio Standard 2002

Creating an Office Layout

1	To open a template for creating a new office layout drawing, click the File menu, point to New, point to Building Plan, and then click Office Layout (US Units).
2	Notice the rulers at the top and left side of the drawing, which indicate the drawing scale. To change the drawing scale, click the File menu, and then click Page Setup...
3	In the Print Setup dialog box, click the Drawing Scale tab.
4	On the Drawing Scale tab, under the Pre-defined scale option, click the arrow on the box that displays 1/2" = 1'0".
5	To use a smaller drawing scale that shows more detail, on the vertical scroll bar of the displayed drop-down menu, click once above the scroll box, and then click 1/4" = 1'0".
6	Notice that recalculated measurements are displayed in boxes below Page size (in measurement units). To see the new drawing scale applied to the rulers on the drawing page, click Apply.
7	To accept this change, click OK.
8	To insert a shape that represents an office space into the drawing, on the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, point to the Space shape, hold down the mouse button, drag the shape to the center of the drawing page, and then release the mouse button.
9	To center the layout in the drawing page, click the Shape menu, and then click Center Drawing.
10	To increase the width of the shape on the right, point to the middle-right selection handle of the selected shape and, when a double headed arrow appears, hold down the mouse button, drag to the right by five gridlines, and release the mouse button.
11	To combine the two Space shapes, hold down the SHIFT key, click the unselected Space shape, and release the SHIFT key.
12	To finish combining the selected shapes, click the Shape menu, point to Operations, and click Union.
13	To convert the selected shape into walls, click the Plan menu, and then click Convert to Walls...
14	To display the dimensions of the walls, in the Convert to Walls dialog box, click the Add dimensions option, and then click OK.
15	To select a wall, on the drawing page, click the top horizontal wall, which is labeled 10'-0".
16	To add a guide to the selected wall that can help you align it more precisely with measurements on the ruler, click the Shape menu, point to Actions, and then click Add a Guide.
17	To resize the layout, in the blank area to the left of the drawing page, point to the green guide line and, when a double headed arrow appears, hold down the mouse button, drag upwards to the 30' marker on the vertical ruler, and then release the mouse button.
18	To deselect the guide, at the lower-right of the drawing page, click the vertical wall labeled 10'-0" in the office layout.
19	To delete the selected wall, press the DELETE key.
20	To insert a curved wall into the drawing, on the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, point to the Curved wall shape, hold down the mouse button, drag the shape to the center of the space where the wall was just deleted, and release the mouse button.
21	To rotate the selected curved wall shape to the right, click the Shape menu, point to Rotate or Flip, and then click Rotate Right.
22	To connect the curved wall to the horizontal 11'-0" wall, point to the top green end point of the curved wall shape, hold down the mouse button, drag upwards to the open end of the horizontal 11'-0" wall and, when the connection turns red, release the mouse button.
23	To deselect the curved wall shape, click to the right of the Curved wall shape.

Adding Doors, Windows, and Furniture

1	To insert a door into the layout, on the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, point to the Door shape, hold down the mouse button, drag the shape to the center of the top horizontal wall labeled 10'-0", and release the mouse button.
2	To begin changing the width of the selected door, click the Shape menu, point to Actions, and then click Properties.
3	In the Custom Properties dialog box, click the Door width arrow, click 36 in., and then click OK.
4	To modify the selected door to open inwards, click the Shape menu, point to Actions, and then click Reverse In/Out Opening.
5	To insert a window into the layout, on the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, point to the Window shape, hold down the mouse button, drag the shape to the center of the vertical wall labeled 11'-0" to the right of the door, and release the mouse button.
6	To resize the selected window, point to the bottom red connection point of the window and, when a double-headed arrow appears, hold down the mouse button, drag downwards by one gridline, and release the mouse button.
7	To display shapes related to cubicles, in the Shapes window, click the Cubicles stencil.
8	To insert furniture into the layout, on the Cubicles stencil, point to the L workstation shape (top row, second shape), hold down the mouse button, drag the shape into the upper room of the office, so that it touches the bottom-left corner of this part of the office, and then release the mouse button.
9	To resize the workstation so that it fits within the 6' lower wall, on the right side of the selected shape, point to the middle selection handle and, when a two-headed arrow appears, hold down the mouse button, drag the edge to the left until it aligns with the vertical wall below it, and release the mouse button.

Organizing Shapes with Layers

1	To add a callout to one of the shapes in the drawing, on the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, point to the Callout shape, hold down the mouse button, drag the shape to the right until the callout line points to the right end of the table, just below the upper plant, and release the mouse button.
2	To add text to the callout, type Verify table size, and then click the blank drawing page below the callout text.
3	To display the layers to which the wall shapes are assigned, click the horizontal wall labeled 11' 0'', then click the Format menu, and click Layer...
4	Notice that the Wall layer is selected. To scroll to the top of the list of assigned layers, in the Layer dialog box, in the On layer(s) list, click once above the scroll box in the list scroll bar.
5	Notice that the Building Envelope layer is also selected. To close the Layer dialog box without changing the layers to which this shape is assigned, click Cancel.
6	To begin locking the Building Envelope layer to prevent changes to all shapes assigned to this layer, click the View menu, and then click Layer Properties...
7	In the Layer Properties dialog box, in the top row, labeled Building Envelope, click to add a check mark in the Lock column, and then click OK.
8	Notice that the previously selected horizontal 11'-0" wall shape is no longer selected because it is part of the locked layer. To check whether a shape is locked, on the vertical wall labeled 11'-0", click the Window shape.
9	Notice that the Window shape cannot be selected. To modify additional layer properties, click the View menu, and then click Layer Properties...
10	To scroll down in the list of layers, in the Layer Properties dialog box, on the list scroll bar, click once below the scroll box.
11	To hide the Verify table size callout, in the Notations row, click to remove the check mark from the Visible column, and then click OK.
12	Notice that the callout is no longer displayed. To display the callout again, click the View menu, and then click Layer Properties...
13	In the Layer Properties dialog box, on the scroll bar, click once below the scroll box, and then, in the Notations row, click to add a check mark in the Visible column.
14	To change the color of the selected Notations layer, click the Layer color arrow, click 9: (Green), and then click OK.

Importing Logos and Other Pictures

1	To begin inserting a picture into the drawing, click the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then click From File...
2	In the Insert Picture dialog box, double-click the Garden Company folder, and then double-click the Logo folder.
3	To allow for a preview of the image file in this folder, at the top of the Insert Picture dialog box, click the Views arrow (to the left of Tools), and then click Preview.
4	To insert the selected picture into the drawing, click Open.
5	To reposition the logo, point to the selected picture, hold down the mouse button, drag the picture to the upper-right corner of the drawing page, and then release the mouse button.
6	To resize the logo, point to the lower-left selection handle, when a double-headed arrow appears, hold down the mouse button, drag diagonally up and to the right, and when the selection handle touches the blue guide line, release the mouse button.
7	To begin making the selected picture transparent, click the Format menu, and then click Picture...
8	In the Picture dialog box, point to the Transparency slider, hold down the mouse button, drag to the right until the Transparency box displays 50%, and release the mouse button.
9	Notice that, to illustrate the level of transparency, the preview of the logo has a checkered effect. To apply the change, click OK.