Visio 2010: Prevent Co-Linear Connector Routes

Question

I have recently picked up Microsoft Office Visio 2010 in the interest of drawing out the execution flow of a software application I am planning. So far I have enjoyed the program, and it has helped me significantly to figure out exactly what interactions and events I will need for the program even before I begin coding it. However, there is one gripe I have with the software, as I add new elements to the diagram, Visio tends to try to combine routes as often as possible. This can make it difficult at times to see exactly where some of the routes are pointing. For example:

Example 1: Example 2:

In Example 1, You can see that there are three routes, each with a different label. Originally, these labels would overlap each other as well. I figured out this can be turned off in the "Page Layout" dialog, so it's a little better than it was, but the beginnings and ends of the route are still combined. Here it's not really an issue, but it could be as shown in Example 2.

What's pointing where in Example 2? The line coming in from the left is pointing at the diamond on the bottom, and then there are three routes coming out the top of the diamond. This is the problem I'm trying to solve. It's not shown in these examples, but putting labels on those three routes in Example 2 puts the labels all on that long stretch of vertical, which makes it impossible to tell which label corresponds to which line.

Is there a way to prevent the lines from overlapping like this? I have fully explored the "Page Setup" dialog, but none of the options available there seem to allow this behavior. The only solution I was able to find online was to draw all the routes manually, but this would mean I cannot use the "Re-Layout Page" feature, and it could be rather time-intensive if Visio decides to do it often.

Update: While messing around with some more settings trying to find a solution to this, I came up with a great example showing just how bad this can get. Now, this is an extreme example, and if your diagrams look like this you're probably doing it wrong, but it clearly shows that it can quickly become impossible to tell what the source and destination for each line is.

Stopcock

this is the most dreaded problem I have ever faced with Visio – Wombat

Answer 1

After many more hours of searching for ways to make routes either not overlap or play nice, the only solution I've found that keeps being recommended is to re-arrange the routes manually. Changing things like snap settings and page layout options do help to some degree, but not completely. Hopefully the next incarnation of Visio will handle this better. Oh well, it's still a great tool and has definitely helped me visualize execution flow.

Stopcock

It's Visio 2013. Is there any improvements? – Burgin

Seriously we'd have to resolve to rearranging the routes manually? And I thought that Microsoft has over 100k employees... – Mahler

I've found the same :-( – Fastness

Answer 2

This may not be the solution for you but in my network diagrams, I can perform the following.

In Visio 2010 click Design tab, now click Connectors, and select curved.

It separates the lines but again it might not look right for a flow chart.

Phrasing

Answer 3

I'm having the exact same issue and have not found a satisfactory solution.

I've tried all the permutations of snap/glue settings, layout behaviour and connector behaviour with no success.

The best solution I've found so far is to manually add multiple connector points to your source and destination and use those to connect your shapes. Make sure 'no overlap' is specified for your connectors. You can then use the automatic align/layout tools and get something reasonably unambiguous.

You do lose the benefits of dynamic glue but you can mitigate that by deleting connection points (ie from one side of a shape) to force Visio to use your custom connections. You'll also have to disable 'glue to geometry' in the snap/glue options.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/visio-help/add-move-or-delete-connection-points-HP001231166.aspx

Please update this question if you find a better solution.

Reflexion

Answer 4

Huh. Most of the time, I have trouble getting my lines to overlap nicely :).

You might try changing some of the Snap & Glue settings:

On the View tab, in the Visual Aids group, click the dialog box launcher (the little two-headed arrow). In the Snap & Glue dialog box, I'd try changing the Snap to setting for Shape geometry.

Walleyed

Played around with those settings a bit, but they didn't seem to do anything. Thanks for the suggestion though. And I wouldn't have a problem with my lines overlapping, provided it was still easy to tell which lines were pointing where. As shown in the 2nd (and new 3rd) example above, the default behavior doesn't guarantee this at all. – Stopcock

Answer 5

I cna't tell if you're talking about doing this from code or not, but I've found the Design -> Layout -> Re-Layout option takes care of this.

Myongmyopia

Answer 6

Similarly to Alex I've found adding my own glue points to shapes and removing the default ones helps enormously. So does making sure one has appropriate settings under Page Setup | Layout and Routing:

• Style: Right Angle
• Separate: All lines
• Overlap: No Lines
• Appearance: Straight
• Spacing: I found all these distances especially important

Being aware of the setting for each connector under Developer | Behaviour | Connector | Reroute, how that setting changes from "Freely" to "On Crossover" when a connector is rerouted manually is also important. Sometimes I find it necessary to set a particular connector to "Never". Also useful is the ability to select all the connectors (and NOT the shapes) with Select by Type when forcing Visio to reroute.

I'm doing this with Visio 2013's ERD diagrams and I've noticed that whilst I have defined my own connection points now on each entity it is usually best not to actually select them but let Visio dynamically select the "best" one - then if I re-arrange the entities the re-routing still works. One curiosity I've noticed is that Visio's connectors do not align with my connection points at the bottom of each entity but (since I deleted the OotB connection point at the bottom of the entity at any rate) is spacing the connectors appropriately. Along the top and down the sides the connectors are dynamically attached in the same places as my connection points.

I still sometimes have problems with connectors being placed under/inside/through entities (so a connector running through/inside/under a shape) [with ERD's especially with self-referential relationships] despite Developer | Behavior settings on both the connector and the shape seemingly to prevent that. Those are often the ones I have to route manually and set to re-route "Never".

Metonym

Answer 7

[Visio 2016] Not a complete solution, just an aid to manual re-routing, ...

Add "Connection Point" to the two shapes. Each connection line will then have its own route, ... though some overlapping might still occur.

Being graphically challenged, here is how I accomplish it, ...

Select the one of shapes (I have to also zoom in to get better placement control).
Select the X in the [Home] menu bar.

The selected shape will have small bumps for any shape connection points.
Press and hold the Ctrl key and hover on the boarder of the shape, the mouse cursor will change to show where a point would be added.
Ctrl-Click to add a connection point. Here I added 10 or so points.

Add additional connection points to the other shape and move the connectors to use unique points on the two shapes. Your connectors will be (more or less) separated.

Moffit