Task Pane:

The task pane in “Visio” is context sensitive, i.e, depending on what you’re doing in the work pane, options will be displayed in the task pane.
The task pane can be opened in various ways.
One way is to click on the “View” tab in the “Menu bar” and select “Task Pane” from the drop-down list.
A second way is to click on “Theme” in the “Formatting Toolbar”.
And a third way is to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F1.

By default, the various theme colors are shown in the task pane, and if you want a certain color to be applied to the diagram, you can do this by just clicking on that particular option in the task pane. The same applies to theme effects. Select the option “Theme Effects”; and click on the effect in the list that is to be applied.

Also, there are some other options. Just click on the arrow pointing downwards at the top right-hand corner of the pane. As you can see in the image below, a drop-down menu opens, with the options “Theme colors”, “Theme Effects”, “Data graphics”, “Reviewing”, “Clip Art”, “Research”, “Document Management”, “Document Updates” and “Refresh Conflicts”.

We can select the “Reviewing” option to review notes in “Visio” so that it is easy to track changes proposed in a drawing, to its present view.
For example, when the “Track Markup” option is enabled, you or your auditor can add shapes or comments which are placed on separate overlays, without changing the original drawing.
The “Clip Art” option is used for adding illustrations.
The “Research” option allows us to search for words or to look up the spelling of a particular word.
The “Document Management” option is used when we have a copy of the document which we want to share with others.
These options will be displayed, depending on what we are doing in the diagram, but by clicking on the “Close” button, we can hide the task pane.

Theme colors and effects

In the previous section of this lesson, I have already told you how to add a theme color or a theme effect to a diagram.
If we do not find the right color or effect, we can create our own color or effect.
To add a color theme, click on the “New Theme Colors …” tab, and to add a theme effect click on the “New theme effects ..” tab.
You will find both links at the bottom of the pane.

When we add a color theme, the “New Theme Colors” dialog box opens, in which all options seem quite clear to me.
To create a new themed effect, we click on the “New theme effects” tab and the “New theme effects” dialog box opens with six tabs.
In the first tab “General”, we specify a name for the effect . In the second tab “Text”, we determine the font that we want to use in the diagram.
In the third tab “Line”, we determine the line patterns of the edges of the diagrams, line thickness, transparency and whether the corners are rounded or not.
In the fourth tab “Fill”, we determine the pattern of the background shape, with or without transparency.
In the fifth tab “Shadow”, we specify the settings for the shadow including its size, position and shape.
And in the last tab “Connector”, we define the shape, thickness, and the ends of a connector.
In each tab, you will find a preview of the default settings.

Click OK when you’re done.

The new theme or theme color effect is placed under the category “Custom”.

If you want to make further changes, place your mouse pointer over the created effect or color, click on the downward pointing arrow that appears, and select “Edit” from the drop-down menu.

If you want to remove the theme, select “Delete” from the drop-down menu.
Please note, once you delete it, it cannot be recovered.

If you have an effect or color scheme that should be adjusted slightly, you can select the “Duplicate” option. This will ensure that a copy of the effect or color scheme is placed in the “Custom” section , where you can make changes by clicking on the “Edit” button.
This way you do not have to start from scratch when you create a new color scheme or determine the most plausible effect for all of your requirements. You only have to make a few changes.

Featured Courses

• Downloading iPad Apps
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Publisher
• Lesson 65: File Formats