I'm pretty sure it would be possible to do this. Each shape would need a name so you probably need the excel data to include that if you want the users to know what they are dragging onto the page.

However, in the interests of being efficient, you may only need one shape and just populate the variable settings via shape data as you add the shape to the page. If you were using the Visio Professional version of Visio you could import the excel data as a datasheet for efficiency too.

Post sample Visio and Excel files if you want a working demo made up.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia