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  #1  
Old 07-02-2014, 11:00 AM
Orthoducks Orthoducks is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 64bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 64bit
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Default How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves?

I am creating component diagrams which contain many diagonal connectors with labels. The labels need to be oriented horizontally. I know how to rotate them, but when I move a shape attached to a connector the connector moves, its slope changes, and its label's orientation changes with the slope.



How can I make the labels stay horizontal, once I've made them so? It seems to me that I'm looking for a way to tell Visio, "This connector's label is oriented relative to the page, not the connector," but I'm open to any solution that works.
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Old 07-03-2014, 05:51 AM
JimP JimP is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 32bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 32bit
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When you move a shape with a connector attached, the connector will move and the slope will change...it is supposed to. You could disconnect the connector prior to moving the shape to eliminate any potential rotation of the shape. However, I do not understand how the label/shapes orientation is rotating.

Can you attach a representative file where the problem exist? I wouldn't mind checking that out.
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  #3  
Old 07-03-2014, 08:49 AM
Orthoducks Orthoducks is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 64bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 64bit
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How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves?
 
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I tried creating a simple example, and it didn't exhibit the problem. The labels began life horizontal, and stayed horizontal no matter what happened to the connector's slope.

I created a simplified version of one of my actual drawings which did exhibit the problem. There is one sheet with two shapes and a connector; move either shape and you'll see the orientation of the connector's label change.

Most interesting, when I added new shapes and connectors to the drawing that exhibits the problem, they did not exhibit the problem.

So there's something about the connectors in my existing drawings that causes the problem.

Fixing the problem by hand (replacing the old connectors and/or shapes with new ones) is a manageable solution, provided I know how to prevent the problem from recurring.
Attached Files
File Type: zip Label problem.zip (153.4 KB, 11 views)
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  #4  
Old 07-03-2014, 09:15 AM
JimP JimP is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 32bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 32bit
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Yes, the connector label "tilted" has a "Top Margin" set at 40 pt, whereas all other margins are set to 2 pt. To fix, highlight the line/text then from the HOME ribbon (1) click on the small arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the FONT selection (The text dialog menu will appear). Then (2) click on the "Text Block" at the top of that menu. Under "Margins" reset the value from "40 pt" to "2 pt". That should cure your problem.

On another note, if the text does continue to change its orientation, you can add the "Rotate Text" icon to your "Quick Access Toolbar" at the top of the Visio page. Once you do that, just click on the text the click on the Rotate Text icon until you text is in the correct postion. (In this particular case, it would be easier to delete the existing line and replace the connecter and text altogether).

Hope this helps...
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Old 07-07-2014, 09:05 AM
Orthoducks Orthoducks is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 64bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 64bit
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I tried resetting all of the margins to 2 pt, but that didn't make the problem go away. As a cross-check, I tried setting the "Top Margin" of the "Horizontal" connector to 40 pt, and that didn't make the problem appear.

Something else is wrong.

I appreciate the "Quick Access Toolbar" suggestion, but it really doesn't address the problem. If the overhead of selecting "Rotate Text" were reduced to zero, it wouldn't reduce the work involved in realigning the labels very much at all.

As I said before, I can fix this problem by replacing the misbehaving connectors with new ones if there's no other way to fix it; but I still need to understand what causes it if I'm to prevent it from happening in the future.

The following is a secondary issue, but the "Top Margin" setting is a clumsy way of doing what I use it to do, and even though it's not the cause of the alignment problem I'd be happy to learn about an alternative. In my actual drawing the shapes at the ends of the connectors are often inside other shapes, and I must move the label away from the center of the connector to position it roughly in the middle of the space between the outer shapes. At present I must enter a margin value, see the result, enter another one, etc., until the label is roughly where I want it. I'd much rather be able to click and drag the label to the right position on the connector.
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Old 07-07-2014, 09:48 AM
JimP JimP is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 32bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 32bit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthoducks View Post
I tried resetting all of the margins to 2 pt, but that didn't make the problem go away. As a cross-check, I tried setting the "Top Margin" of the "Horizontal" connector to 40 pt, and that didn't make the problem appear.

Something else is wrong.
No, nothing else is wrong. I just did it myself and it works as expected (as I indicated in my original response).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthoducks View Post
I appreciate the "Quick Access Toolbar" suggestion, but it really doesn't address the problem. If the overhead of selecting "Rotate Text" were reduced to zero, it wouldn't reduce the work involved in realigning the labels very much at all.
That suggestion was only offered to help you in rotating the text...NOT as a solution for your problem. It simply rotates text in 90 degree increments and requires NO adjustments to your labels.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthoducks View Post
As I said before, I can fix this problem by replacing the misbehaving connectors with new ones if there's no other way to fix it; but I still need to understand what causes it if I'm to prevent it from happening in the future.
That is your best solution...replacing the problem connector. I don't know how you originated the problem so, I would not be able to make you understand...I can only tell what is wrong and how to fix it. Inserting connectors between objects is probably the most simple thing to do in Visio and should only require minimal effort.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthoducks View Post
The following is a secondary issue, but the "Top Margin" setting is a clumsy way of doing what I use it to do, and even though it's not the cause of the alignment problem I'd be happy to learn about an alternative. In my actual drawing the shapes at the ends of the connectors are often inside other shapes, and I must move the label away from the center of the connector to position it roughly in the middle of the space between the outer shapes. At present I must enter a margin value, see the result, enter another one, etc., until the label is roughly where I want it. I'd much rather be able to click and drag the label to the right position on the connector.
You can do that (without entering a magin value) by one of two methods:
(1) Preferred method: Click on the text that you want to relocate to another position. If that text has a small "yellow" diamond-shaped spot amid the text, click on that yellow shape and relocate the text to the desired position; or
(2) Alternative method: From the HOME Ribbon, under the Tools section, click on the icon in the lower right-hand corner (has an "A" with a circular arrow), then click on the text you want relcoated. Move your cursor over the text, click and move.

Hope this helps...
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  #7  
Old 07-08-2014, 08:29 AM
Orthoducks Orthoducks is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 64bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 64bit
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How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves?
 
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I'm attaching a new version of the file in which the "tilted" connector's label has the default top margin, and the "horizontal" connector's label has a top margin set to 40 pt. On my system the "tilted" label is still tilted, and the "horizontal" label is still horizontal.

Thank you for pointing out the little yellow icon (really invisible unless one knows to look for it). Note that the "horizontal" connector has one, but the "tilted" connector does not. This is probably a clue to what is wrong, but my knowledge of Visio is not deep enough to suggest what it means.
Attached Files
File Type: zip Label problem 2.zip (153.3 KB, 9 views)
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  #8  
Old 07-08-2014, 08:59 AM
JimP JimP is offline How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Windows 7 32bit How to make a connector's label orientation persist when the connector moves? Office 2010 32bit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthoducks View Post
I'm attaching a new version of the file in which the "tilted" connector's label has the default top margin, and the "horizontal" connector's label has a top margin set to 40 pt. On my system the "tilted" label is still tilted, and the "horizontal" label is still horizontal.
I think I may have lost track of what you are trying to achieve but, let's work with some facts first. By DEFAULT, all connectors are predetermined to have margins set to 2 pt at all four postions (top, bottom, left and right) and the text is set to the "Middle" of the connector. Any deviation from those postions have to be manually altered.

So, as illustrated in your drawing, the text labeled "horizontal" and "tilted" have been manually altered using the mouse by clicking on the text and hoovering the mouse just above the text (on the small circle that indicates the center of the text) until a circular arrow appears, then left-clicked and rotated accordingly. If you do not need the 40 pt setting, obviously reset it back to 2 pt (default).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthoducks View Post
Thank you for pointing out the little yellow icon (really invisible unless one knows to look for it). Note that the "horizontal" connector has one, but the "tilted" connector does not. This is probably a clue to what is wrong, but my knowledge of Visio is not deep enough to suggest what it means.
The missing icon is the result of multiple modifications to that particular connector. That is why I mentioned the alternative method of relocating text on the connectors in my previous post.

Again, the easiest solution is to replace the connector.
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