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Old 05-19-2021, 07:17 PM
Kenny Kenny is offline Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Windows 10 Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Office 2016
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Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly?
 
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Default Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly?

Hello all! I'm using MS Visio Pro 2019, and am testing the features of it - just to see if visio can conveniently create shapes such as the ones seen in my uploaded screen-shot.



The shape was just made using a curved rectangular basic visio shape, with the fill colour turned off. And I used the 'Developer' line tool and the 'trim' option to break the TOP edge of the shape into separate portions, so that I could the 'format shape' feature to form the arrow-heads.

I'm aiming to park clones of those shapes side-by-side, and I am trying to get the edges of those shapes to become overlapped perfectly ----- perfectly aligned. But - at the moment, I don't know if there is a visio feature that allows met to get the vertical edges of the neighbouring shapes to align perfectly.

Also - it seems that the vertical dashed lines of the neighbouring shapes are at different height levels. So even if the vertical edges of the shape could somehow become aligned ------ the overlap wouldn't be perfect.

Any nice tips from forum members here about visio features for very accurately manoevering shapes so that they can be parked side-by-side (perfect overlap)? That is, having two of these shapes properly oriented next to each other (touching), and also properly positioned both vertically and horizontally. At the moment, I can see the visio provides width and height of a shape ----- but maybe doesn't provide X-axis and Y-axis coordinates of edges --- so that we can determine how much we need to move a particular block in order to align with another one.


Also - at moment, I notice that when I 'copy' a shape, and then 'paste' that shape ---- the new 'clone' shape just appears at some sort of arbitrary vertical and horizontal distance away from the original shape. Is there a way to PASTE so that the clone shape stays at the same horizontal level as the original shape? [small update ----- I just found that keeping the CTRL key depressed while using the mouse to 'drag' a shape ----- will copy that shape, and will generally preserve the horizontal level (and noting that if the horizontal level isn't getting preserved during the dragging, then the SHIFT key can then also be depressed (ie. CTRL key held down (and remaining depressed), followed by mouse drag to begin with (and then push the SHIFT key and keep it held down as well along with the CTRL key).



I have also attached my visio professional 2019 project file.


Thanks all!


Attached Images
File Type: jpg dashed lines alignment.jpg (117.9 KB, 11 views)
Attached Files
File Type: zip dashed lines_alignment1.zip (142.1 KB, 5 views)

Last edited by Kenny; 05-19-2021 at 10:33 PM.
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Old 05-20-2021, 12:08 AM
Kenny Kenny is offline Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Windows 10 Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Office 2016
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Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly?
 
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Update - I managed to find (from online discussions) a shape moving feature under VIEW -> Add-Ons -> Visio Extras -> Move Shapes.


A popup will come out, which has default numbers in the entry boxes. Here, I have to set those non-zero values to ZERO. And then I set (for example) the horizontal value to -0.01 or +0.01 mm (which will be the stepping size) ..... I put a + or - sign depending on which direction I want to make the shape move when the 'apply' button is used. The shape will then jump in steps of that given increment every time I hit the 'apply' button.



Also - naturally, before we hit the 'apply' button, we have to use the mouse to select the shape we want to move.


We can also ZOOM in very close - such as 500% zoom - so that we can get a good view of the shape's edge as we do the fine jumps. And - if the selection box outline hampers our view. We can also keep jumping and 'overstep' the mark. And then we can always de-select the shape (which then removes selection outlines) ------ and use the CTRL-Z (undo) key combination to keep undoing the steps.
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Old 05-20-2021, 01:25 AM
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Guessed Guessed is offline Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Windows 10 Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Office 2016
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You have already discovered the Ctrl-drag + Shift Key. If you also add in the Alt key you can get in between the grid snapping. You can also use the size and position controls to type in the exact width/height/x-position/y-position so that the lines can be exactly lined up. Finally, you have the option of using the Nudge keys (arrow keys) to move a shape. If you zoom in on that border gap, you can select one shape and use the arrow key - if it jumps in big steps, hold the Shift key and the arrow key will move in tiny increments so you can exactly line up the lines.

When the dotted lines overlap you have discovered that they can combine to make a solid line. To avoid this, you have three choices:
1. Place a white box on a layer between the two boxes so only one line shows
2. Make tiny adjustments to the height of the boxes so the dashes align exactly. On my machine, I dialled in a height of 99.95mm and the dashes aligned.
3. Change the lines to a solid fill.
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Old 05-20-2021, 10:27 PM
Kenny Kenny is offline Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Windows 10 Any way to make shapes (with dashed line edges) overlap perfectly? Office 2016
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Hi Andrew! Thanks very much for your help and time with those excellent recommendations. Those methods you mentioned are really excellent. The method of using a white box on an in-between layer is an excellent one too. Thanks for mentioning that one.


When you mentioned in your post "x-position and y-position" - it indicated to me that it is possible to get information associated with coordinates of a shape. I was eventually then about to see that ----- after clicking on a shape, and then using right-click of the mouse button to access 'Show ShapeSheet' ----- it then revealed PinX and PinY values, which I think represent the X and Y coordinates ...... which I assume (at the moment) to represent the centre of the shape. Thanks again Andrew! Much appreciated.
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Old 05-20-2021, 11:09 PM
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You can do it with the shapesheet but that is more complicated than you should be dealing with. Instead try selecting the shape and then look in the Status bar at the bottom left of the window. If you can see measurements there, click on them and a size and position pane should appear. You can type into the fields there.
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