I am trying to get my columns and my rows to be in a certain sequence.


I want Function1 to be the left-most column and Function9 to be the farthest right with 2-8 to start from the left and go right.
I sort them in the Excel file but Function2 is after Function4 on the chart.

I want Phase1 to be on top and Phase 6 to be at the bottom. For some reason Visio decides that is not what I want.

Either I am missing something basic or this program really stinks.
Thanks.

You've posted in the Visio section, not Excel.

This is a Visio question. How do I get Visio to arrange the rows and columns the way I need them to be?

I know I can drag and drop the columns when editing but can I designate the columns and rows by naming them or sorting them?
Thanks.

Over One Hundred people have viewed this thread and no suggestions.

There must be no way to use my table as a way to sort my columns and rows.
So; therefore, this program does stink.

I would hypothesize that the majority of 'views' are bots scraping data rather than Visio users like you.

You haven't provided enough information to encourage a favourable answer. I presume you are talking about data tables or whatever they are called in Visio Professional. I
only have Visio Standard and can only guess at what you are wanting to do. However, if you built the table yourself why did you arrange it backwards. If you imported it, why not try arranging the data BEFORE importing it.

Visio does support VBA so you should be able to rearrange the columns through code but it would be simpler to just import it the way you want to see it.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thank you for this response.
I sorted the file every way I could think of before creating the Flowchart from the Excel table. I have multiple version of the Flowchart using Numbers and Alpha characters trying to get the columns and rows to have the data on the flowchart where I want it to be.
I only have the $5 per month version. I had to try it out before buying.
It is called Data Visualization. You make a table and put in the relationships and it creates a Flowchart.
I have attached the Table I am using.
Thanks again, I will check out the VBA to determine if that is a fix.

Attached Files

Visio Table.xlsx (12.9 KB, 3 views)

Are you saying you are using the Visio Data Visualizer? This is NOT Microsoft Visio. As far as I can tell it is an Excel addin which uses some of Visio's capability to create graphics from Excel. Without a licence for the full Visio application, I don't know how much you can do to rearrange the graphic that the addin creates. Do you get any clues from sites like this? Using the Visio Data Visualizer in Excel

Looking at your dataset, Function7, 8 and 9 all have 'Next Step ID' entries which would imply that they aren't final stages. If this data was automatically mapped as a swimlane type flowchart graphic, I would expect to see the last swimlanes containing flow end points - no more Next Steps (in your data that appears to be Function4 and 6).

I don't believe that sorting the data in Excel should have ANY effect on the arrangement of the generated graphic. Logically the resulting graphic should be considered like a 'line of best fit' whereby the graphic engine should arrange the flowchart according to the principles of:
1. Start top left and tend to flow to the right and down (like English reads on a page)
2. Minimise crossing flow lines
3. Minimise length of flow lines

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

I am using the add-in. I Added the Visio add-in and could get only 50 rows. I signed up with Visio for the free month and then $5 per month after that and the 50 row limit disappeared and more Shapes were available.

Thanks for taking the time to respond and I will look at the site you linked.