Hi, I'm quite new to Visio (so apologies if I incorrectly reference items) and am struggling with something that I expect is relatively straightforward.

I want to create an Org Structure template I can use to import values from excel and each time I do that, when a role is Grade = A1 the shape is blue, Grade = B2 the shape is green, and so on. This is an example of the data.

Grade /Position /Reports to /Number of posts /Area of work
A1 Director Nil 1 SLT
B2 Deputy Director Director 1 SLT


B2 Head of Security Director 1 Security
C3 Guards Head of Security 3 Security
C3 Finance Deputy Director 4 Finance

Any help greatly appreciated!

Visio can be extraordinarily complex and this can be complicated and multi-faceted. There are multiple ways to colour shapes and the best way will depend on what shapes you are actually using on your particular org chart.

The shape data you listed don't appear to be the default fields Visio has for org chart shapes. If those fields are set up in your shapes then they would appear to be custom shape data fields and your shapes may already have some smarts built into them.

Another variable which we don't know about is whether you have Standard or Professional.

If you don't want to post a sample doc containing your org chart shapes, then you might gain some insights and terminology (to help your own searching) by looking through these links
Color shapes according to their data - Microsoft Support
Choose Colors with Shape Data Fields – Visio Guy
shapesheet - Change Shape Fill based on Shape Data in Visio - Stack Overflow

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Andrew - this was very helpful, thank you. Also made me hold out hope I wasn't being quite as dopey as I first thought.

Your links were informative but my black spot is how I use that automation in a dynamic template?

Happy to share where I am, on the attached (which is a straight copy of the default Visio excel add-in), how do I get the shapes to have their colour set by column F (Role Grade) as opposed to the default column E (Role Type).

Thanks again!

Attached Files

Org structure add-in.xlsx (223.7 KB, 3 views)

Can you also post a Visio file that contains at least one of the shapes you showed in your Excel file? I don't see the shape you are using in my Org Chart options

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thanks again Andrew. It doesn't let me upload a Visio file but I have attached a screenprint of the shapes in question. It won't allow me to double-click and edit them.

Attached Files

Drawing1.docx (193.9 KB, 1 views)

Those particular shapes are stored as different shapes within the shape stencil. The org chart import script then picks the shape according to the level of the staff member in the data field.

You are looking to import different data fields that don't already exist in those shapes. The import script is able to dynamically create and populate those unexpected fields. However that same import wizard isn't imbued with enough intelligence that allows you to configure the shape selected based on a different field as it is importing it.

What I would do is customise a shape so that the fields you are importing are already created in the shape data. Then you can modify that master shape so that the colour changes based on the setting in that field. As I said earlier, this isn't a simple task and you may find the learning curve challenging as you figure out how to modify the shape data so that data content changes the colours (without picking a different shape).

As a proof of concept, the attached Visio file (download it and change the file extension) shows a customised shape that changes colour or shows geometry based on three Shape Data fields. See what happens if you change the values in Key Person, Relationship Status or Base Colour. You can examine the shapesheet as well as the shapesheets of the sub-shapes to figure out how that is done.

A similar thing can then be applied to your shape.

PS. Note that you can upload a Visio file if you change the file extension or zip it.

Attached Files

DemonstrateOrgChartShapes.zip (38.6 KB, 5 views)

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Hi Andrew, I cant thank you enough, you have been incredibly patient and helpful. Sadly this is just a bit beyond me. I can see the end result is possible, just too many steps I can't work out to get there.

I'll leave it here and say thanks, I've still got some peace from knowing it could be done.

Cheers,

Scott