Visio gives you multiple tools to select, move, resize, and rotate shapes and objects. Once you have selected an object—or all the objects—on the drawing, you can then change their position, enlarge or shrink them, flip them horizontally, and nudge them into position.
Note: If you are having trouble selecting shapes on your drawing page, the problem might be that the shapes are protected or might be a part of a locked layer, or that they are grouped together. See Troubleshoot selection problems in Visio for more information.
Select shapes
Most often, you have to select shapes before you can do other things, such as move, rotate, or resize shapes, in drawings. In Visio, you can select shapes one at a time, by area, with the lasso tool, or select all the shapes on the page.
Task |
Action |
---|---|
Select a single shape |
|
Select multiple shapes with Area Select |
|
Select multiple shapes with Lasso Select |
|
Select shapes partially within a selection area |
To enable Visio to select shapes partially within a selection area, do the following:
|
Select multiple shapes on a page by using keyboard shortcuts |
Press and hold SHIFT or CTRL while clicking shapes to select multiple shapes one at a time. Tip: To add a shape to a selection that you created by using the Area Select tool, hold down SHIFT or CTRL and then click the shape. |
Select all the shapes on the drawing page |
On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Select, and select Select All. |
Select all a particular kind of object |
|
Deselect one or more shapes |
To deselect all shapes:
To deselect one shape when several are selected:
|
Move shapes
Visio offers several ways to help you position shapes exactly where you want them.
Task |
Action |
---|---|
Move shapes by using your mouse |
Tips:
|
Move shapes a specific distance (requires Visio Professional) |
|
Nudge shapes by using the arrow keys |
Note: If pressing an arrow key scrolls your drawing instead of moving a shape, make sure that the SCROLL LOCK key is not on. |
Resize shapes
In Visio, you can resize the shapes by dragging them until they are the size that you want, or you can specify a specific size.
Task |
Action |
---|---|
Resize a 2-dimensional (2-D) shape (such as a rectangle) with the mouse |
|
Resize a 1-dimensional shape, such as a line, with the mouse |
|
Resize a shape using the Size & Position window |
|
Rotate or flip shapes
You can rotate shapes by degrees, flip them vertically, flip them horizontally, or rotate them using the rotation handle.
Task |
Action |
---|---|
Rotate a shape 90 degrees |
|
Rotate a shape using the rotation handle |
|
Rotate a shape by angle using the Size & Position window |
|
Flip a shape vertically or horizontally |
|
If you want to learn how to rotate text, see Add, edit, move, or rotate text and text blocks.