A fish out of water: How to fix Text annotations on Visio Stencils

I don’t consider myself a master of Visio, although I use it a lot to create solution diagrams and system architectures, and I’ve already been recognized as a Visio MVP for a year for my contributions to this product. As you may know, I created several years ago a Microsoft Integration, Azure, BAPI, Office 365 and much more Stencils Pack for Visio that I maintain until today (the last update was 4 days ago). And one of the top complaints is about text annotations: be able to add them below the shapes, rather than on top, which is the default for most shapes in this package.

Well, luckily, there is. The only problem is that there are so many items to change in this collection that it will take some time to finish. Nevertheless, I have already started to work on this, and the first set is already fixed.

This blog and video will show you how to fix this issue, and maybe you can join me and contribute to this GitHub project, and help me speed up the process of fixing this issue.

Fix Text annotations on Visio Stencils

To fix the text notations on Visio stencils, you need to:

• Click the shape you want, then type something. If the text is on top of the shape, follow these steps:

• On the Home tab, in the Tools group, click the Text Block tool .
• Drag and resize the text block to place it in the desired position, typically below the shape.

• On the Home tab, in the Tools group, click the Pointer Tool  .

After you switch back to the Pointer Tool , the text keeps the same position relative to the shape. If you use the Pointer Tool to drag the text, the shape will also move, even if the text is no longer on the shape.

Tip and tricks – Fix Text annotations on Visio Stencils (video)

Hope you find this helpful! If you liked the content or found it useful and would like to support me in writing more, consider buying (or helping to buy) a Star Wars Lego set for my son. 

Author: Sandro Pereira

Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc. He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community. View all posts by Sandro Pereira