When creating a diagram or drawing in Visio, splitting the overall picture into layers is a useful technique that allows the user to concentrate on a particular part of the project. Here are some tips on how to get started in the use of layers.

First of all you may like to add a couple of buttons to your toolbar for ease of use. Go to Tools, select Customise and in the Categories menu click on View. In the Commands menu scroll down to Layer Properties and drag this onto your toolbar. Now go back to the Categories menu and select Format Shape. Go to Layer Tools and drag this onto your toolbar as well. You will now be able to manipulate your layers with ease.

To get started, pull out a square and a circle on your page (if you want to pull out a perfect square and circle instead of trying to gauge with the eye, hold down the shift key as you pull out the shapes). Click onto an area of blank page so that neither of the shapes is selected and you are now ready to assign names to your layers.

Click on your newly installed Layer Properties button and in the dialog box select New and you will be prompted to enter a name for your layer. For the purposes of this demonstration you should keep it simple and name the shapes square and circle, but sticking to geometrical shapes is not essential - you could just as well call them Itchy and Scratchy if you so wished.

Type in the name square and click OK, repeat the process for the circle and click OK again. You will notice that your newly named layers appear in the Layer Properties dialog box with a row of check boxes next to each. We will look at these in more detail later but for now you may be aware that you have assigned names to the layers without actually selecting them beforehand. This is because the layers have not yet been matched up to their names, so let's get matching.

Select one of your shapes and go to the drop down menu on the Layer Tool you added to the toolbar (it should be reading No Layer). In the menu you will see the names you gave to your layers. Double click on the name you want to match your layer and this will tie the two together. When you have named both layers select one then the other and notice how the name of the selected layer appears in the Layer Tools box.

The check boxes in Layer Properties are:

Visible
The checked layers will be visible in the document. You may want to see how a particular layer looks unimpeded by others around it and so un-checking the Visible box for the impeding layers will make them vanish from the page. Re-check the boxes to bring them back.

Print
Check whichever layers you want to print. Those that are unchecked will not appear on the printed document.

NOTE: Visible and Print are completely independent of each other and so if you have a drawing in which you have made certain layers invisible, these layers will still appear on the printed version unless they are also un-checked on there. And, conversely, if you have printed off a drawing and some aspects that you see on the screen are missing from what has been printed, the Print check boxes should be your first port of call.

Active
Check these boxes to activate or deactivate named layers.

Lock
To demonstrate the Lock feature, go back to the current drawing and pull out a rectangle that is bigger than the two existing shapes. Right click on this rectangle and select Format then Fill. Select a colour from the drop down menu and click OK. Assign a name to this new shape as before (rectangle, perhaps) and select it. Right click again and from the menu select Shape and then Send to Back. Go to the Layer Properties dialog box and check the box in Lock for the new shape. We can now move the two smaller shapes around on top of the rectangle but the rectangle itself is locked into position.

Snap
Check the Snap boxes to allow other shapes to snap to shapes on a layer.

Glue
Similarly, check the Glue boxes to allow other shapes to glue to shapes on a layer.

NOTE: A shape on a layer that has Snap and Glue settings turned off can still be snapped and glued to shapes on layers that have Snap and Glue settings turned on.

Colour
Used as in many other applications. Check the box for the chosen layer and select a colour from the drop down list. You need not physically select a layer to add colour - just tick the relevant box and work from there.

There are far more practical uses for working with layers in Visio than the above demonstration shows. For example, you could use layers to reveal the different stages in a flowchart by using the Visible check boxes. Visio is a powerful diagramming program that can add smart, clear visuals to other applications, including PowerPoint. Although it is a relative new kid on the Office block, Visio looks like it will be here for some time to come so it will be in increasing demand. This is all the more reason to learn how to use it effectively.