Visio: How to Add Hyperlinks to Drawings (273814)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional
  • Microsoft Visio 2002 Standard
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Technical Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q273814

SUMMARY

This article describes how you can add one or more hyperlinks to Visio shapes and drawing pages. A link can jump to another page in the same Visio drawing or diagram, to another Visio drawing, or to a non-Visio document.

When you add hyperlinks to other pages in the same drawing, you can use them to move among pages in the Visio drawing. For example, you can link a Process shape in a flowchart to Total Quality Management (TQM) documentation in a Microsoft Word document for that process.

When you link a shape or page to a file, you can decide whether the path to the link should be a relative path or an absolute path.
  • Relative Path. A relative path describes the location of the linked file in relation to the Visio drawing or another path (set on the Summary tab of the Properties dialog box on the File menu). You can move the Visio drawing and the linked file together without breaking the link, but if you move the drawing or file separately, you break the link.
  • Absolute Path. An absolute path spells out the exact location of the linked file in terms of drive, folder, and file name. You can move the Visio drawing file without affecting the link, but if you move the linked file, you must reset the path.

MORE INFORMATION

To link a shape or page to another Visio drawing page, to a Web page, or to a non-Visio file, follow these steps:
  1. Create or open a Visio drawing. To add a link to a page, display the page with nothing selected. To add a link to a shape, select the shape.
  2. On the Insert menu, click Hyperlink.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • To link to a Web site: For Address, type the Web site's URL.

      If you do not know the URL, click Browse, and then click Internet Address to open your default Web browser.
    • To link to a file: For Address, click Browse, and then click Local File. Browse to the file that you want, and then click Open. (If necessary, change the type of file in Files of type box.)
  4. If you are linking to a file and you want to display a particular page, click Browse next to Sub-Address, select the page that you want, and then click OK.
  5. Under Description, type a name for the link that identifies the location to which you are linking.
  6. Do one of the following:
    • To specify an absolute path: Click to clear the Use relative path for hyperlink check box.
    • To specify a relative path: Click to select the Use relative path for hyperlink check box. To set a path that is not based on the location of the Visio drawing, click Properties on the File menu, and then type the base path that you want in the Hyperlink base box.
  7. If you want to add another hyperlink for the selected shape or page, click New in the Hyperlinks dialog box, and then repeat steps 3 through 6.
  8. If you want to link to another page within the document, or shape in the document, click Browse to the right of Sub-Address, specify the page, shape, and zoom level that you want, and then click OK.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/29/2004
Keywords:kbhowto KB273814
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