Visio2000: How to Use an OLE-Compliant Program as a Viewer for a Visio Drawing (292985)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Technical Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Enterprise Edition
This article was previously published under Q292985

SUMMARY

There is no stand-alone viewer for Microsoft Visio. However, Visio drawings can be inserted into another Microsoft Windows program that supports OLE-embedding. Some Microsoft programs that support OLE include the following:
  • Microsoft WordPad
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Outlook (Rich Text Format)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word

MORE INFORMATION

When you distribute a Visio drawing to others, your audience members need to have Visio installed on their respective computers to view the .vsd data that they receive. If your audience members don't have Visio installed, you can OLE-embed the data into a program that they do have.

To distribute a Visio drawing to others who do not have Visio installed, follow these steps.

NOTE: These steps must be performed before the data is distributed. Visio must be installed on the computer along with the other program into which you are OLE-embedding the data.
  1. Start Microsoft WordPad: Click Start, point to Program, point to Accessories, and then click WordPad.
  2. On the Insert menu, click Object.
  3. In the Insert Object dialog box, click Create from File, and then click the Browse button. Navigate to the folder that contains the Visio drawing, select the file, click Open, and then click OK.
The first page of the Visio drawing now appears in the WordPad document. This document can be saved and distributed to anyone with a Windows-based computer. The WordPad file format is compatible with Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0.

If the Visio drawing contains multiple pages, you need to work between Visio and WordPad to copy and paste the individual pages.

For additional information about including a drawings background page, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

293892 Background Page Not Copied When Visio Drawing Pasted into Other Programs

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:1/29/2002
Keywords:kbhowto kbinfo KB292985
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.