Using Advanced Fill Patterns from the Visio 2007 Extras Template

I often find that I need to fill certain shapes with a regular pattern to indicate their composition. This is especially true of engineering drawings where shapes representing materials of various substances need to be rendered differently, but this may also be the case in other types of diagrams that require shapes to take on a different appearance depending on their content. Fortunately, the Professional version of Visio 2007 has a large number of options available to accommodate these Visio Extras template requirements. This can be accessed from the Shape on the Standard toolbar or Shapes on the File menu.

To use this feature, you first need the shapes you want to fill with a pattern to be present on the drawing page, and you also need the specific template that contains the fill pattern you want to use open as well. There are basically six options here; two custom line pattern templates, two custom pattern templates with no scaling applied, and two scaled custom pattern templates, each available in metric or imperial units. Applying scale pattern fills has advantages and disadvantages; If the scale is compatible with your drawing scale, then the result is great, but if it isn’t, you may find a weirdly mutant pattern that fills your shape, like one-third of a herringbone pattern. Strange!

To apply a fill pattern to the shape, simply select the shape you want to fill, then go to the Format menu and click Fill from the drop-down menu. The Fill dialog box opens and from here you can scroll down the list until you can see the additional patterns available. Click on the one you want to apply the fill to the shape, and don’t forget that the background color, pattern color, and transparency can also be modified to get the effect you want. And of course there are the same options available for whatever shadow effect you want to apply (but remember: less is more!)

Tip: You may find it difficult to see the pattern you have chosen in some circumstances; Disabling the grid from the View menu generally makes this easier, but you may also want to increase the page magnification by holding down the Shift and Ctrl keys and clicking the left mouse button. Changing the color of the pattern often helps too.

Patterns can be superimposed on each other, and you can always use the Operations command on the Shape menu to Intersect, Subtract, or Fragment shapes before filling with Custom Patterns.