Are you starting to receive Visio 2010 files from colleagues that you can’t seem to open? Chances are that you don’t have Visio installed or the viewer you are using does not support the latest version of Visio. Fortunately for you, Microsoft just released the latest version of Visio viewer that will allow you to open and view all Visio files on your computer. The viewer works as an ActiveX control that loads and renders Visio drawings within the Internet Explorer browser window.
Once installed all you have to do is double-click on the drawing files stored on your computer and Internet Explorer should automatically open. With the viewer you have the ability to pan, zoom, print (limited to window), and even view the properties on the shapes in the drawings.
Brief Description from Microsoft Website
Microsoft Visio 2010 Viewer allows anyone to view Visio drawings and diagrams (created with Visio 5.0 through Visio 2010) inside their Microsoft Internet Explorer (versions 5 through 8 ) Web browser.
Download the Viewer from Microsoft.com
File formats supported – .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, or .vtx extensions.
Note: When opening a file for the first time, you may encounter an error. If this is the case, just follow the steps below to allow the ActiveX control to run.
1. Click on the yellow bar and Add-on Disabled
2. Click on Run Add-on
3. Click Run.
Visio Viewer Running on Internet Explorer 8
Network diagram I created in Visio 2007. Notice that you can view other Pages (bottom of the screen).
Visio Viewer Toolbar provides you with the following tools:
- Zoom Tools
- Open in Microsoft Visio button (if you have Visio installed).
- Properties and Settings – See properties and Settings for a selected shape..
- Layer Settings – Set drawing-layer visibility and colors.
- Markup Settings – Set annotation visibility and colors.
- Help
Properties and Settings window for a particular object.
If you have Visio installed you can always use the viewer to open a drawing quickly in Internet Explorer, specially if you are just viewing the drawing. Overall the Visio viewer looks like a great Internet Explorer add-in that will help users with and without Visio work more efficiently.
