Visio2002: Active Directory Shapes Automatic Layout Behavior

When you use the Active Directory solution to lay out your Active Directory scenario, you may experience some unexpected behavior when you connect shapes.

For instance, if you drop a Domain shape to your drawing and attach a User by using the Connector tool, the User is moved to under the Domain shape.

This behavior occurs because of the hierarchical layout of the Active Directory solution. This behavior is by design.

When you drag a parent object with children to the directory diagram, objects in the directory diagram are automatically laid out. Similar rules apply when you connect shapes manually with the Connector tool.

Change the Layout of a Directory Diagram

1. In the directory diagram, right-click the parent object that has children whose layout you want to change.
2. Click Lay out Children, and then select the layout style that you want.
3. Click OK.

Disable Automatic Layout

As a default, Visio automatically lays out the structure of parent objects with children when the objects are dragged to the directory diagram. To disable this setting, follow these steps:

1. In the directory diagram, click Options on the Directory Services menu.
2. In the Directory Services Options dialog box, click to clear the Enable Auto Layout check box.
3. Click OK.