How to disable the copying of ShapeGallery.mdb on a Terminal Server in Visio 2002

Microsoft Visio creates a ShapeGallery.mdb database file for each user profile for the Find Shape command. If you are running Visio under Microsoft Terminal Server, this can cause undesirable disk space requirements. This article explains how to work around this issue by creating a registry key.

Microsoft Visio uses the ShapeGallery.mdb database file to save search results for the Find Shape command on the File menu. Visio saves the database for each user in the following folder: NOTE: Visio copies the ShapeGallery.mdb file from the "Program Files\Microsoft Office\Visio10" folder to a user's "Documents and Settings" folder when the first search index is built.

Terminal Server administrators can either add a registry key to force a system-wide policy on all users, or on individual user profiles. This key changes the default behavior and minimizes the number of databases created. Use the appropriate method for your situation.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Method 1: System-Wide Policy

To create a system-wide policy that prevents local database usage for all users, follow these steps:

1. Quit all Windows programs.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. In the left pane of Registry Editor, locate and open the following registry key (folder):
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Visio\Shape Gallery
5. With the Shape Gallery folder selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
6. Type Index as the new key name.
   
   The Data Value setting for this new key is automatically set to zero (0x00000000 or 0).
7. On the Registry menu, click Exit.
   
   Registry Editor automatically saves your changes.

Adding this registry key will prevent all users who subsequently log on to the computer from having their own copy of ShapeGallery.mdb. The Find Shape command will only return results from the Web search, and ignore the default local database (ShapeGallery.mdb) copied from the Visio10 folder.

Method 2: Per-User Policy

To create a policy that prevents local database usage for only selected users, follow these steps:

1. Quit all Windows programs.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. In the left pane of Registry Editor, locate and open the following registry key (folder):
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Visio\Shape Gallery
5. With the Shape Gallery folder selected, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
6. Type Index as the new key name.
   
   The Data Value setting for this new key is automatically set to zero (0x00000000 or 0).
7. On the Registry menu, click Exit.
   
   Registry Editor automatically saves your changes.
8. You can now delete the ShapeGallery.mdb file from the user's "Documents and Settings" folder, if it was copied there:
   Documents and Settings\UserName\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Visio\ShapeGallery.mdb