Applies To
Visio Plan 2 Visio Plan 1 Visio Professional 2021 Visio Professional 2019 Visio Professional 2016 Visio Professional 2013

The Association shape and other related shapes are used in class diagrams and use case diagrams. See the descriptions below.

Note: Creating and editing UML diagrams on Visio for the web requires a Visio Plan 1 or Visio Plan 2 license, which is purchased separately from Microsoft 365. For more information, contact your Microsoft 365 admin. If your admin has turned on "self-service purchasing," you can buy a license for Visio yourself. For more details, see Self-service purchase FAQ.

For Class diagrams

Shape

Description

Association shape.

Represents a general relationship between instances of the classes.

Directed Association shape.

Represents a relationship that flows in only one direction between instances of the classes.

For Use Case diagrams

Shape

Description

The Association connector.

Represents the participation of an actor in a use case. 

The Dependency connector.

Indicates that one use case has a dependency on another.

The Generalization connector.

Indicates that a use case is a specific way to achieve goals of the general use case. The hollow arrow head points toward the more general element. 

The more specific use case is fully consistent with the general use case and includes additional information.

The Include connector.

Shows how a use case is broken into smaller steps.

The Extend connector.

Shows that one use case adds functionality to another.

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