View Visio drawings in a browser and add comments

When you save a Visio diagram to SharePoint, anyone with permissions to the document library can view the diagram in their browser – even on computers where Visio is not installed. The diagrams are rendered by Visio Services, a feature that can be enabled on some versions of SharePoint.

To look at the diagram in a browser:

  1. Navigate to the SharePoint library where the diagram is stored.

  2. Click the diagram’s name to open the file in the browser.

  3. Click and drag the diagram around to view specific parts, and use the zoom tools in the status bar to change the size of the diagram.

  4. To make the entire diagram visible in the browser window, click the Zoom to fit in view button.

Add comments

If you have read and write permissions for the document, you can add comments to it.

  1. Click the Comments button on the toolbar. The Comments pane opens alongside the document.

  2. Select a shape to add a comment to that shape, or click the page to add a general comment.

You can reply to other peoples’ comments to create discussion threads in the Comments pane.

Quick tasks for viewing diagrams in a browser

To…

Do this

Follow a hyperlink

If a shape has a hyperlink, the pointer changes when it's over the shape to show that it can be clicked. Press Ctrl and click the shape to follow the link.

Get the latest data, if the diagram is linked to a data source

Click the Refresh button on the toolbar. If the data has changed since the last refresh, the new data appears in the diagram.

Open the diagram in Visio (if Visio is installed on the computer)

Click the Open in Visio button on the toolbar.

View pages in a multi-page diagram

Click the Page Navigation box on the toolbar and then click the page you want to see.

View detailed information about a shape

Select the shape and then click the Toggle shape information button on the toolbar. The shape information pane opens.

Print a diagram

To print, open the diagram in Visio. Click the Open in Visio button, and then use the standard printing options in Visio.

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