Banding shapes together

It is quite simple to select multiple shapes and move them without physically grouping them with the Group command, and there are different ways of selecting multiple shapes and keeping them banded together.

As mentioned earlier, ungrouping instances of master shapes dragged from a stencil can have a detrimental effect because it can accidentally break them apart and remove their smartness, including any data associated with them.

Selecting multiple shapes

We can multi-select by holding down the Ctrl or Shift key while clicking the left mouse button and clicking on shapes, or by holding down the left mouse button on the page and dragging a rectangle over shapes. In desktop Visio, there is also a Lasso Select command available from the Home | Editing | Select drop-down menu.

Using the built-in containers

Desktop Visio users have the ability to add other containers to band shapes together besides the Swimlanes masters from the Cross-Functional Flowchart...