Create and use custom templates

Visio has many built-in templates, and you can create your own templates to use a starting point for your drawings.

1. Click File > New, and choose a built-in template that's similar to what you want.

2. In the Shapes window, remove stencils you don't want by right-clicking the stencil title bar and then clicking Close.

3. Add stencils by clicking More Shapes and browsing the built-in stencils. If you have a custom stencil to add, click Open Stencil and browse to the file.

4. To save your file as a Visio template, click File > Save As.

5. Choose a location, and in the Save as type list, choose Visio Template (or Visio Macro-Enabled Template if you've added macros to your template).

It's also possible to create customized stencils for your templates. By creating custom stencils, you can put all the shapes you use regularly onto a single stencil, or you can create several stencils grouped in the best way for your diagram. For details, see Create, save, and share custom stencils.

Start a drawing from a custom template

1. Click File > New.

2. In the Categories list, click New from existing.

3. In the New from Existing Drawing dialog box, navigate to the custom template that you want, and then click Open.