Add a picture to a Visio Stencil

When you repeatedly use an image in Visio, you can add it to a Stencil so it's ready for use at any time. This is handy for your company logo, for example.

Step 1
To do this, save your logo as a file capable of being imported into Visio such as GIF, BMP or Tif. Open a new blank Drawing and choose Insert, Picture, From File and locate and open your picture. Use the sizing handles to size it to the size you want it to default to when you insert it into a drawing in future.

Step 2
To create the stencil that will contain your logo, choose File, Shapes, New Stencil (metric) or open an existing stencil from your My Shapes collection to use. If the icon to the left of the stencil name does not show a red asterisk in its top left corner, right click the icon and choose Edit Stencil. It will now show a small asterisk indicating it is able to be edited.

Step 3
To add the image to the Stencil, hold the Control key and drag and drop the image onto the stencil. Click in the name area below it and type a name for it descriptive of what the image contains. Right click the Stencil's icon and choose Save As and give it a name (or, if you're adding to an existing stencil, choose Save). Again, right click the icon to the left of the stencil name and disable the Edit Stencil option.

Step 4
In future, to locate and use your image, choose File, Shapes, My Shapes and open the stencil containing the shape to use. Drag the shape from the stencil and add it to your document. Create stencil shapes in this way containing your company logo, address details and other objects you repeatedly use on your drawings.