In Visio 2003, how do you change the width of a text block for a callout? The text inside a newly added callout says "Drag the side handles to change the width of the text block".
However, these side handles never appear. The only thing changable appears to be the length and position of the callout line.
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Scott - thanks much for your reply. I think that some callouts are sizeable and others are not. For example - the image below shows the "Side text callout" shape from the Callouts stencil.
Visio Side text callout
Other stencil shapes allow you to change the width of the text block.
Visio Annotation from Basic Flowchart Shapes
For the life of me I can't figure out how to turn on the right-side control handle for the Side Text Callout either!
However, I have a potentially useful alternative for you that should eliminate the need to cobble a line and a box together.
Try using the Side Line Callout instead -- and turn off the side line. The first picture below shows the Side Line Callout and its shapesheet. You'll notice that it has two Geometry sections: the first draws the tail line and the second draws the line on the side of the text.
In the second figure I've changed one attribute in the Geometry 2 section to hide the line. It now looks just like the Side Text Callout but the text box is resizable.
Does this work for you?
side line callout without line
side line callout with line
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: scottPosted on 2009-03-11 at 06:01:35ID: 23856576
Many callouts do have side handles so you can resize the text block, however there are some that are not resizable. But if you've dragged one onto the page and the text inside says "Drag the side handles..." that would seem a pretty good indication that yours is resizable!
One thing to watch out for -- only one of the side handles actually resizes the text block. Refer to the illustration below. Let me know whether this helps; if it doesn't, you might upload an example of a drawing with a callout that doesn't resize. (NOTE: EE doesn't allow uploads of Visio drawings, so change the file extension from .vsd to .txt and ignore the warning when you upload the file.)
callout with callouts