Visio example from VisioStepbyStep by Scott Helmers
Do you need to edit a step in your workflow, or change an office layout, but don't have the original Visio file? Now, using a PDF, you can edit to your heart's content without having to waste time redrawing the file from scratch. Simply insert the PDF in Visio, ungroup it and get to work. All objects, text and attributes such as fills, fonts, line-weights and more can be changed.
Insert PDF is simple to install and use. It's been designed according to Microsoft standards and fits into the ribbon toolbar like a pea in a pod. Once you download and double-click to install it, an icon will appear on the Visio "Insert" menu. When you click on this, you'll be asked to choose a PDF file from your file system. Next, you'll have a few choices to make about which page to convert, whether it needs to be rotated and how you want the objects and text handled. Voilà! The PDF file is now open on your screen as an ediatble Visio drawing, Ungroup it and make all the changes you need to! For more details, see Opening PDF Diagrams in Visio.
Visio is required to use Insert PDF. It's designed as a Microsoft add-in and will not operate without having Visio on your PC. We have a cloud version in the works for Visio on-line, but for now, Insert PDF must be used on a PC.
If you'd like to use a product to convert PDF files outside of Visio, have a look at pdf2picture. It's designed as a standalone desktop program which will convert PDF, EPS and AI files into a variety of industry-standard vector and image formats.
Insert PDF is designed to convert computer-generated PDF files. When a software program saves a drawing or diagram as a PDF file, it creates a rich document including precise data about all of the objects and text in the file. Scanned drawings, on the other hand are like photographs. Once saved, even in the PDF format, they lose all of their intelligence and the drawing is reduced to just a bunch of pixels.
Sometimes you'll see computer-generated PDF files referred to as vector PDF files and scanned drawings as raster PDF files.
Visual Integrity is specialized in the accurate conversion and extraction of vector PDF files. Scanned drawings need to be converted in a completely different way, usually through some type of approximate tracing process. If you have a vector PDF file, you should always choose software like ours to ensure the highest quality results.
When you open a PDF file in Visio, the text will be editable as long as the PDF file was produced properly. The best way to troubleshoot whether your text will be editable is to open the original PDF file and try to copy and paste some text into Notepad or a text editor. If it displays correctly, it will be editable. If it looks like a bunch of garbage characters, it will not. It will also not be editable if it could not be selected in the original PDF file. In either of these cases, you'll need to mask the text and add new text on top of it.
Once you select your PDF file, you will be asked which page you want to open. Since PDF and Visio are both page-based file formats, you'll need to open each page separately. If you want to batch convert multi-page documents or a number of files at once, pdf2picture will be helpful.
Insert PDF in Visio can open any well-formed PDF file independent of version including the newest ISO standard PDF 2.0.
