In this post, we describe a great way to get help with Visio: the Visio and SharePoint 2010 forums. Microsoft employees, Visio MVPs and other experts monitor these forums and answer questions. This is an excellent way to pose a question to a large audience of Visio experts.
There are two Visio and a number of SharePoint forums where you can post questions:
Each one is targeted at a different audience. We explain these forums in more detail below.
The Visio Answers Forum
Microsoft Answers is a community-based support site where you can ask and answer questions, or just browse other's answers. Its slogan is “Real People, Real Answers”.
The Visio Answers forum is located here.
Visio shares its forum with Project, InfoPath and Access, but you can filter on Visio to see only the Visio conversations.
This forum is targeted at end users and would be a great spot to post questions on the following topics:
- General Visio issues
- Installation issues
- Printing issues
- General troubleshooting
- Visio diagram problems
The Visio MSDN Forum
The Visio MSDN forum is targeted at IT Professionals using Visio and is located here.
It is also mirrored on TechNet here.
The MSDN/TechNet forum would be a great spot to post questions on the following topics:
- Visio API
- Visio ShapeSheet
- Visio VBA projects
- Issues with technical Visio diagram types
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about forums
If you need help getting started with the Visio forums, there are FAQs available for the Answers forum here and the MSDN forum here. These FAQs are a great resource for creating a profile, posting to the forums, receiving notifications and general troubleshooting. These FAQs should contain all the information you need to start asking and answering questions: if not, there’s the option to ask your own question.
SharePoint 2010 forums
If you need help with Visio Services on SharePoint, a number of SharePoint 2010 forums are available on MSDN here. As described below, each forum specializes in a particular set of issues.
SharePoint 2010 - General Questions and Answers: General questions, comments and discussions on SharePoint 2010 products and SharePoint services such as Access Services, BCS, Excel Services and Visio Services.
SharePoint 2010 - Setup, Upgrade, Administration and Operation: Discuss setup, upgrade, administration and operation for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint services such as Access Services, BCS, Excel Services and Visio Services.
SharePoint 2010 - Using SharePoint Designer, Infopath, and other customization: Discuss using SharePoint Designer, SharePoint Gallery Solutions, templates & other customization for SharePoint 2010 and SP services such as Access Services, BCS, Excel Services, & Visio Services.
SharePoint 2010 - Using Visual Studio with SharePoint and other programming: Discuss using Visual Studio and other programming with SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint services such as Access Services, BCS, Excel Services and Visio Services.
Other Microsoft and Office forums
In addition to the Visio and SharePoint 2010 forums, there are many other Microsoft forums that might relate to your particular needs. We’ve posted a list of forums that might be most useful to Visio users and developers here. You can use the navigation panel on the left of the linked page to find relevant forums for other Microsoft Office products.
Visio newsgroups
In the past, Microsoft hosted a number of Visio newsgroups. Last year, however, Microsoft discontinued its newsgroup support and migrated to forums.
The decision to focus on forums was based on changes in customer habits and requirements: many Microsoft customers wanted online resources, including forums, to find help. In addition, newsgroups became less popular. Given this trend, Microsoft decided to concentrate on online help and forums. Focusing on forums reduced the number of redundant resources and centralized content, making it easier for users to find content and making community contributions more broadly available and impactful.
You can read about the details of the transition from newsgroups to forums here.
Please let us know if you have any feedback on Visio 2010, Visio Services, or suggestions for blog posts you would like to see. In addition, feel free to visit the Visio and SharePoint 2010 forums, and ask us a question there.