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Troubleshooting Question
I have an Excel .xlsx file hosted on SharePoint, and I want to leverage it in Visio to craft an organizational chart for our employees. My goal is to establish a seamless synchronization mechanism, ensuring that any changes made to the Excel document are automatically reflected in the Visio chart. Ideally, both the Excel and Visio files should reside within SharePoint for easy access by managers. This will enable them to effortlessly manage employee additions or removals in the Excel sheet while also having a quick overview of the organizational structure via the Visio drawing.
Could you please guide me on how to accomplish this synchronization and setup within SharePoint?
If you need to create a Visio chart that stays in sync with data from an Excel sheet in SharePoint, you can do so by following these clear steps:
Step 1: First, ensure that both your Excel file and Visio file are saved in SharePoint. This means uploading both files to your SharePoint site or document library so that they’re easily accessible from SharePoint.
Link Visio to Excel Data
Step 2: Open your Visio file using Microsoft Visio.
Step 3: Navigate to the “Data” tab in the Visio ribbon.
Step 4: Click on “Link Data to Shapes” to open the “Data Selector” dialog.
Step 5: Choose “Link to a SharePoint list” and proceed to the next step.
Step 6: Specify the SharePoint site and list where your Excel data resides. You may need to provide the SharePoint site’s URL and locate the Excel file within the SharePoint document library.
Step 7: Select the appropriate Excel file and the worksheet containing the data you want to link.
Step 8: Map the columns in the Excel worksheet to corresponding shape data fields in Visio.
Step 9: Complete the data linking process, and Visio will create the necessary link to your Excel data.
Design Your Visio Chart
Step 10: Create or modify shapes in Visio to represent employees, their positions, departments, or any other relevant information.
Step 11: Organize these shapes on the Visio drawing canvas to reflect your desired employee chart or organizational structure.
Keep Visio and Excel Data in Sync
Step 12: Whenever changes occur in your Excel data (such as adding or removing employees), open your Visio file.
Step 13: Visit the “Data” tab in the Visio ribbon and click “Refresh Data.”
Step 14: Visio will update the shapes in your chart based on changes in the linked Excel data.
By following these steps, you’ll establish a dynamic connection between your Excel data in SharePoint and your Visio chart. Managers can conveniently access and modify the Excel data in SharePoint, with changes automatically reflected in the Visio chart upon refresh.
Important Note: Ensure that the SharePoint site and document library have the necessary permissions to allow users to access and edit both the Excel and Visio files as required.
The steps outlined here are specifically for SharePoint Online, which is part of the Microsoft 365 cloud suite. SharePoint Online is a web-based platform for document storage, organization, and collaboration. It is widely used for file management and teamwork within organizations.
If you are using an on-premises version of SharePoint (like SharePoint Server), please note that the steps may vary slightly, and certain features or capabilities mentioned may not be available. In such cases, consult your version-specific SharePoint documentation for guidance on linking data between Excel and Visio.