Most of the shapes in the ShapeSuite for Manufacturing and Industry do not contain connection points. Some of the shapes that are designed with intelligent behavior do have connection points, but these are relatively few. However, it's easy to add these with Visio's Connection Point tool.
To add connection points to a shape:
- Select a shape.
- Click the Connection Point tool, which is located on the same button as the Connector tool (pull down the list arrow to view the connector tools)
- CTRL+click the selected shape.
Note If the connection point does not stay glued to the shape, be sure you have the shape selected before you add the connection point. The selected shape has a green, dashed border.
You can also add connectors without the need for connection points. Click the Connector tool, then place your cursor inside one of the shapes to be connected until the shape is highlighted in red. While pressing the left mouse button, drag a connector to another shape until it is highlighted in red and release the mouse button. Visio will add a connector that will orient itself dynamically around the perimeter of the shape as you move the shape on the drawing page.