Tag Archives: VSDX

Update to Batch Converting Visio Files

After some trail and error from my previous post we went through batch converting 300+ Visio vsd files over to vsdx. Overall the files size was reduced by 70%, dropping from over 6 Gb to around 2Gb, and allowing the files to open/save to the network a lot quicker. The only caveat I found was Visio 64-bit is the best way to do this and is most stable, especially with files over 25Mb. Above about 33 – 35Mb and the 32-bit version would randomly crash. With that said I added in some basic error detection to skip corrupt Visio files, some user variables to keep personal info or remove along with deleting the original file or not, and the ability to do sub directories. Here is the modified code:

Public FilesAttempted As Integer
Public FilesConverted As Integer
Public FilesDeleted As Integer
Public FilesSkipped As String

Sub ConvertToVsdx()
FilesAttempted = 0
FilesConverted = 0
FilesDeleted = 0
FilesSkipped = ""
Dim FileSystem As Object
Set FileSystem = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim HostFolder As String
Dim DeleteOriginal As Boolean
Dim RemovePersonal As Boolean

''' HostFolder is directory to start it. Change to your base directory.
HostFolder = "T:\"
''' DeleteOriginal will delete the original file as long as the VSDX was created. Either True or False
DeleteOriginal = True
''' RemovePersonal will remove personal information from the file. Reduces the size a little but you might want to keep the original info
RemovePersonal = False

DoFolder FileSystem.GetFolder(HostFolder), DeleteOriginal
MsgBox "Conversion complete! " & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "Files attempted: " & FilesAttempted & vbCrLf & "Files converted: " & FilesConverted & vbCrLf & "Files deleted: " & _
FilesDeleted & vbCrLf & "Files with issues: " & vbCrLf & FilesSkipped, vbOKOnly + vbInformation, "Conversion Complete"
End Sub

Sub DoFolder(Folder, DeleteOriginal)
On Error GoTo ErrHandler:
Dim SubFolder
For Each SubFolder In Folder.SubFolders
DoFolder SubFolder, DeleteOriginal
Next
Dim File
For Each File In Folder.Files
' For each file name sure its a vsd and not a temp file
If ((Right(File, 3) = "vsd") And (Right(File, 4) <> "~vsd")) Then
FilesAttempted = FilesAttempted + 1
' Open the file
Application.Documents.Open File
' Remote personal info if set
If RemovePersonal = True Then
Application.ActiveDocument.RemovePersonalInformation = True
End If
  ' Loop through each master then check across pages to see if it is used
  Index = Application.ActiveDocument.Masters.Count
  While Index > 0
  bMasterUsed = False
  Set oMaster = Application.ActiveDocument.Masters.Item(Index)
  For Each oPage In Application.ActiveDocument.Pages
  For Each oShape In oPage.Shapes
  If oMaster.Name = oShape.Name Then
  bMasterUsed = True
  End If
  Next
  Next
  ' if Not used delete it from the document stencil
  If bMasterUsed = False Then
  oMaster.Delete
  End If
  Index = Index - 1
  Wend

  ' Save as a vsdx and increase our counter
  Application.ActiveDocument.SaveAs File & "x"
  Application.ActiveDocument.Close
  FilesConverted = FilesConverted + 1

  ' Delete the original if set and the new vsdx exists
  If ((DeleteOriginal = "True") And (FileExists(File & "x"))) Then
  SetAttr File, vbNormal
  Kill File
  FilesDeleted = FilesDeleted + 1
  End If
NextFile:
End If
Next
Done:
Exit Sub

ErrHandler:
Debug.Print "Error encountered. Error number: " & Err.Number & " - Error description: " & Err.Description
If File <> "" Then
FilesSkipped = FilesSkipped & File & vbCrLf
GoTo NextFile:
End If
End Sub

Function FileExists(ByVal FileToTest As String) As Boolean
FileExists = (Dir(FileToTest) <> "")
End Function

If you use this please let me know how it goes or any tweaks that need to be made.

Batch Converting Visio VSD files to VSDX

I use Visio for my network and building layout drawings for simplicity. We have recently upgraded to Visio 2016 from 2007 and along with that there is a new file format, a .vsdx instead of a .vsd. Now I’m not sure of all the behind the scene changes but I do know that when you check a files properties you can reduce the file size by removing unused shapes, remove personal info, and save your old files as the new format. Between these three options the file size will drop 40 – 70% per file. Now when you have hundreds or even thousands of these you can gain a significant amount of file space back along with quicker overall loading and saving times. The problem is this looked to be a manual process.

So I did some searching and of course others have already tried to script this. I found two main articles, one on batch converting the vsd to vsdx and a second on removing the unused objects. I combined the two into a single script and added in the remove personal information option. So now you can do all three with a single script.

This is in VBA so to use this start out by opening a new blank Visio drawing. Hit ALT+F11 to get into Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications. Right click your drawing on the top left (by default Drawing1) and insert a module. Then copy and paste this in:

Sub ConvertToVsdx()
Dim strPath As String
Dim strFile As String
strPath = "C:\Temp2\"
strFile = Dir(strPath & "*.vsd")
Do While strFile <> ""
If Right(strFile, 3) = "vsd" Then
Application.Documents.Open strPath & strFile
Application.ActiveDocument.RemovePersonalInformation = True
' Loop through each master then check across pages to see if it is used
Index = Application.ActiveDocument.Masters.Count
While Index > 0
bMasterUsed = False
Set oMaster = Application.ActiveDocument.Masters.Item(Index)
For Each oPage In Application.ActiveDocument.Pages
For Each oShape In oPage.Shapes
If oMaster.Name = oShape.Name Then
bMasterUsed = True
End If
Next
Next
' if Not used delete it from the document stencil
If bMasterUsed = False Then
oMaster.Delete
End If
Index = Index - 1
Wend
Application.ActiveDocument.SaveAs strPath & strFile & "x"
Application.ActiveDocument.Close
End If
strFile = Dir
Loop
End Sub

Change the strPath to the directory you want to run this on and hit F5 to run. It will open each drawing with a vsd extension in that directory, set the remove personal information tag, remove the unused objects/stencils, then save it as a vsxd.

I haven’t adapted it to do subfolders yet as this is all I really needed but I’m sure there is a way to iterate through directories.