Importing CAD Drawings in Visio

The easiest way to work with a CAD drawing in Visio is to import it as a display-only object rather than convert it to Visio shapes. After importing a CAD file, you can drag Visio shapes onto it, add annotations or text for comments, rescale it, crop and pan it, and hide and show its layers or levels. However, you can’t edit the CAD drawing itself. For example, when you want to review and annotate a CAD file without changing the original, import it in Visio, mark changes, and then save the results in Visio or CAD format.

Typically, CAD files are imported for the following reasons:

  • An architectural drawing of a floor plan already exists, and you want to use it as a background for adding office furniture, network shapes, ...

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