Glue is what keeps shapes connected as you move them around in your Visio drawings.

Visio glue comes in two types, dynamic and static. Both types are intelligent in the way they maintain connections and each has its use depending on how you want your drawing to look.

Dynamic Glue
Connections made with dynamic glue are maintained such that the connection points change in order to maintain the most direct connection between shapes.

The image above shows shapes connected with dynamic glue at both ends of the connector (see the large red connector endpoints on the large example). Changing the relative position of the shapes also changes the relative connection points (light blue crosses) on each shape.

Dynamic glue is appropriate for flowcharts or diagrams representing process flows where serial connections are made between steps in the process and the most direct route makes the diagram cleaner and easier to read.

Static Glue
Connections made with static glue remain fastened to the original connection point on a shape.

The image shows the same arrangement of shapes, this time connected with static glue (see the small red connector endpoints in the large example). Compare how the connectors are routed with static glue at both ends.

Static glue is appropriate for organization charts for example where connection points indicate the hierarchical structure of the connection and in other situations where the orientation of the connection is significant.

Tips
You can have different types of glue at each end of a connector.

Some types of connector do not support dynamic glue, control handle connectors that drag from shapes for example, only glue to specific points.

A properly glued connector is indicated by the color of its selection handle. When the connector is selected its glued endpoints or control handles are red.

If it's light red and slightly larger than a normal selection handle, it's dynamically glued.

If it's darker red and the same size as other selection handles, it's statically glued.

Fine-tune your glue settings in the Snap& Glue dialog box. Check it out with Tools > Snap & Glue

Choosing Glue Type as You Connect...

• Ensure no master shapes are selected in a stencil (click anywhere on the green stencil background to deselect)
• Select the connector tool from the Standard toolbar
• For dynamic glue on the first shape connection, hold the cursor over the first shape to connect until a box appears around the shape
• For static glue on the first shape, hold the cursor over a connection point. A box will appear around the connection point, then click and drag to the next shape
• To connect with dynamic glue at the second shape hold the cursor over the second shape until a box appears around it and them release the mouse button
• To connect with static glue at the second shape drag the cursor to a connection point. A box will appear around the connection point. Release the mouse button.

Changing Glue Types
To change from static to dynamic glue...

• Hold down the Ctrl key
• Drag the endpoint away from the shape and then back to one of the shape's connection points.
• When you drag the endpoint back, a box will appear around the shape.

To change from dynamic to static glue...

• Drag the endpoint away from the shape and then back to one of the shape's connection points.
• When you drag the endpoint back, a box will appear around the connector endpoint.

That should be enough on glue to get you into and out of any sticky situation.