Embedded Visio file in Word document wont open in Visio Viewer; Appear as Unknown

2020-06-04

Question

_{Thursday, June 4, 2020 4:56 PM}

All our Windows 10 clients have Office 2019 Professional Plus, which includes Word. Office 2019 also provides 'Visio Viewer' for viewing Visio files created in Visio 2019 Professional. Visio Viewer works great when the Visio document is saved in a folder. But if the Visio document is embedded in a Word document, Word sees the Visio file as 'unknown' and doesnt know to use the Visio Viewer to open the file. What is odd is that we also have Project files embedded in Word documents, and Word at least knows what those are (even if the user doesnt have Project). Why are the Visio files showing up as unknown objects? Is this a bug in Word 2019? Is there a way to make Word aware of what a Visio file is without having to install Visio 2019?

FWIW, if i go to a computer that does have the full Visio 2019 Pro installed, then when i click the embedded Visio object in Word 2019, it doesnt show up as 'unknown'. it shows up as a Visio file. So the issue is that Word doesnt know it can use Visio Viewer to view embedded Visio objects inside Word documents.

All replies (2)

_{Friday, June 5, 2020 9:40 AM ✅Answered}

Hi jrauman,

I can reproduce your issue on my test environment with Office 2013 or Office 2019.

Unlike Visio application, the Visio Viewer could not run a program itself, when you click a Visio file, it opens in an Internet Explorer window.

Without installing Visio, Word will identify embedded Visio drawing as Unknown Object. In my opinion, it is an expected behavior.

I suggest you use hyperlink to link Visio drawings, keep Word document and Visio files in one folder.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,

Emily

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_{Tuesday, June 9, 2020 2:59 AM}