What is a VSX file?

Files with .vsx extension refer to stencils that consist of drawings and shapes that are used for creating diagrams in Microsoft Visio. VSX files are saved in XML file format and was supported till Visio 2013. These are different than the primary VSDX file format that was introduced with Microsoft Visio 2013. VSX files can be opened in any text editor to view the contents. VSX files can be converted to several different file formats such as PDF and HTML.

VSX File Format

A sample VSX file opened in XML editor is as shown below. A typical VSX file has the following nodes as observed from its XML representation.

Document Properties

Some of the elements contained in the Document Properties section are as follow:

<Creator>Creation Information</Creator>
<BuildNumberCreated>939530118</BuildNumberCreated>
<BuildNumberEdited>939530118</BuildNumberEdited>
<PreviewPicture Size#"20172">...</PreviewPicture>
<CustomProps>
<CustomProp Name#"_VPID_EXTENDED_VDX" PropType#"Number">1</CustomProp>
</CustomProps>
<TimeCreated>2012-07-06T23:00:56</TimeCreated>
<TimeSaved>2017-06-11T16:06:08</TimeSaved>
<TimeEdited>2012-07-06T23:06:33</TimeEdited>
<TimePrinted>2012-07-06T23:00:56</TimePrinted>

Document Settings

A typical document settings node contains the following elements.

<GlueSettings>9</GlueSettings>
<SnapSettings>65847</SnapSettings>
<SnapExtensions>34</SnapExtensions>
<DynamicGridEnabled>0</DynamicGridEnabled>
<ProtectStyles>0</ProtectStyles>
<ProtectShapes>0</ProtectShapes>
<ProtectMasters>0</ProtectMasters>
<ProtectBkgnds>0</ProtectBkgnds>

Colors

The colors node contains colour entries to be used through out the document.

<ColorEntry IX#"0" RGB#"#000000"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"1" RGB#"#FFFFFF"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"2" RGB#"#FF0000"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"3" RGB#"#00FF00"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"4" RGB#"#0000FF"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"5" RGB#"#FFFF00"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"6" RGB#"#FF00FF"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"7" RGB#"#00FFFF"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"8" RGB#"#800000"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"9" RGB#"#008000"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"10" RGB#"#000080"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"11" RGB#"#808000"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"12" RGB#"#800080"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"13" RGB#"#008080"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"14" RGB#"#C0C0C0"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"15" RGB#"#E6E6E6"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"16" RGB#"#CDCDCD"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"17" RGB#"#B3B3B3"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"18" RGB#"#9A9A9A"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"19" RGB#"#808080"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"20" RGB#"#666666"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"21" RGB#"#4D4D4D"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"22" RGB#"#333333"/>
<ColorEntry IX#"23" RGB#"#1A1A1A"/>

Face Names

The FaceNames node in the file represents TypeFace.FaceNames properties used in the document.

<FaceName ID#"1" Name#"Arial Unicode MS" UnicodeRanges#"-1 -369098753 63 0" CharSets#"1614742015 -65536" Panos#"2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4" Flags#"357"/>
<FaceName ID#"2" Name#"Symbol" UnicodeRanges#"0 0 0 0" CharSets#"-2147483648 0" Panos#"5 5 1 2 1 7 6 2 5 7" Flags#"261"/>
<FaceName ID#"3" Name#"Wingdings" UnicodeRanges#"0 0 0 0" CharSets#"-2147483648 0" Panos#"5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0" Flags#"261"/>
<FaceName ID#"4" Name#"Calibri" UnicodeRanges#"-536870145 1073786111 1 0" CharSets#"536871327 0" Panos#"2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4" Flags#"261"/>
<FaceName ID#"5" Name#"SimSun" UnicodeRanges#"3 680460288 6 0" CharSets#"262145 0" Panos#"2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1" Flags#"421"/>
<FaceName ID#"6" Name#"PMingLiU" UnicodeRanges#"-1610611969 684719354 22 0" CharSets#"1048577 0" Panos#"2 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0" Flags#"421"/>
<FaceName ID#"7" Name#"MS PGothic" UnicodeRanges#"-536870145 1791491579 18 0" CharSets#"1073873055 -539557888" Panos#"2 11 6 0 7 2 5 8 2 4" Flags#"421"/>
<FaceName ID#"8" Name#"Dotum" UnicodeRanges#"-1342176593 1775729915 48 0" CharSets#"1074266271 -539557888" Panos#"2 11 6 0 0 1 1 1 1 1" Flags#"421"/>
<FaceName ID#"9" Name#"Sylfaen" UnicodeRanges#"67110535 0 0 0" CharSets#"536871071 0" Panos#"1 10 5 2 5 3 6 3 3 3" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"10" Name#"Estrangelo Edessa" UnicodeRanges#"-2147475389 0 128 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"3 8 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"11" Name#"Vrinda" UnicodeRanges#"65539 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"12" Name#"Shruti" UnicodeRanges#"262147 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"13" Name#"Mangal" UnicodeRanges#"32771 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 4 5 3 5 2 3 3 2 2" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"14" Name#"Tunga" UnicodeRanges#"4194307 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"15" Name#"Sendnya" UnicodeRanges#"-520082689 -1073741822 8 0" CharSets#"536936959 539492352" Panos#"2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4" Flags#"327"/>
<FaceName ID#"16" Name#"Raavi" UnicodeRanges#"131075 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"17" Name#"Dhenu" UnicodeRanges#"-520082689 -1073741822 8 0" CharSets#"536936959 539492352" Panos#"2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4" Flags#"327"/>
<FaceName ID#"18" Name#"Latha" UnicodeRanges#"1048579 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"19" Name#"Gautami" UnicodeRanges#"2097155 0 0 0" CharSets#"1 0" Panos#"2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"20" Name#"Cordia New" UnicodeRanges#"-2130706429 0 0 0" CharSets#"65537 0" Panos#"2 11 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 4" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"21" Name#"Arial" UnicodeRanges#"-536859905 -1073711037 9 0" CharSets#"1073742335 -65536" Panos#"2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"22" Name#"Malgun Gothic" UnicodeRanges#"-1879047505 30899451 18 0" CharSets#"524289 0" Panos#"2 11 5 3 2 0 0 2 0 4" Flags#"421"/>
<FaceName ID#"23" Name#"Times New Roman" UnicodeRanges#"-536859905 -1073711039 9 0" CharSets#"1073742335 -65536" Panos#"2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3 4" Flags#"325"/>
<FaceName ID#"33" Name#"Arial Black" UnicodeRanges#"647 0 0 0" CharSets#"536871071 -539557888" Panos#"2 11 10 4 2 1 2 2 2 4" Flags#"260"/>

Style Sheets

The StyleSheets node contains information about the style sheets used in the document. Each style sheet can have information about style properties, lines, fill patterns, text blocks and other such elements.

Document Sheet

The DocumentSheet node contains information about the document properties and User name information, and look as follow:

<DocProps>
<OutputFormat>0</OutputFormat>
<LockPreview>0</LockPreview>
<AddMarkup>0</AddMarkup>
<ViewMarkup>0</ViewMarkup>
<PreviewQuality>0</PreviewQuality>
<PreviewScope>0</PreviewScope>
<DocLangID>1033</DocLangID>
</DocProps>
<User NameU#"msvNoAutoConnect" ID#"1">
<Value>1</Value>
<Prompt F#"No Formula"/>
</User>
</DocumentSheet>

Pages

Contains information about the pages a Visio document such as Page Properties, Layouts, Ruler Grids, Shapes, Images and other similar data.

See Also