How to make sure newly created connectors are straight?

Question

I'm creating a Visio Flowchart diagram. I want all connectors by default to be "Straight". Is there any way to set a default style for newly created connectors? Currently all my connectors are always drawn "Right Angle" initially.

Note that I'd prefer any solution to work for both drawing a connector with the corresponding Tool, and for drawing a connector through the smart interface when hovering a process block.

Things I've tried:

• CTRL + A → Design Ribbon → Layout subribbon → Connectors → Straight. This will not be persisted for new connectors.
• Going through all the options under: Design Ribbon → Variants (the caret for a pullout menu) → Connectors. This is only for the style of connector, it seems.
• Selecting various different Themes. Haven't found one that has Straight connectors by default.
• Opening Page Setup → Layout and Routing. There is in fact an option [Routing → Appearance] there which can be set to "Straight" vs "Curved", but in this dropdown "Straight" actually means "Right Angle".

To put it in a picture, here's what happens now:

And here's what I want to happen:

Answer 1

It looks like this has been a common question for ages ;). You can change default connector style by editing "Dynamic Connector" master in the document stencil (in your case, set it to be "straight").

To do this:

1. Open the "Shapes" sidebar
2. Hit the flyout icon next to "More Shapes" and select "Show Document Stencil"
3. At the bottom a new panel shows which contains "Dynamic connector": right click it, and under "Edit Master" select "Edit Master Shape"
4. Select the connector on your screen (should be a line with one right angle)
5. Use the ribbon (Design > Layout > Connectors) to set it to "Straight"
6. Close the window top left with the [X], and choose "Update the connector and all of its instances"

New connectors will now default be routed as straight connectors.

Here are some other sources that tell a similar story:

• Answers.Microsoft.com
• Visguy.com

Answer 2

To make the default connector straight or curved, on the File menu, click Page Setup, click the Layout and Routing tab, and then in the Appearance list, click Straight or Curved. New connectors that you add to your drawing will now be straight or curved.

Taken from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Make-connectors-curved-angled-or-straight-4587d3b3-4552-4361-8d19-f4a2d259d9a8?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Answer 3

In addition to Nikolay's answer above, in Visio 2003 I couldn't find the "flyout icon" so I would add the following 2003 specific bits to the steps above:

Step 0. You need to add a dynamic connector to your document before it will show up in the Document Stencil. THEN you can edit it.

Step 1. File > Shapes > Show Document Stencil.

...

Step 5. In 2003 there was no ribbon in the editor, so I had to right click on the arrow and then chose "Straight Connector"

Hope this helps someone else!