# AlternateNames Element

Specifies the alternate names for a document.

## Syntax

    <AlternateNames>
    </AlternateNames>

## Attributes

None

## Element properties

Property | Value
--- | ---
Name | AlternateNames
Minimum Occurrences | 0
Maximum Occurrences | 1

## Element information

Parent elements

DocumentProperties

Child elements

None

## Remarks

Microsoft Office Visio stores document names in the following situations:

- Templates store the stencil names that are opened with the template.
- Master shortcuts store names of stencils that store the shapes the master shortcuts refer to.

When Visio opens a document or accesses the Document object's collection, it uses the document name. If Visio can't find the document name, it looks for alternate names for those stencils that are in the correct path. For example, suppose you created the stencil named "My Shapes 2004.vsx." The following year you revised the stencil and renamed it "My Shapes 2005.vsx." Any templates that opened My Shapes 2004.vsx should now open My Shapes 2005.vsx. To do this, set the AlternateNames element of "My Shapes 2005.vsx" to "My Shapes 2004.vsx".

The alternate names are delimited by semicolon characters. You can also include comments in angle brackets (<>) if the angle brackets are entered as XML entities (for example, &lt; and &gt;).

## Example

The following statement demonstrates defining two alternate names for a document, and includes the user comment "old name".

    <AlternateNames>Human Resources Shapes.vss;&lt;old name&gt;;HRDept Shapes.vss</AlternateNames>

## See also

AlternateNames property

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