Office 365 Visio

[Hebe Newnam]

MicrosoftVisio (/ˈvɪz.i.oʊ/ VIZ-ee-oh) (formerly Microsoft Office Visio) is a diagramming and vector graphics application and is part of the Microsoft 365 family. The product was first introduced in 1992 by former American software company Visio Corporation, and its latest version is Visio 2021. Microsoft acquired the assets of Visio Corporation in 2000. A lightweight version of Visio is now included with all commercial SKU of Microsoft 365 and is known as Visio in Microsoft 365. It has two other subscription based SKUs. Visio Plan 1 includes the Visio web app whereas Visio Plan 2 provides access to both the web app and the Desktop application.

Microsoft Visio is used to create diagram types such as flowcharts, org charts, floor plans, network diagrams, UML diagrams, mind maps and more. It is also commonly used for scenarios such as Process Mapping and Visual Collaboration. The latest version of Visio also has data visualization that allows users to create diagrams from Excel data and also embed Visio diagrams in Power BI dashboards.

Microsoft made Visio 2013 for Windows available in two editions: Standard and Professional. The Standard and Professional editions share the same interface, but the Professional edition has additional templates for more advanced diagrams and layouts, as well as capabilities intended to make it easy for users to connect their diagrams to data sources and to display their data graphically.[5][6] The Professional edition features three additional diagram types, as well as intelligent rules, validation, and subprocess (diagram breakdown).[7] Visio Professional is also offered as an additional component of an Office365 subscription.[8]

On 22 September 2015, Visio 2016 was released alongside Microsoft Office 2016. A few new features have been added such as one-step connectivity with Excel data, information rights management (IRM) protection for Visio files, modernized shapes for office layout, detailed shapes for site plans, updated shapes for floor plans, modern shapes for home plans, IEEE compliant shapes for electrical diagrams, new range of starter diagrams, and new themes for the Visio interface.[9]

All of the previous versions of Visio used VSD, the proprietary binary-file format. Visio 2010 added support for the VDX file format, which is a well-documented XML Schema-based ("DatadiagramML") format, but still uses VSD by default only.

Visio 2013 drops support for writing VDX files in favor of the new VSDX and VSDM file formats,[12] and uses them by default. Created based on Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) standard (ISO 29500, Part 2), a VSDX or VSDM file consists of a group of XML files archived inside a Zip file.[12] VSDX and VSDM files differ only in that VSDM files may contain macros.[12] Since these files are susceptible to macro virus infection, the program enforces strict security on them.[14]

While VSD files use LZW-like lossless compression, VDX is not compressed. Hence, a VDX file typically takes up 3 to 5 times more storage.[citation needed] VSDX and VSDM files use the same compression as Zip files.

Visio began as a standalone product produced by Shapeware Corporation; version 1.0 shipped in 1992. A pre-release, Version 0.92, was distributed free on a floppy disk along with a Microsoft Windows systems readiness evaluation utility. In 1995, Shapeware Corporation changed their name to Visio Corporation to take advantage of market recognition and related product equity. Microsoft acquired Visio in 2000, re-branding it as a Microsoft Office application. Like Microsoft Project, however, it has never been officially included in any of the bundled Office suites. Microsoft included a Visio for Enterprise Architects edition with some editions of Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005.[15]

Along with Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional, Microsoft introduced Visio Enterprise Network Tools and Visio Network Center. Visio Enterprise Network Tools was an add-on product that enabled automated network and directory services diagramming. Visio Network Center was a subscription-based website where users could locate the latest network documentation content and exact-replica network equipment shapes from 500 leading manufacturers.[16] Visio Enterprise Network Tools was discontinued in July 2002.[17] The following year, Microsoft released a patch which gave Enterprise Network Tools users access to the network equipment shapes via Visio's built-in Find Shape feature.[18] Visio 2007 was released on November 30, 2006.

Microsoft Visio adopted ribbons in its user interface in Visio 2010.[19] Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook (to some extents) had already adopted the ribbon with the release of Microsoft Office 2007.[20]

There are no Visio versions 7, 8, or 9, because after Microsoft acquired and branded Visio as a Microsoft Office product, the Visio version numbers followed the Office version numbers. Version 13 was skipped owing to triskaidekaphobia.[22]

On 7 May 2001, Microsoft introduced Visio Enterprise Network Tools (VENT), an add-on for Visio 2002 scheduled for release on 1 July 2001, and Visio Network Center, a subscription-based web service for IT professionals who use Microsoft Visio for computer network diagramming.[23] VENT was discontinued on 1 July 2002 because of very low customer demand.[24]

DIA is unusable in comparison. I still wonder how I managed to document my Bachelor's Thesis using it. Try aligning objects in DIA, try creating any diagram so that it doesn't look like it was done in 3 minutes.

In Inkscape, use the "Create diagram connector". It has the option to "Make connector avoid selected objects". If you draw a connector, then select the object you want to avoid, edit the connector and finally click the button to avoid that object, you can use smart connectors that will not overlap the different elements of your box. In practice, I find the easiest way to do this is to:

Alternatively, LibreOffice Draw is a popular piece of software, see other answers. One thing to note is that LibreOffice can now open Visio diagrams, and it lets you edit them. It works well for simple diagrams, not as well for very Visio-idiosyncrasy-intensive ones. It could still be usable with more effort, and in an environment with a lot of existing diagrams, this might be tolerable.

Many of the suggestions in other answers are good stand-ins for Visio for general diagramming. One gap I found was the lack of a decent set of network equipment symbols like those found in Visio. So I jumped in and built a set for OpenOffice/LibreOffice, now shipping in Fedora in the vrt-network-equipment package. It's also available to download here if you just want the OO/LibO extension.

I believe a solution that has been completely overlooked for far too long is Visual Paradigm. It's closed source, but it has a free community edition (non-commercial use) and is very stable and polished. Also, the UML only commercial license is only $99.

I also like yEd very much: it has a straightforward approach to creating diagrams and lets you work efficiently after a very short while. The quality of the diagrams can be very high: there are advanced alignment functions, custom Icons can be imported (also from Visio) and there are various output formats available.

However, yEd requires an Oracle Sun Java VM, which is not standard e.g. in Ubuntu 11.10. A solution is given in The easiest solution for me was to download and extract the "Zipped yEd Jar" Download and call the Oracle Sun Java explicitely, like:

In addition to Dia, some good alternatives to Microsoft Visio are Libreoffice Draw, Calligra Flow and yED. There are some online alternatives but most of them have paid subscriptions. There is one online app which provides all the features for free though, its called draw.io. You can check it out!

Microsoft Visio is licensed on an individual basis at DU. IT makes Microsoft Visio available for faculty and staff if a business case requires the creation of Visio documents. If you need Microsoft Visio on your DU owned Windows computer, please submit a ticket or call the IT Help Center at (303) 871-4700.

Microsoft Visio can be installed quickly on DU-owned computers. If you are unable to follow the instructions below or have questions please submit a ticket or call the IT Help Center at (303) 871-4700.

If you are working on a DU-Owned Windows computer and need the use of Visio, please go to office365.du.edu and sign in with your DU Email account. Once you are here, please click the install office drop-down at the top right, and select other install options. On the next page click view apps & devices, if you have a Visio license for your account, the option to download Visio should be available there, if it is not, please submit a ticket or call the IT Help Center at (303) 871-4700. Requests for this software must be provided by a benefited staff or faculty member.

-To download the latest version of Visio, head over to Office365.du.edu, click Install Office (top-right of screen), and select Other Install options from the dropdown. From there, click View Apps & Devices in the Office Apps & Devices box.

Microsoft Visio Pro licenses are available for lease through the Division of Information Technology for faculty and staff who need to create flowcharts, network diagrams, org charts, floor plans, and more.

Upon completion of the license request, an invoice will be sent to the requesting department. Prior to provisioning the license request, payment must be made to Division of Information Technology via interfund voucher (IFV) or KSU Foundation check for faculty/staff licenses. The Division of Information Technology is unable to accept personal payment for these licenses. Within seven days of receipt of payment, individuals will receive an email notifying them that Visio is available in their Office 365 apps.

In early January, the Division of Information Technology will send current Visio Pro licensees a renewal invoice in early December. License privileges are automatically revoked for non-renewed licenses.

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