Microsoft introduced Visio 1.0 in 1992. It has always been improving with each new version. What started as a desktop application is also available today as an online application. Visio Online is compatible with other versions of Visio. You can share diagrams and flowcharts across teams and receive feedback comments from your colleagues, all in your favorite browser. On top of all this, as part of Microsoft’s offering, Visio Online integrates seamlessly wit Microsoft 365’s great productivity features.

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Visio plans and pricing

There are currently two different plans to fit your needs.

You can set up a 30-day free trial (with 25 licenses) to take Visio for a spin. Once your account is set up, you can access the Admin Center to add/remove users, manage your billing, see your account balance, and view helpful training tutorials and videos.

Click the Import Visio File button from the Import window in the right. Locate, select, and import the VSDX or VSD file from your PC to the program. To import a VSSX file to EdrawMax, you can: Initialize EdrawMax. Click to select New from the navigation bar in the left. Click the + button from the right window to open a new drawing project. Open Visio files stored on OneDrive in any web browser and share your comments directly in a diagram. Easily collaborate on Visio files in Microsoft Teams All team members can view, comment, and share powerful Visio diagrams in Teams, with or without a Visio license. View Visio diagrams on your phone or tablet. As one of the open source Visio alternatives, LibreOffice allows users to generate, edit and view Microsoft documents including diagrams and text files. Besides, the software also includes collaboration tools, compliance tracking, document archiving, document assembly, document retention, and optical character recognition. To open this document, your computer must be running a supported version of Microsoft Visio and a browser that supports opening files directly from Visio Web Access Cause This issue occurs because Visio Web Access invokes the client application by using the ms-visio:ofv u documenturl protocol, but Visio Viewer doesn't support or process this. Subscribe Now:More:is a very specific type of applicat.

Getting Started

Once you have the trial or subscription, you are ready to explore the application. When you open Visio, you are presented with many sample templates to give you a leg up on your diagram. Of course, you can start with a blank template if desired.

Let’s start with a basic flowchart:

Yes, it does look a little plain, but we will change that! With Visio Online, as with the desktop versions, you can drag and drop shapes onto your canvas.

Visio keeps track of vertical and horizontal alignments, so you do not have to. It highlights shapes like in the example below when they are aligned—one less thing to worry about so you can concentrate on your diagram.

If you select a shape, it shows handles that you can use to quickly change the size of the shape. Clicking on a shape’s handle allows you to drag a connector line to the desired shape. You can change the thickness of the line, the type of arrow (or no arrow), the direction of the arrow, and so on. And you can save your preferences as a default.

Even if you enlarge or move the shape, Visio will maintain the connectors between it and other connected shapes.

Of course, a diagram is not very useful unless it has text to explain each shape and connection.

If you double-click on a shape, it changes to Text mode.

Not only can you enter text, but you can format it just the way you like with larger fonts, bolded or italicized styles, colors, and more. And like connector lines, you can save your preferences for the text you enter as well. That is a great time saver.

In addition to labeling shapes, you can also add text boxes anywhere on the diagram to provide more information to the viewer.

You can even add text labels to the lines connecting various shapes.

Just like labeling shapes, you can double-click on the connector line and enter the desired text.

So, as you can see, it is very quick and easy to create a new diagram in Visio Online.

Sharing a diagram

I mentioned the ability to share a diagram with your team members. To do so, click the Share button on the top right section of the page.

The following window displays:

Enter the email address of the person you’d like to share the diagram with. If the individual is in your list of contacts, a drop-down list displays so you can select that individual. You can add an optional message or copy the link to the diagram.

Click Send.

Adding Comments

A BIG advantage of working online is that you and your team members can collaborate on a diagram by editing and commenting. Instead of having to email a diagram out for comments and waiting for the reply, your team can be more productive with Visio Online.

Once you have shared a diagram with team members, they can click the Comments button in the top right section of the page.

At this point in the process, those who are sharing the diagram can add new comments and review comments left by other team members. They can also reply to comments made by others, which improves productivity and saves time.

It is a great way to truly collaborate with your team members, whether in the same location or half a world away.

Real-Time Editing

Visio Online, like other apps, gives you and your team the ability to make changes to a diagram in real-time. If other team members are viewing or editing the diagram, their thumbnail picture appears in the top right corner of the page to alert you.

Viewing Prior Versions of a diagram

The very nature of online collaboration ensures that the team is always working on the latest diagram. No more searching through email attachments for a diagram that may already be out of date.

A unique feature of working online is the ability to view previous versions of the same shared diagram. Team members can review a previous version, and if desired, they can restore that version. It then becomes the current version.

Summary

As you can see, there are many productive features of using Microsoft Visio Online. Take advantage of the free 30-day trial and see how it can help your team to work more efficiently.

Creating diagrams and charts is an essential part of an organization to get a bird’s eye view of all the activities in it. Because such drawings are complex in nature, programs like Microsoft Visio are used to prepare them. Post creation, if any changes are needed in the illustrations, an efficient Visio editor can be used. Such a Visio editor may not necessarily be from Microsoft itself but can be a product from a third-party developer that can efficiently edit Visio files.

Furthermore, some Visio online editor apps are also available that enable you to edit Visio files using your favorite web browser.

Visio is one of the products from the Microsoft Office suite. It is used to draw diagrams, charts, and many other graphical representations to give detailed information about a system, concept, or plan at a single glance.

Microsoft Visio is equipped with several libraries, where each library consists of various related shapes that help you draw the domain-specific illustrations with ease. For instance, the Floor Plan library is populated with symbols to draw walls, doors, windows, etc. Likewise, the Flow Chart library has the Start, Stop, Processing, etc., shapes to prepare a visual illustration of how a particular application should process the data post-development.

Because Visio is a Microsoft product, it can easily integrate with Microsoft SharePoint and other corporate solutions offered by the vendor.

Microsoft Visio is an industry-standard diagramming software and a decent VSDX editor that is used by many professionals across the globe. However, as with any other application, there are some advantages and disadvantages that the app comes with.

Some most significant pros and cons of Microsoft Visio include:

Pros

• Has sufficient number of libraries, tools, and shapes to prepare simple to highly complex diagrams and charts.
• Offers complete control over all the functionalities of the app.
• Being a product of Microsoft, Visio can be trusted, and the technical support team can be counted on in case of any inconsistencies or crashes.

Cons

• Microsoft Visio is pretty expensive as compared to other third-party drawing tools available in the market.
• Requires a decent amount of training to be able to use flawlessly.
• Requires a dedicated professional or a team of professionals to prepare charts and diagrams.
• Visio is not available for PCs running Mac or Linux operating systems.
• Visio editor is needed to edit a file created with Microsoft Visio.

Keeping the above points in mind, you can clearly understand that Microsoft Visio is suitable only if you are technically skilled and have a hefty amount of money kept aside to invest in the app.

However, if you are a freelancer or work in an organization looking for an easy and comparatively cheaper solution that can produce identical outputs and even supports files created in Microsoft Visio, a product called EdrawMax developed by Wondershare would be your best bet.

EdrawMax not only costs lesser than Visio, but it also has more libraries, tools, and shapes that make your model creation experience fairly simple. Furthermore, the application is smart enough to recognize the files created in both pre and post-2010 versions of Microsoft Visio.

Microsoft Visio File Types

Before proceeding any further, it is important to know the different file extensions that Microsoft Visio files have as per their nature. These extensions are:

VSDX - The drawing projects created in Microsoft Visio 2013 or above versions use *.vsdx file extension.

How To Open Visio File

VSD - The drawing projects created in Microsoft Visio 2010 or earlier versions use *.vsd file extension.

VSSX - When you save a Visio drawing as a stencil, *.vssx extension is assigned to such a file.

After understanding the different Visio file types, it’s now time to see how they can be imported to EdrawMax to use the program as an efficient Visio editor.

To use EdrawMax as a VSDX editor, you can:

1. Launch EdrawMax on your computer.
2. Click Import from the navigation pane in the left of the main window.
3. Click the Import Visio File button from the Import window in the right.
4. Locate, select, and import the VSDX or VSD file from your PC to the program.

To import a VSSX file to EdrawMax, you can:

1. Initialize EdrawMax.
2. Click to select New from the navigation bar in the left.
3. Click the + button from the right window to open a new drawing project. Alternatively, you can also click the thumbnail of an existing template or open an already created EdrawMax project file.
4. When the new (or an existing) drawing project opens, click Import symbols from the right side of the My Library title bar.
5. Go to the Import VSSX tab on the Import Symbols box.
6. Click Select VSSX Files from the center
7. Select and import the VSSX Visio Stencil file from your PC to EdrawMax.

In order to edit Visio files in EdrawMax, you can follow the steps given above to import the VSDX or VSD drawings to the app, and then:

1. Click to select any shape of the diagram in the canvas.
2. Use the options in the right to make the required changes to the shape.
3. Add more shapes to the diagram by dragging them from the Library in the left.
4. Go to File, and click Save As or Save to save the project as an EdrawMax file with *.eddx extension on your local hard drive or to your personal cloud

After you have created a drawing in EdrawMax, you can even export it as a VSDX file so that the people who are comfortable with Microsoft Visio can import the project and make the required adjustments. To export an EdrawMax (*.eddx or *.edx) file as Visio, you can:

1. Go to File > Export & Send from the navigation bar in the left.
2. Click to select Visio from the Export bar in the center.
3. Click Visio VSDX Format from the Export to Visio window in the right.
4. Choose a location on your local hard drive, and save the file.

Note: At the time of this writing, EdrawMax only supports VSDX format when exporting the projects for Visio. As mentioned earlier, the VSDX files are compatible with the 2013 or later versions of Microsoft Visio.

Even though Visio is a product by one of the industry's leading vendors, it has a steep learning curve, and only technically skilled people can use it to produce highly advanced diagrams. On the other hand, when it comes to EdrawMax, the app comes with several advantages, including

• Available at a lower cost as compared to Microsoft Visio.
• Can import Visio files seamlessly, thus working as an efficient Visio editor (VSDX editor).
• Can import Visio stencil files as custom/personal libraries.
• Is populated with more symbols, icons, and shapes than there are in Microsoft Visio.
• Offers extremely intuitive interface, and therefore even the novice users can create projects and diagrams.
• Can export the project files with *.vsdx extension that can be used in Microsoft Visio.

When it comes to creating charts and diagrams, the shapes, symbols, and connecting lines play a vital role in producing a clean illustration. While Microsoft Visio might sound advanced and allows its projects to be integrated with SharePoint, EdrawMax is equipped with comparatively more objects in each of its libraries.

Open Visio Document Online Converter

In addition, because EdrawMax can import VSDX projects, it can be used as a decent Visio editor to edit Visio files. The best part is, EdrawMax can be downloaded and tried for free, and if found useful, its licensed copy can be purchased later from the official website.

EdrawMax: a swiss knife for all your diagramming need

• Effortlessly create over 280 types of diagrams.
• Provide various templates & symbols to match your needs.
• Drag and drop interface and easy to use.
• Customize every detail by using smart and dynamic toolkits.
• Compatible with a variety of file formats, such as MS Office, Visio, PDF, etc.
• Feel free to export, print, and share your diagrams.