Visual Presentations Made Easy with Diagramming Software

Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from an earlier article authored by former TechSoup Staff Writer Brian Satterfield in October 2006.

Do you need to put together an organization chart? Need a flowchart for training new employees and volunteers about a certain work process? How about a map of your computer network? Or maybe you want to distribute your notes from a recent brainstorming session in an attractive, easy-to-read visual format? Tools like Microsoft Paint or your word processor’s built-in drawing feature might do the job in a pinch, but trying to build a professional presentation or complicated diagram with such a tool can get unwieldy. On the other hand, using a high-end graphics program like Quark XPress or Adobe Illustrator to make a simple diagram can be unnecessarily time-consuming and frustrating, especially for inexperienced users.

When a project calls for a visual presentation, you may want to turn to a specialized piece of software commonly known as a diagramming program, which usually provides a number of different symbol sets for creating particular types of visual maps and drawings. For instance, if you wanted to map out the local area network you're building at your nonprofit's new headquarters, you might open a diagramming utility; look for a symbol set called "computers" or "networking"; and create the basic diagram by dragging and dropping icons for computers, servers, and printers onto the work grid. To finish the diagram, you'd add in arrows and connection lines to show how all of the hardware devices interface with one another, as well as any explanatory text. Using a diagramming application rather than graphics or word-processing software can reduce the number of hours required to create visual presentations. Your time is valuable: you probably want to spend more of it working on that important project than diagramming it.

We’ve taken a quick look at several popular diagramming tools. Like all software, diagramming applications vary widely in terms of their feature sets and costs. All of the applications we list offer free trials, so this list should help you get started finding the tool that most closely fits your organization’s needs and your work style.

There are numerous diagramming programs on the market. For our list, we’ve tried to focus on tools that match the needs and budgets of most nonprofits and public libraries, while also reflecting the broad range of options available. We’ve divided our list into proprietary applications, free and open-source alternatives, and online diagramming tools.

Proprietary Diagramming Tools

All of these tools have free trial versions available for download.

ConceptDraw Pro by Computer Systems Odessa

Cost: $249 retail; academic discounts available
Platform: Windows XP/Vista; Macintosh OS X 10.4.10 or later

ConceptDraw provides more than 100 symbol sets divided into categories such as website designs, general business and marketing diagrams, and project-management charts. The program offers tools for resizing, rotating, and changing the color of individual symbols, as well as those for drawing lines and shapes. Like many professional diagramming programs, this utility can create diagrams with layers, allowing you to stack multiple images. You can save ConceptDraw diagrams in a variety of formats, including, HTML, JPG, PDF, and PowerPoint. The application also includes a tool for saving diagrams directly to your organization's FTP server.

iGrafx FlowCharter by Corel

Cost: $480; support available at an additional fee
Platform: Windows XP/Vista

Corel's iGrafx FlowCharter features about 20 diagram templates pre-populated with symbols for comparison charts, workflows, organizational charts, and more. Users can customize the templates by rearranging or removing symbols or by adding additional shapes from FlowCharter's 100-plus symbol sets. If none of the templates meet your purpose, you can always create a diagram from scratch. FlowCharter allows you to build diagrams with multiple layers and also provides standard tools for drawing lines and shapes. The application can open files created in Microsoft Visio and can also automatically export files to Word or PowerPoint. FlowCharter saves diagrams as HTML files or in a number of standard graphic formats such as JPG and GIF.

Kivio mp by TheKompany.com

Cost: $90 for full version
Platform: Windows NT/2000/XP; Macintosh OS X 10.2 and later; Linux

The Windows demo version of Kivio mp — which has an unlimited trial period — bundles only a single set of flowchart-building symbols. If you want to design more complex flowcharts, diagram computer networks, or create other types of drawings, you'll need to purchase additional stencil sets ($5 to $10 each) or buy the full version. The application supports layers and saves documents in either its proprietary KVO format or as common image files such as BMP, PNG, and JPG; however, Kivio cannot export diagrams to HTML. The Kivio mp demo lacks dedicated help files, though users can find answers to many questions via the company’s FAQ page.

Kivio mp is adapted from Kivio for commercial distribution (see Free and Open-Source Diagramming Tools below).

Microsoft Visio

Cost: $559 retail; $22 admin fee through TechSoup
Platform: Windows XP/Vista/7

Microsoft's take on the diagramming application provides users with more than 100 different stencil sets grouped into 16 categories, such as organizational charts, project schedules, computer network layouts, and brainstorming maps. You can build a diagram containing shapes from multiple categories, then save it as a custom stencil for later reference. Like many diagramming programs, Visio lets you create diagrams with multiple layers and offers a standard assortment of drawing tools to help you resize, rotate, and flip shapes. Visio files can be saved in a handful of different proprietary Microsoft formats as well as JPG images, AutoCAD files, or XML and HTML pages. Visio diagrams can also be inserted into Word, PowerPoint, and other applications.

OmniGraffle by The Omni Group

Cost: $99 to $199
Platform: Mac OS X 10.5 or later

OmniGraffle has very robust graphing and diagramming features, and can export graphs to a wide variety of formats. Since OmniGraffle is designed exclusively for the Mac environment, its features and functions are quickly recognizable for Mac users. OmniGraffle has a very dedicated Internet user base: through websites like Graffletopia, share templates and stencils for hundreds of types of diagrams, ranging from network architecture charts to Dungeons and Dragons maps.

SmartDraw

Cost: $197; discounts available for educational institutions
Platform: Windows 2000/XP

This diagramming application offers 150 templates in categories such as software and web design, flyers and certificates, and network design. All of SmartDraw's templates are pre-populated with symbols, though you can easily customize them by dragging and removing symbols or by adding other shapes from the program's large library. If your diagram requires an even deeper level of customization, you can edit individual symbols by changing elements' color, size, and shape. SmartDraw lets you design diagrams from scratch, supports layers, provides tools for drawing lines and shapes, and offers wizards to help novice users quickly create drawings. The application can open Visio files and also saves diagrams in multiple formats, including HTML, PDF, GIF, and JPEG.

Free and Open-Source Diagramming Tools

Dia

Cost:Free
Platform: Linux, Mac, Windows

Open-source diagramming application Dia offers more than 30 symbol libraries for building diagrams ranging from simple flowcharts to complex Cisco and Sybase computer networks. The application also supports multiple layers and offers tools for quickly drawing shapes like polygons and boxes. Dia opens several different types of image files and can also export diagrams in formats such BMP, JPG, and GIF; however, this free program can neither open Visio diagrams nor save drawings in HTML format. In order to use Dia with Windows, you'll need to download and install the free GTK Runtime Environment first.

Kivio

Cost: Free
Platform: KDE Desktop Environment

Kivio is only compatible with KDE, a cross-platform desktop environment for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Kivio mp, the commercial version of Kivio, is available for non-KDE configurations (see Proprietary Diagramming Tools above).

OpenOffice.org Draw

Cost: Free
Platform: Several, including Windows 7. Mac users are encouraged to try NeoOffice

Draw is a component of OpenOffice.org, a multi-platform open-source office software suite. Strictly speaking, Draw is a graphics program rather than a diagramming program, but it includes diagram and flowchart stencils and templates comparable to those of Visio. Draw can import and export numerous types of graphic files.

Web-Based Diagramming Tools

Web-based diagramming tools are completely hosted online. They’re generally not as full-featured as desktop based applications, but they’re designed to make sharing and collaborating with others over the Internet easy. One point to consider is that if you use one of these tools, you won’t be able to work on or access your diagrams if you’re not connected to the Internet.

These tools let you embed graphs on a blog or website on the fly; in other words, if you update a diagram, you don’t need to republish it to your site; it’s automatically updated there too.

You can try all three of these tools for free; two of them offer paid versions with additional features and support.

Creately

Cost: Name Your Own Price
Platform: Online

Creately offers a clean, intuitive interface and mild learning curve. The free version lets you collaborate with a maximum of five other users, and any diagrams you export include the Creately logo.

Creately lets you name your price for its professional version (minimum $1 a month), which removes the Creately watermark and lets you work with an unlimited number of collaborators.

Gliffy

Cost: Paid version starts at $5 a month
Platform: Online

Gliffy is the most robust of the online tools we reviewed. Gliffy offers a wide range of templates and stencils. Through Gliffy’s integration with Yahoo! Image Search, you can import pictures from the Internet as new stencils quickly and easily. Like Creately, the free version of Gliffy adds a watermark to any diagram you create with the free version. Gliffy’s free version lets you create a maximum of five diagrams.

The paid version of Gliffy starts at $5 a month, with discounts for multiple users. For the differences between the free and paid versions, see the product comparison chart.

Webspiration

Cost: Free Beta Test
Platform: Online

Webspiration is a web-based diagramming tool by Inspiration Software, creators of Inspiration, a desktop tool intended primarily for educational purposes. Webspiration doesn’t offer as many features as Gliffy or Creately, but it’s very easy to use.

Webspiration is only available in a free Beta version. According to the Webspiration website, the service will adopt a subscription system in the future, but as of November 2009, the subscription service hasn’t yet been announced.

Conclusion

There are many more diagramming tools on the market than we’re able to cover here, but the selection we’ve covered should give you an idea of the variety of tools available. As you try the programs listed, you can determine which features are most important to you  and find the tool that’s right for your organization, whether it’s on our list or not.

The features of a diagramming program are ultimately less important than the work you do with it. Once you get comfortable with the features of a diagramming application, it can become a natural part of your everyday workflow to help you create visually appealing and easy-to-use diagrams to aid your work.