Free Software to replace Visio (flowcharts)

Document directory

• Eve v3.56 | 73kb | super small magic vector plot Program
• Dimo-designer v1.18 | 700kb | easy to draw a flowchart
• Dia | 10 MB | cross-platform Flowchart
• Edraw Mind Map | 7 MB | professional and beautiful free flowchart drawing software (made in China)
• OpenOffice.org | MB | drawing function in open source office suite

Author: Make good use of software
Source: http://xbeta.info/visio-alternative.htm

When it comes to drawing flowcharts, many people first respond to MS Visio. For the company, this is indeed a good choice. However, it is far from a good strategy to pay the price of 1000 yuan/Standard Edition or 4000 yuan/Professional Edition for personal Occasional applications and relatively simple flowcharts. In this case, try free/open-source software or online applications as an alternative to Visio.

I. Free flowchart Software

The following free software can be used to draw flowcharts. The sequence of introduction is from small to large: Eve, di1_designer, Dia, edraw Mind Map, OOO draw.

Eve v3.56 | 73kb | super small magic vector plot Program

Who can think of a 73kb EXE to produce this effect? Oyster
Eve is introduced as follows: Eve
: Embedded Vector
Editor may be "the world's smallest Vector Plotting Software ". The menu and dialog box are messy. You can bind the program and the drawing to an EXE file for publishing, and create some interaction effects. Eve web edition
: Eve web edition adds the input/output SVG vector graph function.

Home Page
| Download
(V3.56 161k Includes tutorials) | User Manual
| FAQ

Dimo-designer v1.18 | 700kb | easy to draw a flowchart

Directly reference zenzen
Introduction: A small and free flowchart drawing tool, dimo-designer
. Fast, no installation required. I think it is enough for most people to draw flowcharts, design interfaces, and make some simple demonstrations. I can't figure out why we must use some large cracking software. Is that necessary? In addition, users who like the Chinese interface can download the language support package.
. If you like open source, you can use the source code of a slightly older version.
.

The following software features are provided by zenzen
Translated from the original official website
:

• Custom object Template
• Spelling check
• Import/Export WMF, EMF, BMP, JPEG, PNG, MNG, ICO, GIF, and PCX formats
• Slide playback
• Simple mathematical formula
• Advanced calculator for Solving Equations
• Integrates meesoft image analyzer to edit bitmap and other extended formats
• Use the compression format to minimize the file size

Dia | 10 MB | cross-platform Flowchart

DIA (Home Page
) Is based on GTK
For Linux, UNIX, and windows
License release. In layman's terms, a 10 MB free software, instead of Visio is basically no problem, was "The Best 300 free software"
. Some users think that Dia is not very useful in many places, but in any case, it is a free solution with the highest overall performance.

The Windows installation package is available here.
Download: Version 0.96. Here
There are many screenshots. Speaking of the Nature of software, Dia is not freeware, but free software. For more information, click the GPL link above.

Edraw Mind Map | 7 MB | professional and beautiful free flowchart drawing software (made in China)

Recommended! Edraw Mind Map
| Chinese culture Homepage
As a domestic free software, the flowchart software "easy to use, high price, free is difficult to use. Edraw mind map is small in size and has rich functions. As a free software, it can fully meet the needs of common users to draw flowcharts. For more information, see the special article titled "getting a free alternative to visio: edraw Mind Map ".
.

OpenOffice.org | MB | drawing function in open source office suite

OpenOffice.org
It also has the drawing function and is in the form of an independent OpenOffice.org draw. Of course, no one will install a full set of OOO because of the flowchart (90 MB for downloading the package, 170 MB for installation), but it will be used for drawing with OOO (PDF can also be output)
/
Database Management/workbooks/DEMOS ). Ooo is a great open-source software. For Linux and Windows users, they can enjoy the freedom of high-quality office software without any payment. It corresponds
MS office documentation is compatible with good, of course there will be some problems (famous saying: no software can 100% compatible with the MS Office format, Ms itself can not ). For more details, see Tag: OpenOffice.org
.

2. Free flow chart Online Application

Lovely charts
: Lovely
Charts is a powerful online chart rendering tool that makes your chart look more beautiful. The main features are as follows: one is to provide attractive icons, and the other is to ensure that these icons are aligned. Besides
Lovely outside the traditional circle and box
Charts provides a series of new icons. In addition, because the icons are made in flash, these elements can be easily adjusted. The alignment tool provided by alignment allows users to select items.
And then force alignment. In addition, lovely
Charts also claims that there is a very intuitive editing mode where you can copy elements by dragging them. "Create + Link (create +
Connect) "mode also provides the positioning function to ensure that the chart is connected together with the target chart. [Via Yeeyan
]

Iii. Conclusion

No two software products are identical. Therefore, software a cannot completely replace software B. The so-called substitution is just to use another software to do the same thing-but not in the same way. Therefore, you must have
One adaptation and adjustment. Xbeta acknowledges that Ms products are powerful and easy to use. However, it is not worthwhile for individual users to purchase a bunch of unused features at a high price. In addition, documents in non-public Ms format (for example
Doc, xls, PPT) is not suitable, which means it is unfair to force the recipient to apply or be compatible with Ms. However, we recommend that you use open formats such as RTF, PDF, and htm.

Perhaps the best alternative is "Free Software" instead of "paid software", or "payment habits" instead of "piracy habits ". (End)

Updated in this article:
: Edraw is added; lovely charts and online tool categories are added.
: First draft.