In addition to Visio, open-source free flowchart Design Software

When it comes to flowcharts and chart design, Microsoft Office Visio is a powerful flowchart design tool. Visio is not in the office standard package and requires additional payment, which may cause some inconvenience. On the one hand, not everyone can afford it. In addition, if it is necessary for emergency response, temporary purchases may be too late.

Today we will introduce several free alternative Visio software. Maybe you are unfamiliar with some software names. Now let's take a look at them one by one.

1. Dia dimo-editor

Dia Main Interface

Dia is listed in the first place, not only because it is powerful and cross-platform, but also because it supports Simplified Chinese interfaces. Compared with Visio, the DIA installation package is less than 20 mb and can be carried with you on a network disk or USB flash drive. Early users may think that Dia is complicated and troublesome to use, but they cannot deny that it is still a free alternative to the best overall performance.

The following flowchart formats can be exported by Dia: EPS, SVG, DXF (AutoCAD format), CGM, WMF, PNG, JPEG, and vdx (Microsoft Visio format ).

Advantage: cross-platform support for simplified Chinese interface

Disadvantages: not easy to use

Download: http://down.tech.sina.com.cn/content/41811.html

2. open office draw

Open Office draw

Linux users should be familiar with OpenOffice. It is a well-known open-source office suite that supports both Windows and Mac. As part of the office suite, OpenOffice draw is not only provided free of charge, but also provides excellent and relatively complete structural chart drawing functions. Its maximum drawing size can reach 300x300. The "object" generated during plotting can be grouped, grouped, reorganized, and other operations. It also has some advanced features, such as support for rendering custom textures and simulating lighting effects, and can output high-quality images with a true sense of light. OpenOffice draw supports most common image formats. We can also use its built-in graphics library to obtain a large number of free graphics materials.

Advantages: cross-platform, easy to use

Disadvantage: large installation packages

Download simplified Portable: http://down.tech.sina.com.cn/content/37788.html

3. inkscape

Inkscape Main Interface

Another open-source free vector graphics software, the first look at the interface is very similar to Photoshop, it is relatively easy to get started, with built-in Simplified Chinese support, it is more convenient for Chinese people. Inkscape supports node editing to draw complex paths and bitmap descriptions. One of the highlights of inkscape is its support for SVG optimization. It uses the W3C standard SVG file format and provides many advanced features, including tag, clone, Alpha Fusion, gradient, and texture, group.

Advantage: cross-platform support for simplified Chinese interface

Disadvantages: the flowchart design needs to be strengthened.

Download: http://down.tech.sina.com.cn/content/16418.html

4. graphviz

Complex flowchart drawn by graphviz

Graphviz is a drawing tool developed by several cool people in the famous Bell lab. It has a long history. Its software design philosophy is different from the general "What you see is what you get" drawing tool, is "what you think is what you get ". Graphviz provides the dot language for drawing scripts. Obviously, this software is not suitable for general users. It is only suitable for users or developers who are skilled in scripting code.

Advantage: script plotting is powerful and supports SVG.

Disadvantage: No user interface, not suitable for common users

Download: http://down.tech.sina.com.cn/content/53737.html

5. kivio

Kivio Main Interface

Kivio is part of the open-source office suite koffice and is a powerful Linux chart and flowchart rendering software. It helps you quickly design prototypes, line charts, flowcharts, or charts. Kivio has a user interface similar to Microsoft Visio, but has been enhanced on the user interface, allowing you to draw images using the split pane. Unfortunately, kivio currently only targets Linux users.

Other functions:

Support creation using Python script templates

Compatible with Dia Mold

Advantage: easy to operate, clear and easy to understand Interface

Disadvantage: No windows version

Download: http://down.tech.sina.com.cn/content/35996.html

The above are the five free flow chart production software we recommend. These open source software have their own strengths and hope to help you complete the task.