Visio Reviews

The solution is easy to set up.

The stability is okay. The performance is pretty good.

It's a very flexible solution. 

It requires a lot of skill to get into it. 

It requires more simplicity. You have two options. Either you go very simple, then it's quite a hurdle to get into it or you go very complex. It's a hurdle too. However, when you decide to go complex, then you know exactly what you're doing. Therefore, the gap between, let's say, a common user and an experienced user is large. For Draw.io, I can point anybody to Draw.io and they can just get in there and do whatever they want to do, and it works for them. Visio requires someone to be more experienced.

There's also a solution called TAG for writing documents, which is awesome. It's mainly used in universities, education areas, and big pharma. It's an awesome tool. It takes a lot of time to get in there, but when you are in there, you can do basically almost every kind of document without any issues. Visio is much more similar to this. There's complexity and yet you can do anything within it.

I'm not used to the new versions of Visio. There is a standard version. Always when I get in there, I get frustrated as I can't do the things that I like. The usability could be improved.

Stencils are always an issue, however, this depends on the vendors.

The stability can get iffy if you are doing very complex things. 

I've used the solution quite extensively during the last ten years. It's been a long time. 

The stability really depends on what you're using and what you're doing. When you get complex, you can get some crashes. I have never figured out why that is. It may happen when you have different cards or registers with a lot of things linked together and grouped. For standard usage, it's awesome. When you do more complex things, well, you might have issues.

I can't say a thing about scalability. 

I can't speak to technical support as I don't deal with them. We have in-house support and our in-house support is abysmal. What happens after them, I really can't say. If you call them to ask questions, they just say, "We have to look it up." And that's the last thing you hear. That, however, is an internal issue. It's nothing to do with the quality of the support in general.

We did not previously use a different solution. 

I do now use Draw.io a lot.

The implementation process is quite simple and straightforward. 

Deployment times vary. It depends on how you manage it. If you do a good management process, with document templates and everything, it takes a lot longer. We basically just made packages and rolled them there, using the variables. I'm not a package filler, however, for us, it was easy.

I can't speak to how many people now manage the solution as it is completely outsourced. We don't manage it ourselves. 

We handled the implementation in-house. We did not need to hire any consultants or integrators.

I can't speak to the cost of the solution. We are using just the standard licensing terms for an enterprise license agreement with Microsoft, where we basically have a lot of things in there. I don't think it's included in any Office Microsoft 365 licenses. We basically just have a subscription for every license we're using, however, I can't speak to pricing or terms. 

I have to let Visio go as most often it's too complex and it takes too much time. I'm rather using Draw.io, which is by far enough for almost everything I do expect if I am really drawing up complex cabling things in a building, for example.

I'm just an end-user. The company I work for is a customer. We don't have a special business relationship with Visio.

I'd give new users the same advice I do for every tool. Be really clear on what you want to achieve. Be really clear that when you do it and do it in a strategical and tactical way. Don't do a single deployment and don't just install it and let users do their thing. Agree on templates, stencils, et cetera, that you're using within the company, and keep it simple and crisp, as simple and crisp as possible.

After using the solution for ten years, I would rate it at an eight out of ten.

I use it for diagramming networks, racks, data centers, data flow applications, etc.

I am using its latest version. We have an M-365 membership, so we can access it in the cloud, but we download the application because it works better.

It is a useful tool to map data flows, network objects, and computer science technology and show to clients. It does what I need it to do. It's a tool I've used the longest, so I know it the best, and that's probably the claim to fame.

Sometimes, there is a little bit of a learning curve with it, especially while doing complex network diagrams and getting the lines to snap the way you want them and not overlap or be confusing. It would be great if there was a built-in tutorial. It is not that you can't YouTube, but it would be nice if they gave you some free training. I've been using it forever, but every now and then, I got to do something complicated with it and I wonder how do I do that again. Maybe they do have such information, and I don't know. I have not done research on it because a bunch of people work for me, and some of them are better at it than I am, so I just ask them to do this for me.

There are some applications that you can run in an environment, and they will run through, do auto-discovery, and map the network environment. It would be great to see something like that in Visio, but Microsoft probably doesn't want the hassle of having to deal with it because all the ones out there don't work that well anyway. In order to work well, you have to give them a ton of access to your routers and switches, and nobody wants to do that because it is a security issue.

I have been using this solution for 15 years.

Its stability is excellent. It is a very stable application.

It is basically a client application, and it has one to one ratio in terms of the application being installed on the client. So, I'm not sure how it scales.

We have 15 users. All are technical architects and engineers. Its usage is moderate. It is just an as-needed tool, but everybody in our two teams needs it.

I never had to contact Visio's technical support.

If I did, it was a long time ago. Sometimes, we use PowerPoint for simple diagrams. Obviously, it's not nearly as powerful, but in a pinch, it works.

It is pretty basic, but I've been using it for 15 years. So, you get some stencils, and you build some templates.

We probably have an M-365 E3 license.

It had the same struggles the entire time it has been around. It is a good tool, but it got a little bit of a learning curve. Sometimes, you got to figure out how to make the line snap correctly so it is not really confusing, but it is a valuable tool. People want to use it.

I would rate it an eight out of ten. It is a really good application for what it does. I'm sure there are one or two other solutions out there that are pretty good, but I don't have a lot of exposure to them.

I use the solution to make graphs and schemas for infrastructure, application, and documentation.

We need proper documentation. The tool helps us during the project initiation to visualize things.

I have used it for so long that it is the product that I can work my best with. It has a lot of features compared to other competitors. The product provides a lot of flexibility in writing graphs and customizing them. It has a lot of stencils that we can use to make it seamless. I haven't seen that in other products.

The solution is pretty expensive. It could be cheaper.

I have been using the solution for 20 years.

I rate the tool’s stability a nine out of ten.

I rate the tool’s scalability a six out of ten. I do not need to scale it much.

I do not contact support for Visio. I contact them for SQL Server. Sometimes, the knowledge of the people I talk to is not that good. Sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's not that good. It depends on the person who takes the case.

Neutral

I used draw.io in the past, but it was fairly limited compared to Visio. It didn't have a lot of functionality compared to Visio.

The setup is pretty easy. We just have to install the tool. We do not have to do a lot of configuration. It would be somewhat different in a business setup, though.

I have a Microsoft 365 license.

I prefer Visio. I have been working on it for a long time. It is a hassle to learn another tool. I will recommend the product to others. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

I use Visio when I'm writing a client report in Microsoft Word, and I want to put in a simple graphic to supplement the text or better explain something. Visio's graphics are not complicated. They're quick and easy to create, so I use them mainly for what I would call static graphics, like simple charts and diagrams.

Visio has improved my workflow by making it easy to create charts, diagrams, and essential illustrations to use in my client reports and proposals. It has saved me a lot of time I would otherwise spend creating visuals for clients manually.

One of the most valuable features is the online support from Microsoft. Whenever I'm stuck with a problem, I can contact customer support. They will almost certainly get back to me within a reasonable time frame. They're good with that.

It is easy to use online tutorials and training videos provided by Microsoft and elsewhere, such as on YouTube. So, if I want to create a new diagram, add some shapes, or increase the weight of a connection from one object to another in my graph, I can easily find out how to do that.

Another aspect that I enjoy is the seamless online integration. For example, there's the ability to download all sorts of extras like different shapes, stencils, objects, etc., for free directly from Microsoft into Visio. Also, I like that you can drag and drop online pictures straight from the Web into Visio.

There could be better integration between Visio and Word, especially when it comes to importing graphics from one to the other. Visio's graphics don't seem to play well with other applications. Sometimes I move a business process graphic to a Word document. It doesn't copy the picture correctly, or it leaves some of the connectors off. Or it puts the wrong one in or changes the font for no apparent reason. That's a pain in the neck, and it's one of my biggest complaints about Visio.

Moreover, when I connect a caption to a drawing and move the drawing, sometimes the caption gets left behind. And if you shrink the size of a drawing, I'd like Visio to scale the font automatically. Small details like this would significantly improve the product.

Aesthetically speaking, the graphics can be a bit crude and simplistic. The graphics are sufficient for most purposes, though dated in their appearance. Visio is a static program that tries to keep things simple for most users. However, I would appreciate it if Microsoft made an allowance for at least slightly more complicated graphics. As they are now, they do not inspire or motivate interest in the subject. People don't look at the graphics and say, "Wow, that's a great graphic." They look at it and say, "Uh-huh, move on. Next!" It's a lot of the sameness.

I would also love to see Visio with a more intuitive and reliable data linking feature. I shouldn't have to program or develop any complicated code. Just press a button, connect to the spreadsheet, and update it. For me, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You should trust your application so that when you need it to link, it links. It would help to know that Visio is using the latest data, mainly because you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of a customer with wrong or outdated data especially when you have a time crunch and have little time to verify if an application worked as you wish it would.

I like dynamic programs. I want to take inputs from other places and have the application automatically update my chart and know that it's correct. And not only do I want it updated, but I wish to document updates, so I can see what updates were selected and used. So, if the document references a spreadsheet or an Access database, it shows where the data came from, what version it is, and the date. If you're doing a nice bar chart in Visio and you want all the bells and whistles, you can see the source material and revision of the chart so that you don't have to go back and say, "Is this right?"

I want to create my objects and my object library more easily. I think you can do some of that, but it's not that simple. I haven't had a lot of experience creating objects, but when I did tried, it was awkward.

The support is okay, though not super great; I wouldn't expect it to be. Visio is not a program where you need a lot of hand-holding for most tasks. It's quite suitable for those who want to drag and drop, so support isn't too crucial, though there is room for improvement.

I have been using Visio since it first came out in the early 1990s.  It hasn't improved much in that time.

It's very stable. I have never had a crash in Visio ever.

For my use case, there's not much need to scale it up in any meaningful sense. When I'm writing a proposal or preparing a report for a client, I try only to put in a sufficient number or well-considered graphics to get my point across.

I typically create my graphics and place them in a Word document. And then I hope they stay together as I move things around during the editing and review processes. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. So, in terms of scalability and accuracy, Microsoft could improve integration and consistency between their Office applications.

I haven't had to use technical support very often at all over the years. I might have used it only once or twice in the past twenty-something years. I'd rate the support I received as a five out of ten. Not too good, not too bad. Thankfully, they've gotten rid of a lot of the need for that kind of tech support by putting better help and documentation online.

Microsoft offers training videos online that teach the basics of Visio well enough. I can also go on YouTube if there's something unique or unusual that I need to do. Frequently, somebody's already done it, and I can quickly learn how they did it.

Suppose you do want technical support. In that case, Microsoft has a reasonably active Visio user group. However, it's not real-time help, and you may have to wait a little while for a response. If you want somebody to help you live, you're going to have to pay a third-party company for that kind of support. I don't use Visio so much that it's worth going that route.

Neutral

I used a similar solution to Visio many years ago, designed for business flowcharts and business processing. The company that built the software went out of business.

It's easy to get started with mocking-up simple flow charts and diagrams. Still, it can get very complicated when setting out anything a bit more detailed—especially when getting titles, labels, and font sizes to match up. Suppose you want to make a custom organizational chart or a product line chart with all the details and specifications. In that case, I suspect you'll need to set aside some time to learn the user interface more thoroughly.

In-house.  

I haven't actually calculated an ROI, but I would approximate that I save at least two hours' time of cumulative manual effort for each graphic built with Visio.

The licensing process is a breeze. Buy the license and download the application from Microsoft. Enter the license key in Visio to activate the software.

No.  I've used Visio for many years.  It does what we need it to do and is good enough for the simple graphics we use, but perhaps, we could improve our graphics if we had a more dynamic and creative graphics application.

I like to call Visio a program for the graphically impaired. I use it because I hate spending lots of time preparing graphics, especially when our clients don't spend a lot of time studying them. I would recommend skipping any fancier alternatives unless your business demands it. Most people might benefit from adding quality visuals to their documents but don't have design skills. In that case, I recommend using Visio instead.

As long as you don't have excessive expectations, it will do what you need it to do and do it for a reasonable cost.

I would rate Visio an eight out of ten.

We use the application for process mapping through architecture. It helps visualize the activities and interactions between 3,000 different systems on the network.

The product efficiently visualizes various business processes, including building and networking architecture. It is quite intuitive, and there is a lot of training documentation available. We can import an Excel Spreadsheet with all the essential data, and Visio can build the diagram using it.

In terms of features, it could provide more automation to display data flowing through architecture. It should give a real-time data update.

We have been using Visio for 20 years.

It is a stable application.

We have 30 Visio users in our organization, but soon, we will roll out the product for about 200 users. It is scalable.

I take help from our internal IT staff in case of technical issues. If they need further assistance, they approach Visio’s technical support team.

I have used Draw.io before. It is free software and designs diagrams quickly. However, it has very limited functionality and is not suitable for enterprises. I would recommend Visio for working on business processes on a day-to-day basis.

The product is easy to deploy and maintain. It takes a few minutes to complete the process and requires one admin executive to work on it. It received automated updates.

The product is inexpensive if you already have Microsoft products in your environment. The license encompasses all the required services.

I recommend Visio to others and rate it a ten out of ten.

We primarily use Visio for creating business process diagrams and flowcharts.

Drawing flowcharts is the most valuable feature of Visio.

Visio can be more user-friendly.

I would like to have a drag-and-drop option within Visio.

I have been using Visio for many years across various versions.

Visio is stable.

I believe Visio is scalable.

We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft that includes premier support service.

Our IT department completed the initial setup and deployment, which was straightforward.

The implementation was completed in-house.

Visio is included with our Microsoft enterprise license.

I give Visio a nine out of ten.

We have over 300 users.

I recommend Visio.

I use the solution for process mapping and improvement.

The solution is user-friendly.

The performance sometimes lags and has room for improvement.

The price has room for improvement.

I have been using the solution for a few years.

The solution is stable.

I give the scalability an eight out of ten.

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment took under 15 minutes by following the documentation.

The implementation was completed in-house.

We pay annually for the Visio license and it is expensive.

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

Visio is user-friendly and I recommend the solution to others.

This tool is mainly used by our engineers for network layout designs, to either document what's being deployed for a customer or to put together a proposal. We use it as a tool to graphically depict the network we're proposing to the customers showing what it will look like and which components will be included. We are customers of Visio and I'm the product director with sector security. 

The solution has many readily available shapes and icons. Visio is a kind of industry-standard to some extent. Many companies have icon sets that can be imported into Visio and then used for network graphics or to specifically show a manufacturer's product model number. It's very useful. Visio has always been a pretty good product with continual updates. There will often be new features you didn't know you needed but once they're included, you can't imagine being without them. They're on the right track as far as I'm concerned.

If you get large networks where you're trying to detect everything in the network and you get lots of minute details, the drawings can get too large to send via email. You have to put it in cloud storage for people to access it. That's a byproduct of having a large, very complex graphic.

I've never had any problem with stability and all of them. 

I've never heard of any concerns regarding scalability. 

Our own internal IT department deals with any support issues.

Sometimes if you have to import icon or figure sets, it can be a little bit challenging. For the most part, it's pretty straightforward. 

I rate this solution 10 out of 10. 

I use Visio to elaborate on the workflows and use cases that I see for my product, and also to illustrate specific processes for users of the product. In essence, I use Visio to help visually represent processes and as a communication tool that lets me explain things to end users in a simple manner.

At the same time, I also use Visio as a base from which to communicate with my technical team so that they are able to better understand the user's perspective while they are developing the product. I use it on both fronts, especially since I have been in a role which is more on the consulting side while having to liaise with both the end users and the technical team. For all these use cases, Visio has been a key tool which has been very helpful to me.

The tools tab within Visio has been amazingly useful, and it is updated quite frequently. Along with how Visio handles components and everything else, I would call it an easy-to-use tool. Anyone with years of experience in IT who has just been introduced to Visio won't feel like they want to shy away from it because the entire tool itself is self-explanatory.

I have personally used Visio across three different organizations that I've been in, and I have been more happy using Visio than any of its competitors.

From my perspective, Visio could probably add more help guidelines for users, and I would prefer to see more intuitive user interfaces to help with dragging and dropping, using the right components, etc. For example, more tooltips would be appreciated, such as when hovering over a component with the mouse.

It would also be helpful is there were an option to customize the fields and diagrams based on the color, because sometimes you get a black and white coloring with your diagram, whereas I would prefer to have it set to my corporate template and color scheme, which can be a bit difficult to get right. 

I have been using Visio for more than eight years.

I would give Visio a nine out of ten for stability.

Based on my own personal usage, I find Visio very scalable as there are a lot of a options available to explore. Because of this, it is often used by people like myself who liaise between product users and other people such as technical architects who need to communicate their architectures.

I don't know the exact figure, but I would say there are around 10-15 people who use it in my company.

I would give it an eight out of ten for scalability.

I haven't yet needed to reach out for technical support.

Before Visio, I used Enterprise Architect (EA).

I had my IT team help me so it was pretty straightforward. I would rate it an eight out of ten for ease of setup.

My IT team took care of the implementation, so I don't know the technicalities of it all. The IT team's work in implementing it was an organization-wide activity.

We have about 10 to 15 people with Visio licenses in my company, but I wasn't involved in the direct negotiation of the prices and since this was taken care of by my administrative office.

I would definitely recommend Visio and I would rate it an eight out of ten.

There is a limitation in Visio. The solution is not aligned with a database. I can't submit more than one request at a time or do any calculations or have multiple users, or multiple procedures.

Microsoft needs to put more effort into data analysis around the tips and workflow related to the number of skills, procedures, and any small analytical information.

I would like Visio to use AI to evaluate the processing side because currently, it is not logically based.

I would like to have reports added to the solution. For example, if I drove a business process that related to a service, and this service related to another service, I would depict some servers. Reports which predict that from more than the related service would be very beneficial. These related procedures or related processes would take place on the solution's servers, database, and application.

I have been using the solution for ten years.

I give the stability of the solution a ten out of ten.

The solution is easy to scale.

We currently have around 20 users.

The technical support is easy to access and receive resolution.

The initial setup is straightforward.

I give the cost of Visio a five out of ten.

I give the solution a five out of ten.

There may be other solutions that are better than Visio on the market but when we complete an analysis we can conclude that the cost and ease of use of Visio are good.

I recommend the solution to other users.