Visio Reviews

I utilized Visio to craft visual aids for my presentations, including diagrams that visually illustrate data, such as flowcharts. Additionally, the solution was used to generate diagrams that showcase a series of connected ideas using arrow charts.

A major benefit of Visio is its user-friendliness. Upon opening the program, you have access to a variety of pre-made templates, saving you time and effort. All you need to do is input your data into the template and you're ready to proceed with your project.

One issue I've noticed is that when working on a shared video link with a friend for Visio, there can be a delay in changes reflecting on their screen after I've made them. This also occurs when we're working on the same document. It would be beneficial if changes could be reflected in real-time. Additionally, I've experienced some text size issues with the flow task feature. Sometimes when I enter text, it appears very small, and increasing the size causes it to extend beyond the diagram, creating formatting issues. It would be helpful if these text and formatting issues could be addressed.

I have been using Visio for approximately a couple of months.

The solution is stable. I did not face any crashing or issues.

I would recommend Visio to individuals who don't necessarily use Microsoft software. With Visio, they can create visualizations and diagrams easily. Additionally, they have the option to download and share their work on their preferred platform, such as Google. Visio can be used for multiple platforms, regardless of whether you use Microsoft, Google, or other cloud-based services such as Amazon Web Services.

I rate the stability of Visio a ten out of ten.

In my experience, Visio is highly scalable. I've used it within an organization that utilizes Microsoft OneDrive and Teams for their operations. This allowed for easy integration of Visio with the organization's existing Microsoft software and made it simple to share diagrams and visualizations with anyone in the company, regardless of their position or location within the organization.

We have approximately 1,000 people using the solution in the branch of the company I am working in.

I have not faced any issues to need support.

Setting up Visio is a simple process. You can access it via the website and generate a link, which can be shared with others in just a matter of minutes.

I can do the deployment of the solution.

My organization has paid for the solution. However, I have used it personally without payment. There is a free option available.

I rate Visio a nine out of ten.

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. 

We use the tool for creating system plans and some hardware equipment structure.

I find the control flow and settings features valuable.

The control flow feature needs to be improved. I compared Visio to Bizagi and found that control flow is better with Bizagi. The improvements that can be made to the solution depends on the user. We don't want to restrict a user on what he can use and for what.

I have been using the solution for several years.

I have found Visio to be a stable solution.

Visio is a scalable solution. We have around 20-25 users for the tool.

The support for Visio from Microsoft is fine and subscription-based. We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft so the subscription is for three years. Therefore, we can solve all types of problems that Visio has.

The setup of Visio is straightforward.

The pricing of Visio is much better. It has a free version of the cheapest functionality which is enough for us.

I am using the latest version of Visio. I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.

I use Visio for designing diagrams and flowcharts. It is user-friendly and easy to use compared to other options. Although many people in my company use AutoCAD, I am not familiar with it. For all the designing, charts, and diagrams, I use Visio. If someone requests an AutoCAD format, I will design it in Visio and then forward it to our team who is responsible for converting it to a CAD file.

The main reason I choose Visio is that it is easy to use. The user interface is familiar and straightforward. Additionally, it offers a variety of templates, such as those for Cisco solutions, which make it easy to create diagrams for specific use cases. For example, we use a Cisco Meraki switch and we can find the exact template for it, then we can easily drop in the components and connect the cables to create the diagram.

Searching for specific templates within the program can be difficult. For example, if I need a template for an electrical diagram with certain symbols, it can be challenging to find it.

I have been using Visio for approximately three years.

I rate the stability of Visio a nine out of ten.

The scalability could be better for the cloud version.

I rate the scalability of Visio a six out of ten.

I did not use the support from Visio.

I have used some open-source solutions in the past but I prefer Visio.

The setup of Visio is simple.

The solution is expensive. The solution does come bundled in other packages.

I rate the price of Visio a three out of ten.

I rate Visio a seven out of ten.

I'm into designing, so I'm using Visio for creating diagrams. Mostly it's for network, architecture, or data flow diagrams, depending on what the customers need.

What I like best about Visio is that it's flexible.

Sometimes, if I need to draw quickly, I use Microsoft PowerPoint, but if I need icons, which Visio has, I use Visio.

I also like that the solution gives me a much more powerful range of options.

The improvement I want to see in Visio is being able to edit it more quickly, particularly when pulling it out of another software and then editing it on that non-Visio software. Currently, the process affects the overall performance because it's not as quick as I want it to be.

If I were to add a new feature in Visio, and if I went wild, it's the feature of creating new diagrams from Visio, even if I'm on another document. If Visio is running in the background while I have another document open, it would be interesting to be able to draw diagrams on that document.

I've been using Visio for a few years now.

I didn't contact the Visio technical support team, and from what I know, the IT team didn't have to contact support either. Once, there was a bug, and the IT team couldn't do the installation until the next day, but even then, there was no need to contact the Visio support team. As a product, it's intuitive.

Setting up Visio is easy because you just need to check the block, click, and then it'll be set up, but that's because my company uses Microsoft 365. Setup-wise, I'm rating it as eight out of ten.

I'm not involved in the licensing of Visio for my company. However, for Visio licenses for my customers, I am.

Around fifty people use Visio within my company.

People in the company use Visio whenever necessary, but I use it more frequently. I talk to customers a lot, and I'm part of the sales process, which means I need to create diagrams, so I use Visio a few times a week. My usage is usually greater than other developers in my company.

I don't have any particular advice for people who want to use the solution, but Visio is a user-friendly product and easy to use.

My rating for Visio is eight out of ten because it's a good product.

My company is a Microsoft user.

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 Visio for visual rendering of technical concepts. I use the stencils that depict different workflows, data flows, or architectural structures from an IT perspective that I could render in other documents like PowerPoint or Word documents.

Since we work in IT, we deal with very technical abstract concepts. So having the ability to visually depict a concept that we're trying to get across is helpful. When we write documentation, we have to write it for the broadest audience possible. If you can reduce the number of words, either in technical documentation manuals or others, and do it visually, that seems to register with the targeted audience.

The thing I like most about Visio is the stencils. As the product has matured over time, it comes with more stencils and objects that you can just pick out of the menu and go with. 

It thinks that it knows what you want to do, but it doesn't. It has a way of behaving that can be very frustrating from time to time. Either it moves things about because it thinks its placement should be at a certain place, or it's keeping track of things that you don't necessarily see, so it moves something elsewhere. So when the software requires more keystrokes than one would think to either capture or register a placement, or a drag and drop function that you think should be easily executed, it sometimes doesn't always work that way. Regardless of the skill, the user experience can sometimes be interesting. The predictive behaviors of it at times can be a little bit of a drag.

I've been using Microsoft Visio for twenty plus years.

More often than not, stability is not an issue, it's a fairly stable product. I've noticed that when I have multiple products open, like PowerPoint, Excel, Microsoft, and a couple of others, sometimes it begins to act flaky and then I have to start cutting down services or closing things. In general the Office suite, sometimes it can let you know that it's going to start acting funky, or the behavior begins to be flaky. You have to just know by experience that's your cue to cut down services, close windows, close applications, because the robustness of the applications are not allowing you to be as multitasking as you want to be.

Scalability is okay. It's like everything else, most people they use at most, 30% of the product's capabilities, so there's a lot of stuff in Visio that doesn't necessarily get used. You don't know that when you do the typical installation, that a good part of the product capabilities are never going to get used. The default configuration is to load everything, as opposed to custom, and it's just easier just to let it deploy everything. As a result of that, there's a lot of functionality that gets pulled in, and memory and CPU that may be consumed that the user would never benefit from. That's just the nature of the beast.

Setup is mostly straightforward, but there are occasions where the installation process can be prone to some issues that may not always be apparent until after you deploy it. Sometimes the installation experience requires expertise. Sometimes it's not always clear if you're going to have compatibility issues with the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, there's been those type of subtleties in the past.

Since I've worked in different shops, sometimes I have installed it from my own product license that I purchased. So I've deployed it from a physical media and I've deployed it from an on-site provider because I purchased the key and there was no physical media. Then there are other times where the company that I worked for, their end user computing team, or their desktop support team, because they have to keep track of the licenses, they own the deployment and the push down to the user and make it part of their image. Because there's a cost to deploying that product in some variation of the product packaging, they tried to keep control of that. 

Just be mindful that the software, while it's helpful, it can behave in ways that can be a little frustrating. A lot of companies say go and find a Visio-like product that can do 70% of what Visio does, for free. There have been companies that I've worked for that said we will not pay the license fee for Visio, go and get a similar product that you can download from the web that can do 70% of what you need it to do. 

I would rate Visio an eight out of ten. It's a product that's been known. Many people use it. It's got an established install base. It's not flawless by any means, but since it does allow some intimacy with the Microsoft products, that's probably its greatest thing, and in a business environment, that's important. Because of its cost structure, a lot of organizations are trying to figure out if there are alternatives out there, which there are. Those other products can do much of the heavy lifting that Visio does at a cost point that, in some cases, is very attractive.