Oct 26, 2019 Using Microsoft Visio might not always be the best choice for you, given its current pricing and other cosmetic changes. With these 10 alternatives to Visio, you are free to try out different choices and we are confident that you will find one according to your liking. The LibreOffice for Mac is a free software for diagram making it’s a great Visio alternative. It’s similar to Visio Office you can draw side by side and lot more diagrams.
With our work lives speeding up towards more — more responsibilities, more people to manage, more time at the office — we get overloaded with information. Naturally, we can only read so much text every day to deeply understand the problem at hand. That’s why well-designed imagery has been on the rise in the last decade or so. And there is no more popular visual editor than Microsoft Visio.
Microsoft Visio makes it easy to produce all the diagrams and workflow visualizations your team requires. You can collaborate with other people in real time to create organizational charts, engineering designs, and floor plans, which could also adapt based on live data you have available.
The software is widely used by structural engineers, project managers, business analysts, and executives of all kinds. Unfortunately, there are two problems with it: Microsoft Visio for Mac is not officially available and, if it would be, its license costs well over $500.
So if you and your office work predominantly on macOS, what do you do? Luckily, a good Visio alternative for Mac does exist, even a few! And more impressively they are much cheaper than the original software.
What Is A Visio Equivalent For Mac?
While Visio sets the bar up high for any alternative on Windows, its long-time absence from macOS has resulted in some strong competition from smaller independent startups. Apps like MindNode, XMind, and iThoughtsX have largely captured what would be MS Visio for Mac market share.
For good reasons. All three apps provide mind-mapping features that aid the confident decision making. At the same time, each one is different enough that they can be used in combination, depending on the goals you have in mind.
Create mind maps with ease
Sometimes you just want to put your thoughts down on (digital) paper. You don’t need complicated schemes and you’re not planning to present to the Board just yet. These are the times when you should fire up MindNode.
MindNode is a simple but delightful mind-mapping tool. It acts as the perfect Visio for Mac OS equivalent for everyday tasks, as it’s much more nimble at creating something quick.
Use the Quick Entry feature in your menu bar to put together images, words, links, and the connections between them, and MindNode’s Smart Layout will adjust your thoughts to become more readable and beautiful.
Steam wallpaper engine for mac. Also Read: Steps To Use an Animated GIF as the Wallpaper on Your Mac:1. Download GIFPaper app archive to your Mac and then double-click on the downloaded archive.After that you will get the actual app folder containing the app. Just choose any and click on “Install”.3.You will find the installed app on the Preferences panel of your Mac and not in the application folder.For accessing the file just click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner, select “System Preferences” and then click on the “GIFPaperPrefs” option.4.You will see the “Browse” option on the launched panel,it will let you browse your Mac for an animated GIF that you want to set as the desktop wallpaper. Click on the button and select a GIF image that you want as your wallpaper.5. Now you just extract the app file from the folder and then double-click on the file named “ GIFPaperPrefs.prefPane” from the extracted file.2.After launching the app, you will get the prompt asking whether you wish to install the app for yourself or for all the users on the machine.
When you’re done, swiftly send the resulting file as a text outline to print or another more advanced app that will perfect what you’ve started. Just remember that MindNode excels at visualizing your initial ideas and doesn’t pretend to be an all-in-one tool.
Plan your work at scale
Working with teams tends to get exponentially complicated. While three can do a stand-up meeting to catch up, seven need some sort of a written process in place, and ten or more would certainly benefit from a dedicated project manager, whose job is in part to design effective workflows for the company.
Visio Replacement For Mac Os X
XMind is your project manager’s best friend. The app not only allows you to create mind maps of any complexity, it also lets you transform them into Gantt charts to clearly display the resources each task would require and its timeline. Finally, with a quick glance, you can see where your team is overcommitting and where they could pick up the slack.
Mac Visio Alternative
Good news is you don’t even have to design something from scratch. A wide variety of templates for every business function makes XMind an essential Visio alternative for Mac that gets you up and running in no time.
In addition, XMind makes it effortless to present your plan to upper management, as the app features more than 60,000 icons to help you design outstanding maps and charts, and then turn them into slide-based presentations, perfectly fitting for any audience.
Gain complete control over visualizations
If your team is used to constantly stretch the possibilities of Visio, working with all of its features in some capacity, or even when you just need to up your game once in a while, a true Visio Mac alternative might be necessary. Look no further than iThoughtsX.
iThoughtsX enables you and your team to organize ideas, create task lists, brainstorm, plan ahead, set goals, write down meeting notes, and much more. No concept is too grand for iThoughtsX, which makes it a perfect Visio for Mac OS app choice.
It’s easy to integrate iThoughtsX into your team’s workflow, as it lets you import files from all other popular visualization apps such as XMind, ConceptDraw, Scrivener, Excel, and all types of text including Markdown. More importantly, it also lets you export to widely used Microsoft software like PowerPoint, Word, and Project, as well as PDF, PNG, and HTML.
Your team will immediately love iThoughtsX because of how well this Visio Mac alternative plays with the operating system. It features instant cloud synchronization via iCloud or Dropbox, can be edited simultaneously on Mac and iPhone, and looks gorgeous on retina screens.
The best Microsoft Visio for Mac you need
Even given the three popular options of Visio alternative for Mac above, it’s a quite difficult choice. Think of it this way: MindNode is a perfect app to start your new idea, get it out of your head, and maybe show someone on your team. XMind is a robust planning tool that can take on a complete organization of your team’s processes, from brainstorming as a group to allocating time and resources. Finally, iThoughtsX is king of all, a true Visio equivalent for Mac that could match it on every level and then add some. It’s a heavy-hitter and should be used in that way, when you really need that extra power.
Best of all, MindNode, XMind, and iThoughtsX are available for a free trial through Setapp, a platform of more than 150 Mac apps and tools that are created to solve specific business problems across all categories. Look through its catalog now and shave off inefficiencies from your processes in no time!
Microsoft Visio is arguably the most popular diagramming software in the planet. This is understandable because in the early days Windows operating system had a major market share and Visio was the only compatible diagramming tool. But the Mac is starting to challenge Windows and Mac OS is very popular among techies. Below are few Visio alternatives to Mac OS which you can use for your diagramming needs.
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle is a product very similar to Visio and in some areas it is much better than Visio as well. It allows you to import and export some Vision formats, so if you are planning on using both the software in different machines then this is a very good option. It has support for all the major diagram types and the drawing interface is very user friendly.
OmniGraffle has two versions, standard edition costs 99.99$ while the professional edition costs 199.99$. Checking out comparison of features available in the websites is advisable before selecting which version to buy. For users with simple diagramming needs, the standard edition is more than enough. If you’re an educational institute or a non-profit you are entitled to a discounted price.
Using enter instead of return will result in the data simple being entered into all cells without selecting the next group. Word and excel for mac. I can't remember how I learned how to do this, but I'm 90% sure it's a built-in default shortcut for Mac Excel 2011.Make a selection in your spreadsheet. Does anyone know what this is called?Edit: I noticed today that this can actually be used to enter data into all of the selected cells. In other words, you select some cells, start typing the data you want, and then option-tab or option-return to apply that data to all of the selected cells and select the next empty set of cells. Hit option-tab to move that selection to the right, option-shift-tab to move it to the left, option-return to move it down, and option-shift-return to move it up.I can't find any documentation of this shortcut to know what it is called, so I could look up the Windows Excel 2010 equivalent.
Creately
Creately Online Diagramming Tool is another good Visio alternative for Mac OS. Because it’s a web based application you can access your diagrams from anywhere in the world. It supports all the major diagram types but doesn’t support every diagram type in Visio. It is much suited for project teams, because of the online collaboration support.
If you are keen to draw diagrams offline there is a desktop version that costs 75$. The online version is 5$ per month and there are team plans for discounted rates. They also give discounts for educational institutes and non-profits.
Dia
Visio Alternative For Mac Open Source
Dia is an open source diagramming tool modeled very similar to Visio. As their websites says this is more suited for casual drawing and not the best solution for complex business drawings.
It doesn’t support the same number of diagram types, but if you are just looking to draw a simple flowchart then this might be the best solution for you. There are various additional downloads like shapes available to you. You won’t find any dedicated support so you have to rely a lot on documentation.
Visio Online For Mac
Mentioned above are some good Microsoft Visio alternatives for Mac OS. There are many more similar products with advantages and disadvantages. Ease of use, cost, reliability and security are some of the factors you should consider when choosing a suitable diagramming product.