Visio equivalents for Mac

May 2, 2005 9:50 AM

Are there any reasonable Mac (OS X) based applications (with not so steep learning curves) that can more or less approximate what one can do with Visio?

My current client distributes PC laptops for all work, but invariably for my product and technical documenation work, I end up using my PowerBook. Only thing is, some parts of my job require Visio for flow diagrams, org charts, etc. Are there close approximations to Visio available for the Mac platform. I know some people use Adobe Illustrator for similar tasks, but that strikes me as being a fairly difficult product to learn quickly.

posted by psmealey to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Your PowerBook likely came with a suitable Visio replacement, OmniGraffle, loaded and waiting in the applications folder. If it didn't, it's not that expensive.
posted by eschatfische at 9:56 AM on May 2, 2005

I use OmniGraffle.
posted by vacapinta at 9:57 AM on May 2, 2005

ConceptDraw will also do it.
posted by mkultra at 10:05 AM on May 2, 2005

psmealey, thanks for asking this question... I was just about to post this exact same question to the TECHWR-L (technical writing) mailing list. I am PC-based and need to collaborate with a Mac user.

For those of you who use OmniGraffle and ConceptDraw, do you exchange documents with Visio users with any frequency? How's that working for you?
posted by enrevanche at 10:08 AM on May 2, 2005

OmniGraffle Pro will import and export Visio as well. I haven't tried it personally, but based on the overall quality of Omni software, it should be pretty good.
posted by mikel at 10:40 AM on May 2, 2005

I use OmniGraffle Pro with Visio documents - both importing and exporting. Works beautifully.
posted by annathea at 10:44 AM on May 2, 2005

Thanks for the heads up on this, guys. I downloaded OmniGraffle at 10:05 AM PST, and have already completed my first workflow diagram (of the 5 I need to get down by 5pm)! I have only scratched the surface of it, but I think I actually prefer it to Visio alread!
posted by psmealey at 10:52 AM on May 2, 2005

I third (fourth) the vote for OmniGraffle - unbelievably easy to use and I have successfully imported/exported Visio xml (.vdx) files for work uses many times. Just a great program, and exactly what you're looking for, I'd wager...
posted by gazole at 11:11 AM on May 2, 2005

Add one more to the pile of OmniGraffle Pro. I use it routinely and have only had one compatibility issue with Visio, ever (and that was a long time ago).

A++++++ WOULD BUY AGAIN!!!!! GREAT PRODUCT AND SELLER!
posted by mosch at 2:46 PM on May 2, 2005

One more thing about Omnigraffle.

There are TONS of more shapes for it.

extras
posted by filmgeek at 4:51 PM on May 2, 2005

Filmgeek: Thanks for the link - I didn't realize that.
posted by unixrat at 11:26 AM on May 3, 2005