Product Overview of SmartDraw
SmartDraw is a powerful and user-friendly software designed to create a wide variety of business graphics, diagrams, and charts with ease and precision. Here’s a detailed look at what SmartDraw does and its key features.
What SmartDraw Does
SmartDraw is tailored to help users create professional-quality diagrams and business graphics without requiring extensive visual arts experience. It is ideal for teams and individuals who need to communicate complex information effectively through visuals. The software supports the creation of flowcharts, UML diagrams, ERD (Entity-Relationship Diagrams), floor plans, engineering and CAD designs, organizational charts, network designs, and many other types of diagrams.
Key Features and Functionality
Templates and Symbols
SmartDraw comes with an extensive library of over 1,900 predefined drawing templates and more than 34,000 professional symbols. These templates and symbols cover a broad range of diagram types, including UML, ERD, BPMN, Azure, AWS, Cisco, and more, making it easy to start creating diagrams immediately.
Intelligent Formatting
The software features an intelligent formatting engine that automates the drawing process. Users can add, delete, or move shapes, and the diagram will automatically adjust and maintain its arrangement, ensuring even spacing, alignment, and color schemes.
Collaboration and Sharing
SmartDraw facilitates seamless collaboration through integration with popular file-sharing apps like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Users can share diagrams via shared folders or by emailing links, and they can add comments, notes, and hyperlinks to any shape directly within the diagram. It also integrates well with Microsoft Teams, allowing team members to edit or comment on diagrams without leaving the platform.
Data-Driven Diagrams
SmartDraw allows users to generate diagrams automatically from data, including AWS, ERD, class diagrams, and organizational charts. It also enables the creation of charts, graphs, and gauges directly from data, and users can drag and drop images to create ImageCharts that tell compelling stories with visual data.
Integration with Other Tools
The software works seamlessly with Microsoft Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint, and Visio. Users can copy graphics into Office documents or export them to PDF, PNG, JPG, and other formats with a single click. It also supports the import of Microsoft Visio and Lucidchart files.
Additional Features
- CAD Drawing: SmartDraw includes powerful CAD drawing capabilities to standard engineering scales with annotation layers.
- Live Maps: It integrates live data from the Internet to incorporate roads, regions, counties, zip codes, countries, and even satellite images into illustrations.
- Image Editing: Built-in photo-software functionality allows users to import, crop, scale, and adjust photos directly within their business graphics.
- Support and Licensing: SmartDraw offers unlimited, live, free support and various licensing options, including individual, team, and site plans, catering to different user needs.
In summary, SmartDraw is a versatile and user-friendly tool that simplifies the creation of complex diagrams and business graphics, making it an invaluable resource for teams and individuals across various industries. Its extensive template library, intelligent formatting, and robust collaboration features ensure that users can communicate complex ideas effectively and efficiently.