All SmartDraw Reviews
1-25 of 111 Reviews
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Steven
Verified reviewer
Religious Institutions
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2018
Quickly update drawings, org charts and floor plans to keep your team moving!
Very easy interface to work with, and that helped me quickly set out the office layout for our 100 person team and modify as people's requirements changed through the process.
PROSI've used this for years to plan out the cubicle layout of our office, the details and features make it very easy to visualize and help people determine the best fits. Once you get the general structure it's really easy to keep things up to date.
CONSA little bit of learning curve and the huge variety of detailed images available is a little hard to navigate.
Anonymous
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed January 2018
Great platform for simple submittal drawings.
If you are trying to do small professional projects, or simply create a blueprint of you home, SmartDraw's ease of use and robust set of options make it the smart choice over competitors.
PROSWhere this software really shines for our business is its ease of use for submittal drawings when bidding and creating contracts for jobs. It allows us to empower our salesmen to create their own submittals without the expense or training needed for some of the more "professional" suites. This means for smaller projects we do not need to tie up our senior estimators, leaving their time free and better spent with CAD. What this means is that for job cost, we are able to use lower wage employees to perform simpler tasks and not eat into the margins of a job from utilizing higher paid engineers.
CONSIt can be a bit finicky in trying to get it to do exactly what you want it to do. Its ease of use sometimes means that you are fighting those very elements that make it easy to make it do what you want it to do. Snap to grids and the like, while toggle-able, provide an annoyance when they should "just work".
Marc
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
2
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2020
SmartDraw - Not quite a Visio replacement-- but pretty close
SmartDraw is great if starting from scratch to create drawing ( both simple & complex). If documents need to be traded with users who are using Visio, there will be issues-- especially if drawings need to be updated or converted across several users. It has most of the power of Visio with some added discovery things so if one is starting without the requirement of Visio integration, its a solid, but pricy tool.
PROSLots of examples and help videos Enterprise discovery tools are great but expensive
CONSStated the Enterprise version would import Visio but it is not a 100% conversion to SmartDraw format so that the properties of the Visio document carry thru in the same way with the same functionality. *) Layers don't really stay intact. *) Significant amount of the custom formatting gets lost. *) Support and 'help' is primarily from static Web Videos. While they may provide some help, there is not much detail about what steps to take when things DO NOT work -- so one needs to call in and request support. No exactly the fastest turnaround.
Reason for choosing SmartDraw
Didn't choose one. As stated above, Smart Draw only eliminates other tools, if there is no requirements to share or update documents from those tools. I still have both on my systems.
Nicky
Verified reviewer
Design, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed April 2019
Basic floor plans but easy to use
I've used other floor planners and this one is definitely the easiest to use at a great price.
PROSIt's very easy to draw up a basic house floor plan.
CONSLimited symbol options specific to interior design. If you use too many JPEG images within the file the system struggles to convert to PDF. (which isn't the case with my other design software). Often glitches when opening files and/or is very slow to open existing documents.
Vendor Response
Hi Nicky, Thank you for the positive review and for the feedback. I'll pass the review along to our development team, so we can take a look at the PDF export and file opening issues you mentioned. If you reply back to me, or contact our support using the below info, we can further investigate and help. If there is any other way we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. International: +1 858 225 3300 US: 800-768-3729 email: support@smartdraw.com -Chris
Replied June 2019
Steve
Verified reviewer
Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 5,001-10,000 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2019
Smartdraw is a truly fantastic product
There are lots of templates to start with, which makes it a lot easier to get started with this software. I like the integration with popular tools such as Trello and Jira. I also like the easy export to PDF. It's a great feature I use a lot.
CONSThere's definitely a learning curve before one can confidently use this software. I often find that zooming in doesn't work as smoothly as I'd expect.
Roberto
Information Services, 2-10 employees
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2021
too slow
An inexpensive but fantastic software for both network diagrams and any other business and other needs. Cheap but very good.
PROSI' using SmartDraw for many years and my opinion is the same :An inexpensive but fantastic software for both network diagrams and any other business and other needs. Cheap but very good.
CONSI installed the 2020 version a couple of months ago but opening old files was particularly slow. I tried completely uninstalling the software and reinstalling it but didn't notice any improvements. I spoke to other users of different company and they confirmed the same opinion.
Reason for choosing SmartDraw
much cheaper and at the same time complete for my needs
Thamara
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2018
Tool for Draw Diagrams !
Powerful flowchart maker!
PROS*Templates for diagrams. *Simple to use. *Can use for small to large projects. *Multiple type export facility. *Easier than Visio.
CONS*Not features as Visio. *Bit expensive price for a tool. *Not able to multi-users collaboration.
Natasha
Verified reviewer
Government Administration, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used weekly for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2019
The perfect solution for diagramming work processes
The diagramming is excellent for getting the information to others, helps to understand and document ideas, with this software the experience is unique, we have presented ideas of work, organization in diagrams and diagrams that have allowed us to understand, visualize the flow of information circulating in our area and the importance of each step we take from beginning to end
PROSCreate your diagrams and document the processes step by step of your workflow, ideal for planning strategies, powerful and easy to use, contains many templates to choose from to make your visual presentations.
CONSThe price can be a problem, since it is really expensive
christopher
Verified reviewer
Consumer Goods, 2-10 employees
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed December 2019
Ease of use as a trial
Product was pretty good to use as a beginner. Not over stuffed with functions. But those functions you may want
PROSProgram was a little easier to use then some other programs. Wasnt overly difficult
CONSNot as good features that other programs offer. expecially if your a advance person in design
Vendor Response
Hello Christopher, Thank you for the positive feedback. We are constantly adding new features to SmartDraw and love to hear new suggestions. If there is a feature you would like to see, please let us know and we can add it to the software. -Chris US: 800-768-3729 or 858-225-3300 International: +1 858 225 3300 email: support@smartdraw.com
Replied December 2019
Teddy
Verified reviewer
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2018
The perfect software for edit and modify with vector tools
This is the best software if you want and need to edit segment of a picture or image, because is pretty easy to use, the tools are very friendly and you can even work a pixel level with the maximum zoom and the results are awesome.
CONSIt is a very heavy software and demands many resources of your computer you need a very high speed ram memory and a good video card to get the most of this software.
Glenn
Construction, 1 employee
Used less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed October 2019
Worst program I have ever bought!
Tried to draw floor plan for a house we are building, took FOREVER to get a plan together. Don't waste your money, I should have asked for a refund.
PROSRelatively inexpensive, somewhat easy use
CONSLost count...tried using SmartDraw to create a floor plan for a house we are building and so far have a list of about 2-3 dozen issues and it keeps growing. I have encountered each issue multiple times on different computers with different operating systems so I know it is the program. Issues range from minor issues like I try to expand walls or measure lines with a click and drag of a mouse and the wall or measure lines jumps from 3 foot in length to 45 foot in length or longer or I try to copy and paste a door and a wall gets pasted to major and the most frustrating issues like locking up every 10 - 15 minutes or after a I save a file then reopen it later, doors and windows have moved, room measure lines in some places have moved (even locking objects does not fix this). They sent me an updated version, but it did not help. Then they wanted me to disable user account controls even though it could cause security issues because they know it creates a lot of false positives, nice.
Mikos
Facilities Services, 11-50 employees
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed April 2021
Needs a bug-fix for the crashing problem
Have used it two days and have yet to complete a simple drawing due to the frequent crashes.
PROSProduct has many symbol libraries in mechanical/plumbing/industrial/fire protection and more than LucidChart, which is good for my needs. Compatibility with Visio and LucidChart a plus. Menus are generally easy to use.
CONSSymbols are difficult to use, lacking functional attachment points. But the show-stopper is that, at least in this release, the software is very unstable and crashes repeatedly as another reviewer commented. I use Firefox 88.0 (64-bit) on a MacBook Pro under OS Big Sur 11.0.1, I have reported the problem to both Firefox and SmartDraw. It remains to be seen whether SmartDraw or Firefox respond with an acknowledgment of the problem and a stated intention to fix it. I will post an update later in the week, accordingly.
Reasons for switching to SmartDraw
Seeking better symbol libraries. LucidChart is too info system-centric. I need good symbols for P&ID 2-d drawings, which LucidChart lacks and which is why I made the switch.
Simeon
Architecture & Planning, 2-10 employees
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed April 2019
Can't change thickness of walls
Five minutes of trial version. I realised after that short amount of time that it wasn't good enough.
PROSSimple to use, I guess. You can get started straight away adding walls and dimensions.
CONSIt is utterly useless if you actually want anything precise. I'm an architectural designer, and the most basic thing I need to be able to do, even if I'm just measuring up an existing building, is change the thickness of the walls, but this doesn't seem to be possible! Without even this basic feature, it's just an utterly useless piece of software to me. After seeing this software, though, I realise why many estate agent's floorplans are so poor. If they use software like this, there just isn't the amount of flexibility within the software even to draw a normal house, let alone anything which is complex or has a variety of unique features. I think SmartDraw really need to up their game, and in doing so, could enhance the quality of estate agents floorplans for everyone!
Vendor Response
Hi Simeon, Sorry your trial of SmartDraw did not go as you had hoped. You can change the thickness of the walls by choosing Line (between Fill and Effects) under the Home tab and then More from the dropdown menu if you want to specify an exact thickness. I'll see if we can add that same option in the right click menu as well for ease of location. Should you need more, we offer live US based phone support: 800-768-3729 (+1 858-225-3300 for callers outside of the US), or via email: support@smartdraw.com. -Chris
Replied April 2019
Arcadio
Used weekly for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2018
It is the special program for the realization of flow diagrams, with a large number of cliparts
SmartDraw comes with many types of templates that include flow charts, bar graphs and charts. If you do not find a template that you like, you can create a customized template that suits your project, Photos, and images. Add photos and images to the document with the import to lump sum, copy and paste the commands. You can also import images and photos from your digital camera, and then manipulate them inside SmartDraw until you have the effect you want. Each template comes with a library of shapes and symbols, to use these shapes and symbols, simply drag them to your worksheet and place them where you want. You can add textures and photos to further improve the document. It works well with programs such as Microsoft Office, Visio, Microsoft Project, SharePoint, and PowerPoint. And so you can export the mind map to any of these programs to be able to share. You can export the file with just one click of your mouse. The following graphics formats available to you: JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, and GIF. Export the file to the web or send it anywhere in the world
CONSIt consumes abundant resources if your machine is slow it can become tedious to work, besides its installation is slow
Anne
Used free trial
OVERALL RATING:
4
Reviewed December 2011
Love the mind mapping feature!
I've been using SmartDraw for about two months as a tool to help manage my projects. What I love about SmartDraw is the Mind Mapping feature, which allows me to create tasks in a visually friendly way that mimics brainstorming. It's been very helpful to me when starting out a project. I also really like the way we can add owners to each task in the same view. And the best part is, the information will get transferred to a Gantt chart or a timeline with the click of a button. Once you've filled in the details, you can push the information to a powerpoint slide to share with key stakeholders, again, with just a click of a button. There are many more features within SmartDraw that I am intrigued about but haven't had the opportunity to explore yet. I plan on playing with SmartDraw more once my current projects slow down.
PROSWell organized and very easy to move data to other Microsoft Office applications (including Microsoft Project) or Adobe .pdf. There are also some great graphics and geographic maps in the library for use with presentations, flyers, floorplans, etc.
CONSIn the Gantt chart, there is a limited number of columns that can be used.
Susan
Information Technology and Services, 1 employee
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed April 2022
For those who are Visual Planners
I was a programmer in the 70's and flowcharts and diagrams were how we designed applications and programs. SmartDraw was a great tool to get ideas "on paper" without having to draw it out, erase changes and store the diagrams in a file folder. It was a great transition to a digital format.
CONSNo tool is a "perfect fit" for everyone and doesn't solve every need but this fills the diagram need nicely.
Laron
Used weekly for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2018
A smart way to draw diagrams
I used SmartDraw a lot for school assignments, and it really came in handy. I like that it has lots of built in contents and templates and that it is easy to use. You can use SmartDraw to make flowcharts, network diagrams, organizational charts, software design plans, and so much more. One even can share diagrams with others using just a link.
CONSI like SmartDraw. A minor con if I must say one, is that moving and manipulating bubbles can be quite challenging at times. Or, maybe it's my computer.
Tammy
Apparel & Fashion, 51-200 employees
Used less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed June 2017
Can easily create organizational charts
Create Organizational charts, for the most part, with ease.
PROSI love that I can set up an organizational chart fairly easily and make it as large as I'd like to.
CONSWish there were more printing options for a large chart. Though it's fairly user friendly, it also has some challenges. I wish it was a little easier.
Harold
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 1 employee
Used weekly for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed April 2018
A wonderful software to generate a Process Flow Diagram and others things
great software
PROSVery well to make Process Flow Diagram which is very important in any industry to manage process and design data.
CONSSometimes dows not work very well. You cannot open files between different version, in others words if you make any work at x-version after you cannot open the same file in another version which is a bad aspect because must be compatible between version.
Jebin
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2022
SmartDraw - Review
Very happy with overall experience with smartdraw. So never got the chance to think about an alternative.
PROSIts an essential tool especially in IT Field to design network topology. Almost everything is there in templates to make the diagram more presentable and selfexplanatory.
CONSNothing at the moment as negative. Never changed to any other software for network design drawing.
Mercedes
Used weekly for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed May 2018
When I want to work with flowcharts and creating graphics, this is the best app!!
It is an unbeatable visual processor that uses complex algorithms to generate various types of graphics. This allows you to create flowcharts, other diagrams, calendars, flowcharts, family trees, architectural plans, maps and other types of graphics to make presentations. It has many templates needed to create items quickly. It also provides export options to other productivity applications including Adobe Reader, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel.
CONSHaving a computer with enough processing capacity and memory so that it does not become slow to work in this application because it requires a lot of resources.
Carlos
Automotive, 501-1,000 employees
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed January 2023
Flowchart and layout design
I´ve developed lot of layout study and flowcharts for my company using this simple app!!
PROSVery easy and simple way to make a layout study oir even trace new process flowcharts diagrams.
CONSMaybe the webapp funcionality, several errors while open and costant shut down.
James
Used less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed October 2017
Strong tool for creating charts graphs and diagrams
Strong diagramming tool available as a windows downloadable program or as a cloud based service- really useful smart panel feature and good selection of templates and presets.
CONSCould have benefited from exporting in Visio format and not as competitively priced as some other options
Judy
Management Consulting, 1 employee
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2019
Great program to help me offer the unexpected services.
I use SmartDraw to prepare various flowcharts for my training sessions; check lists for processes; use for experiments of room flow for work space placement.
PROSEasy to use, well documented help tutorial.
CONSI would like a print preview screen. .
Douglas
Used monthly for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2018
Diagrams and Flowcharts made easy
SmartDraw gives us the ability to create custom workflow charts for various processes in our business. It is easy to use without being a graphics disign person. I like that it design library has an adequate amount of shapes and symbols for our processes.
CONSI have problems making changes or additions to charts at times when I started with free trial. Had to buy individual license before i was able to finish learning to use.