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SmartDraw

SmartDraw

Overview

What is SmartDraw?

SmartDraw is a diagramming and flow chart building tool from SmartDraw Software in San Diego, California.

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These are common buyer considerations generated to help you find the best products. While this is a beta feature, it is our mission is to provide you with the best information possible to make confident and trusted technology decisions.

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Pricing

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Multiple-Users (for 5+ users)

$5.95

On Premise
per user/per month

Single-User

$9.95

On Premise
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

SmartDraw Demo

YouTube

Team 6 SmartDraw Demo

YouTube
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Product Details

What is SmartDraw?

SmartDraw Video

While our first impressions of SmartDraw were quite positive, here we dive deeper into how they market their visual design tool, what their pricing plans look like, what users enjoy about SmartDraw, and what issues users have with SmartDraw. The biggest takeaway, is that Smart...
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SmartDraw Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo
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Comparisons

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
(1-5 of 7)

Simple and Professional Software

Rating: 5 out of 10
November 21, 2016
Vetted Review
Verified User
SmartDraw
1 year of experience
We are a commercial general contractor. It gets used mainly by the superintendent for one of our locations where our company maintains all their facilities. Smartdraw is also used by the president of the company to create simple and clean drawings for our customers. It allows these drawings to be cleaner and look way more professional than hand-written. It is not comparable to AutoCAD by any means but it does make drawings look more professional and it is way easier to edit or change a drawing.
  • Adjusting size/dimensions for the drawing (up or down depending)
  • Simple to function
  • Move/Delete/Change drawing
  • Exporting to read-able PDF
Cons
  • Very glitchy. It randomly will move a line in the drawing especially after saving and re-opening.
  • Some things don't make any sense the way it is designed.
  • The add-on images are weird - Most would like that views are aerial vs. a picsart type image.
SmartDraw works for small business in contracting (residential or commercial). It is not suitable for large structural engineering/surveying/architecture.

Smart Design with SmartDraw

Rating: 9 out of 10
November 14, 2016
CR
Vetted Review
Verified User
SmartDraw
2 years of experience
We use SmartDraw in my team for flow charting, milestone charting and process decomposition/documentation. Both SmartDraw and Visio are used in my company and within my organization. The problem/need that SmartDraw addresses is we had a need to create process diagrams across a globally distributed development team. We wanted a tool that was easy to use with several output formats for sharing at different levels.
  • SmartDraw has a great selection of templates to start from which are great thought starters when you don't know where to begin!
  • Often you have data, processes, concepts, flows and interactions to organize, yet you don't always know what will be the best way to put it all together.
  • SmartDraw is easy to use, I was productive right away and did not need to reference any help or tutorials in getting started. The UI is very intuitive and I could ramp up quickly.
  • I can keep creating and SmartDraw doesn't slow me down. When working with large flows, SmartDraw dynamically extends its display area. I like that when I am creating a flow, I am not constrained to a predefined space. I can keep working and use the zoom in/out as needed to view my diagrams.
Cons
  • I would like to be able to select multiple objects and right click to align them. So far I have only found one way to get to the alignment and that is on the Design Screen.
SmartDraw is well suited to many flows and diagrams related to software and system development. I use another prototyping tool, Indigo Studio, to create storyboards. I have not found a great way to do story boarding in SmartDraw...yet.

Free trial IS NOT free

Rating: 1 out of 10
June 20, 2023
Vetted Review
Verified User
SmartDraw
1 year of experience
I tried to use the free trial on this software. As soon as I finished the drawing I couldn't export, share or print without purchasing. Furthermore I tried to sign in, figuring I could at least save it online to show my builder the plans and got notified that my trial had now expired and I had to pay if I wanted to access my plans again. So basically if I want to see my plans ever again that I spent the last 2 hours drawing, I have to pay smartdraw, and they only have an option to purchase annually. In my opinion, it's super underhanded and sneaky the way they try to get people to pay for their software, as a result, if ever I need any design software, I will most definitely NOT be using or recommending smartdraw. Thanks for wasting 2 hours of my life smartdraw.
  • Nothing
  • Nothing
  • Nothing
Cons
  • Everywhere
  • Everywhere
  • Everywhere

If you need a program that will map ANYTHING, SmartDraw is your answer!

Rating: 8 out of 10
January 25, 2019
Vetted Review
Verified User
SmartDraw
2 years of experience
This is currently used by the HR dept for organizational charts and flowcharts, although its capabilities are endless if you want to take the time to learn the software. it is much more intuitive than using Excel when creating flowcharts and org charts and can be exported to a PDF or Word document.
  • Ability to quickly and efficiently create flowcharts and org charts that are pleasing to the eye.
  • Cloud document storage always a plus. Can access work in progress anywhere.
  • Ability to export in multiple formats to fit your needs.
Cons
  • The software seems quite sophisticated. If you are looking to do something a bit more intricate, like a floor plan, you need to do some of their training.
  • Training options are a bit rough, they will offer free live training if you have more than 5 people on the training. Doesn't work well for a small company
Great for someone with the time (or desire) to learn to use it to its full capability. A large company with manufacturing processes looking to implement lean practices would benefit greatly from this program.

Give Sharepoint a try...but beware

Rating: 5 out of 10
November 22, 2016
Vetted Review
Verified User
SmartDraw
2 years of experience
Currently, SmartDraw is used by various members of our organization in order to create dynamic process and organizational charts for both our clients as well as for internal use.
  • SmartDraw is great at visualizing process driven charts and models. They are simple, and somewhat understandable.
Cons
  • SmartDraw can still be a bit slow at times. While the ability to create complex charts and and figures that have multiple connecting (and intersecting) lines has improved, there are still some instances where SmartDraw can improve in (i.e.- sometimes I'm forced to freeze lines that I don't want a newly created line to automatically connect to).
  • Restructuring the ribbon to be more user friendly and intuitive could also go a long way. I am not sure why text alignment is all the way to the right of the ribbon on the user interface. It is nearly non-existent when I minimize my window. To me, the functionality in the Design ribbon does not make sense (only because I use PowerPoint and Word on a daily basis). Design is more content creation and editing, sort of like the functionality in the Home ribbon.
  • Creating additional right mouse click shortcut options would also save lots of time. I don't want to have to go to the ribbon every time I need to group or ungroup different sets.
  • Printing and properly adjusting printing is a nightmare. It is not intuitive, manually adjusting only complicates things, and there aren't enough options that allow for properly adjusting your window for printing. Printing functionality is too complex and a real deterrent when attempting to share content with clients.
SmartDraw is most relevant when creating organizational structure charts or chain of command content. I wouldn't use it to analyze data or share content with someone who doesn't already have SmartDraw.
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