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  3. What flowchart tool do you use?

What flowchart tool do you use?

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  • J Joan M

    I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

    www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

    R Offline
    R Offline
    Roger Wright
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    Pencil with vellum (ClearPrint 10x10) paper. I tried using Visio for years and it's garbage. Of course, my version is 2003, I believe; they might have improved it some, but I refuse to pay for a newer version. :-O Before Windows, I used size C paper for everything, as it fit nicely on the desk. With everything being reduced to small modules activated by user actions, it's fairly easy to fit most blocks on an A or B size page. There are certainly about as many views on this as there are programmers, but when I chart an action and need a bigger sheet, I start looking to simplify that action or break it into smaller chunks. I'm getting old, and my attention span doesn't carry as many pages as it once did! :sigh:

    Will Rogers never met me.

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    • J Joan M

      I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

      www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

      M Offline
      M Offline
      Member 12364390
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      Visio if available - but use so little I cant justify purchase! Open Office - Draw does nearly the same as Visio for state diagrams - has glue points on shapes so can move around and links stretch to fit. Data flow diagrams - have used LucidChart.com for simple diagrams - free up to a certain size Edit the PDFs out of Lucid with free version PDFxchange , can annotate with extra detail block comments and shapes. This is my favourite tool for annotating printouts and pasted screenshots from windows snipping tool, etc for simple program documentation.

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      • P phil o

        I use open-source Graphviz[^]. This is one of the applications I could hardly get rid of.

        "Five fruits and vegetables a day? What a joke! Personally, after the third watermelon, I'm full."

        K Offline
        K Offline
        kalberts
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        Graphviz is great for a whole lot of graphing tasks. But I'd say it is better suited for automatically generated input files. You wouldn't want to maintain a flowchart by editing the DOT input file, which is oriented towards the graphic display elements, not the abstact structure and flow that you want to present. Well, there may still be old Unix (pre Linux) guys around who frown at GUIs and want to write DOT files in vi to create output on their pen plotters. For most of us, we would rather drag boxes around than editing 7 bit ASCII files. (OK, UTF-8, but the editing is done in the same way for ASCII and UTF-8 files.) I use graphwiz myself, but for maintaining flowcharts, I would use other tools. On the other hand: I haven't ben drawing a flowchart for ages.

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        • J Joan M

          I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

          www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

          G Offline
          G Offline
          glennPattonWork3
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          Last one I did was try and figure out an embedded system, using paper and a log book (no ruler!). I think Viso is preferred but also seen good results from Word.

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          • J Joan M

            I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

            www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

            B Offline
            B Offline
            binraider
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            I use the program "Pencil". I used to use RFFlow, but the free version only has a 30 object limit

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            • J Joan M

              I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

              www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

              N Offline
              N Offline
              Nic Oughton
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              I use LucidChart - I find it has all the features I need of Visio but is easily available across multiple devices and can be shared with other people.

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              • J Joan M

                I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                U Offline
                U Offline
                User 14060113
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                I use Pencil. Not pencil and paper, but a freeware called Evolus Pencil. As my current employer hasn't bought me a Visio license, I had to find a free alternative.

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                • J Joan M

                  I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                  www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                  M Offline
                  M Offline
                  Marc Clifton
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  Visio, because it's awesome. Flowchart Maker & Online Diagram Software[^] when I'm on a machine that doesn't have Visio.

                  Latest Articles:
                  16 Days: A TypeScript application from concept to implementation Database Transaction Management across AJAX Calls

                  M 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • J Joan M

                    I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                    www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                    K Offline
                    K Offline
                    KLPounds
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    Used Gliffy once or twice. Visio a few times when available. But I always come back to PowerPoint. I don't usually diagram anything too crazy. I will be honest i have used PowerPoint for everyhing from mockups, to rough floorplanning and blueprinting. So I'm a little bias. Maybe if I had any real skills at diagrams I would use more appropriate tools.

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                    • J Joan M

                      I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                      www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                      K Offline
                      K Offline
                      KLPounds
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      Used Gliffy once or twice. Visio a few times when available. But I always come back to PowerPoint. I don't usually diagram anything too crazy. I will be honest i have used PowerPoint for everyhing from mockups, to rough floorplanning and blueprinting. So I'm a little bias. Maybe if I had any real skills at diagrams I would use more appropriate tools.

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                      • J Joan M

                        I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                        www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                        K Offline
                        K Offline
                        KLPounds
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        Used Gliffy once or twice. Visio a few times when available. But I always come back to PowerPoint. I don't usually diagram anything too crazy. I will be honest i have used PowerPoint for everyhing from mockups, to rough floorplanning and blueprinting. So I'm a little bias. Maybe if I had any real skills at diagrams I would use more appropriate tools.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J Joan M

                          I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                          www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                          T Offline
                          T Offline
                          tharkaway
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          I have been using Visio for software architecture drawings. Not really a flowchart drawing tool per se, but Think & Do was a PC-based industrial control package that used flowcharts to document a machine's control logic. A medium sized project would contain 100+ flowchart. The flowcharts were compiled into a byte code stream that the run-time component would evaluate in real time. Scan times for a medium sized project was 2-3 msec. I worked for Think & Do Software in the early 00's and am working to port the Visual 6.0 C++ solution to VS2019 C# so it will run on 64-bit Win-10. Visio and Excel have been helpful in documenting how the old C++ code worked

                          If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Will Rogers www.TND10.com

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                          • J Joan M

                            I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                            www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                            M Offline
                            M Offline
                            matblue25
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            Plastic flowcharting template, pencil, paper.

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • J Joan M

                              I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                              www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                              K Offline
                              K Offline
                              Kirk 10389821
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              I used a DOS Based Product called EasyFlow [^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive\_EasyFlow) . I have to say it had the SIMPLEST/FASTEST user interface. Basically, the first letter of the SHAPE (B=Box, D=Diamond). I believe the Arrow (or Ctrl-Arrow) keys created a line out of that side, and you were prompted for a new symbol. You could pound out a template without text in it in under a minute. Then go back and fill in the text. Keeping in mind that we typically were replicating existing diagrams, or entering the ones we had drawn by hand... Loved it.

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                              • M Marc Clifton

                                Visio, because it's awesome. Flowchart Maker & Online Diagram Software[^] when I'm on a machine that doesn't have Visio.

                                Latest Articles:
                                16 Days: A TypeScript application from concept to implementation Database Transaction Management across AJAX Calls

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Member_14662850
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #25

                                Besides paper and pencil, DIA is the only thing that works for me. Wondering why I'm not seeing a mention of it?

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                                • J Joan M

                                  I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                                  www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                                  C Offline
                                  C Offline
                                  crispynewt
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #26

                                  https://www.draw.io/ even more useful if you integrate into google drive

                                  M 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • J Joan M

                                    I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                                    www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                                    B Offline
                                    B Offline
                                    Bajaja
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #27

                                    Visio for many years. Then I found this online remake. Recently thanks to Confluence used more the plug-ins as Graphvis and PlantUml. X-mind (mentioned by someone) mainly for brainstorming and idea development.

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                                    0
                                    • C crispynewt

                                      https://www.draw.io/ even more useful if you integrate into google drive

                                      M Offline
                                      M Offline
                                      maze3
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #28

                                      I like the integration with google drive. Simple click to open from google drive. New company Microsoft/office based, does not stop using draw.io, can easily save from Draw to onedrive/sharepoint, but if in onedrive, and see some .drawio file, no simple click to open.

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                                      • J Joan M

                                        I've been using Visio in my last company... What do you use? and why? PS: I've also used pencil and paper too... :P

                                        www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                                        L Offline
                                        L Offline
                                        L Spoelders
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #29

                                        Libre Office Draw

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • P phil o

                                          I use open-source Graphviz[^]. This is one of the applications I could hardly get rid of.

                                          "Five fruits and vegetables a day? What a joke! Personally, after the third watermelon, I'm full."

                                          W Offline
                                          W Offline
                                          willichan
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #30

                                          I like to use Graphviz as well. Though more for displaying my charts for others. I tend to create my actual flows as text, then put them into Dot files. Yea. I know. I'm a little odd. I am so far the only person I know that does it that way. I always structured things as text long before I was ever introduced to flow charts. Going all the way back to my grade school days, my teachers hated seeing what my rough drafts of reports looked like. Money makes the world go round ... but documentation moves the money.

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