Librarians can use diagramming tools to create professional flowcharts for use in presentations, to illustrate steps for anything from electronic journal management to IT troubleshooting, or to chart the complex inner decision making processes of their pet cats. I decided to take on this Herculean challenge of charting the rich inner lives of my cats Chloe (the dumb one) and Vlad (the twitchy one) while also trying to identify a quick and easy free diagramming tool. I’ve usually just used the SmartArt features in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to create any flowcharts I needed for papers or presentations, but the chart formatting options in Word/PowerPoint are very limited and clunky. I’ve never used Microsoft Visio, which seems to be the most popular subscription-based diagramming tool.
I first started by finding a few helpful articles reviewing free and low-cost diagramming tools:
- The 10 Best Free Alternatives to Microsoft Visio (Jamie, Tech Junkie)
- Visio Alternatives: 10 Best Diagramming Software (Rachit Agarwal, Beebom)
- The Best Flowchart and Diagramming Apps of 2017 (Jill Duffy, PC Mag)
I ultimately settled on testing Draw.io, since it is completely free (at least for the average user), fully web-based (so I didn’t need to download any apps), and easily integrated with Google Drive (so I could save my diagrams easily to my Google account). The interface for Draw.io was easy and intuitive, and I was able to make two simple but fully customized flowcharts in about 45 minutes.
A few of the features on Draw.io that I particularly liked:
- Diagrams are automatically sized to US-letter paper size (8.5 by 11 inches) for easy printing.
- You can export the diagrams in a variety of formats, including JPEG, PNG, PDF and more.
- You can easily insert images or even add an image as the background for the diagram.
- The gridlines in the work area are helpful for keeping the connector arrows straight.
- You can easily choose a direction arrow beside a text box in the flowchart to automatically create a new clone text box and connector arrow to quickly expand your chart.
With Draw.io, I carefully charted the complicated variables of my cats’ daily choices:
The Always Learning Librarian 