Product Description

Visio 2003 is a diagramming program that can help business andtechnical users document, design, communicate, and automate complexideas, processes, and systems so they can take more effectiveaction. The Visio 2003 product line includes Microsoft Office VisioStandard 2003 and Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003. VisioProfessional 2003 edition gives IT professionals, engineers, anddevelopers comprehensive technical diagramming and drawing tools tocreate and share information. D87-01532

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2834 in Software
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: D87-01532
• Released on: 2003-10-21
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows 2000
• Format: CD-ROM
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .75 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Office Visio 2003 Professional is an exceptionally flexible diagramming tool based on the concept of smart shapes. Shapes can be positioned, sized, labelled, connected and grouped to create many different diagram types. Office Visio 2003 Professional comes with hundreds of templates, including building plans, electrical diagrams, organisation charts and website maps. Each template has an extensive range of appropriate shapes, so you can create professional-quality diagrams by drag-and-drop. Templates are rich, each having its own online help and sometimes dedicated menus, giving Visio the feel of a specialist package in whatever area the template covers. Diagrams can get large and complex, but this version of Visio benefits from a handy Pan and Zoom tool that presents a miniature view of the entire diagram, making it easy to navigate to the right spot and to enlarge or reduce the scale.

This is a product that works on all sorts of levels. Occasional users can easily dip into Visio and quickly create a diagram. Developers on the other hand can create new shapes using the new ShapeStudio add-on, automate diagrams with Visual Basic for Applications, or embed diagrams in other applications via the Visio ActiveX control. A free viewer enables diagrams to be shared with those who do not own the full Visio product. Office Visio 2003 Professional has new templates for documenting business processes, as well as enhancements to many of the existing templates. Tablet users can create hand-drawn shapes. There is also support for collaboration by tracking changes, or those with Windows Server 2003 can use document workspaces to enable features such as team working and change notification. The only caveat with Visio is that a lot hinges on the quality of the templates, so if you have a particular use in mind it's worth checking that a suitable template exists. This professional version has the widest range, including topics such as engineering, networking and software development, while the standard version has a more limited range. As a general-purpose diagramming tool Office Visio 2003 Professional is outstanding. --Tim Anderson

Manufacturer's Description
Microsoft Office Visio 2003 is a diagramming application that helps business & technical people document, design, communicate, and automate complex ideas, processes and systems so they can take more effective action.

Document and design complex ideas, processes and systems
Visio helps you easily create business and technical diagrams to think through, better understand, and design complex ideas, processes and systems it's a single diagramming tool for all business and technical users.

Communicate information clearly and collaborate more effectively
Diagrams created in Visio enable you to communicate complex information clearly, concisely and effectively in a way that text and numbers alone cannot. Visio diagrams add the power of pictures to presentations, documents, spreadsheets and email messages, giving your work immediate impact.

Integrate and automate systems and processes
Visio can be tied directly to data sources to provide always up-to-date diagrams and can also be customized to meet the unique needs of an organization. Incorporate Visio into powerful, connected .NET solutions to address specific business needs, and into the other applications within the Office system, like Word, PowerPoint or Excel.

Customer Reviews

Buy the Pro in one Go - Be Careful With The Pro Upgrade!
Gates Will Land you in the Guano! If, like me, you bought the 2003 Standard version and then the 2003 Pro Upgrade you'll be mightily anti-Gatesware, even if you weren't before. It is not possible to upgrade from Standard 2003 to Pro 2003. It simply won't load because the 2003 Standard programme is not an approved pre-cursor to the 2003 Pro. Yes really, and I am £200 worse of because of it, not to mention the frustration of 2 hours lost installing and removing it 3 times and the scrabbling around on the PC finding out why. Bless Google; turned up a site with the reason (see above) on the first attempt. Buy the Pro in one go if you need it. Excellent programme but beware the Ides of Gates.

Visio 2003 just Gets better
I have been using a beta version of this for some time, as I have been a long time user of Visio going back to version 2. The latest version is better than previous versions. It will allow you to use image files to add to templates. Template sizes however can get quicte large, but the image quality is excellent. I use this to draw diagrams to transfer into Powerpoint for presentations. The latest version is easy to use never crashes and the output quality is excellent. Can't see how they will improve on this.
Bad points are template sizes are getting bigger, plus you can't save template beyond 2002. If you were able to save as version 2000 this would be better
Apart from that its excellent

New versatility for the construction field
Microsoft Office 2003 Visio opens up new options for businesses in the construction industry. Not every company can afford the high-dollar programs like AutoCAD, but Visio is able to read and edit the drawings made by AutoCAD. Individual rooms off of a blueprint can be printed, which makes it much easier to track progress and find out exactly where you are gonig with it. The program has great functionality, and even though it takes a little bit of playing with it to figure out how to make it do what you want it to do, once you get the hang of it, it saves time, money, and can pay for itself in a rather short period of time.