SmartDraw Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Reviews & Insights

Score5.9 out of 10

39 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for SmartDraw are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Clean and professional org charts: Many users have been impressed with SmartDraw's ability to produce clean and professional-looking org charts. They appreciate that the charts can be easily shared or printed in a readable format, making it convenient for presentations or documentation purposes.

Easy import of data for org chart creation: Several reviewers have praised the ease of importing data into SmartDraw for creating org charts. This feature saves them time and effort, allowing them to quickly generate accurate and up-to-date charts.

Wide range of features and templates: SmartDraw offers a wide range of features for various purposes such as flowcharts, structural design, sharing and collaboration, wireframing, and customizable templates. Users find these features to be valuable as they cater to different needs and make diagramming tasks more efficient. Additionally, the provided templates serve as great starting points when users are unsure of how to begin their diagrams.

SmartDraw Reviews

4 Reviews

Professional, Scientific, and Technical ServicesLaw Practice1Information Technology & Services1Management Consulting1Marketing & Advertising1

Making thoughts visible and expressible in 2D!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

December 30, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Ever since we moved to virtual mode of communicating with colleagues and having meetings and discussions online, SmartDraw has made the entire process of explaining ideas, expressing and describing thoughts as easy as possibly it can be.
We use it for discussing application flows. We use it for High level designs. We are still discovering new use out of this awesome tool.

Pros

Flowcharts
Structural design
Sharing and Collaboration

Cons

The application is a little heavy on my system and takes some time to load
UI can be improved for touch screen interface.
Nothing i can think of! Its awesome

Likelihood to Recommend

As a developer i use it extensively for sharing ideas specially related for system design and application flows. Entire team finds it comfortable to use it, understand it and make changes swiftly. We use it for High Level System design.
While discussing the only missing thing we find about it is the integration of an ide for Low Level Design but in my opinion this tool isn't made for that purpose.

Mukul Kumar

Software Engineer in Information Technology at Thomson Reuters (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

SmartDraw is Next Level!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

November 27, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Charts! Charts! And more CHARTS! SmartDraw ROCKS when it comes to making org charts, flow charts, seating charts, and charts of responsibility to name a few. SmartDraw is a HUGE timesaver when creating expansive charts and a truly modern alternative to the traditional tools offered by Microsoft Office tools that are often times too limited.

Pros

Charts of all kinds
Wire Framing
Easily customizable templates

Cons

A month-to-month plan would be ideal for users that don't have a need to create many projects
The sidebar navigation can be a little confusing with all of the tools listed.
Offering customizable plans with only the feature you need would simplify navigation

Likelihood to Recommend

After becoming frustrated with the traditional tools that Microsoft offers and not being able to create expansive org charts I [accidentally] stumbled across SmartDraw. It saves me a ton of time. The interface itself is very similar to Microsoft tools so the learning curve was minimal allowing me to jump right into my first project.

Genie Huff-Forkner

Co-Owner, Executive Director of Marketing & Public Relations in Marketing at New Media Vegas, LLC (Marketing & Advertising, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

View profile

Give Sharepoint a try...but beware

Rating: 5 out of 10

Incentivized

November 22, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

Verified User

Analyst in Professional Services (Management Consulting company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Review from a simplistic user.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

November 18, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is used by a select few members of the firm. We use it largely to create maps, but also occasionally timelines and flowcharts.

Pros

Provides examples to work off of--these are helpful when you don't know exactly where to start.
Provides a number of stylistic options without making things too complex, so you can be creative without getting overwhelmed.
Provides a wide variety of templates, meets a wide variety of needs.

Cons

The timelines are a bit difficult to work with. Sometimes the bubbles take on a mind of their own and don't let you move and manipulate them easily. For timelines with a lot of events, this can get especially difficult.
The maps are missing some of the smaller countries, and sometimes you cannot fill in a smaller country without "sending to back" the larger countries around it. This becomes time consuming.

Likelihood to Recommend

SmartDraw is well suited to create simple but visually appealing graphics. It is not so well suited for more detailed and complex scenarios.

Kimberly Higgins

Paralegal Assistant in Legal at Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. (Law Practice, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

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Give Sharepoint a try...but beware

Rating: 5 out of 10

Incentivized

November 22, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

Verified User

Analyst in Professional Services (Management Consulting company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience