computer science

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Visio is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Microsoft Visio rather than just read about it. In short: Microsoft Visio (, VIZ-ee-oh), formerly Microsoft Office Visio, is a diagramming and vector graphics application and is part of the Microsoft 365 Business. The product was first introduced in 1992 by former American software company Visio Corporation, and its latest version is Visio 2024.

Key takeaways

Microsoft Visio belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Microsoft Visio to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Microsoft Visio from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Microsoft Visio (, VIZ-ee-oh), formerly Microsoft Office Visio, is a diagramming and vector graphics application and is part of the Microsoft 365 Business. The product was first introduced in 1992 by former American software company Visio Corporation, and its latest version is Visio 2024. Microsoft acquired the assets of Visio Corporation in 2000 and thus also inherited the licensing agreements for the Visio application. A lightweight version of Visio is now included with all commercial SKU of Microsoft 365 and is known as Visio in Microsoft 365. It has two other subscription based SKUs. Visio Plan 1 includes the Visio web app whereas Visio Plan 2 provides access to both the web app and the Desktop application.

Features Microsoft Visio is used to create diagram types such as flowcharts, org charts, floor plans, network diagrams, UML diagrams, mind maps and more. It is also commonly used for scenarios such as Process Mapping and Visual Collaboration. The latest version of Visio also has data visualization that allows users to create diagrams from Excel data and also embed Visio diagrams in Power BI dashboards. Microsoft made Visio 2013 for Windows available in two editions: Standard and Professional. The Standard and Professional editions share the same interface, but the Professional edition has additional templates for more advanced diagrams and layouts, as well as capabilities intended to make it easy for users to connect their diagrams to data sources and to display their data graphically. The Professional edition features three additional diagram types, as well as intelligent rules, validation, and subprocess (diagram breakdown). Visio Professional is also offered as an additional component of an Office365 subscription. On September 22, 2015, Visio 2016 was released alongside Microsoft Office 2016. A few new features were added, including one-step connectivity to Excel data, information-rights management (IRM) protection for Visio files, modernized shapes for office layout, detailed shapes for site plans, updated shapes for floor plans, modern shapes for home plans, IEEE-compliant shapes for electrical diagrams, new range of starter diagrams, and new themes for the Visio interface. Database modelling in Visio revolves around a Database Model Diagram (DMD).

File formats

All of the previous versions of Visio used VSD, the proprietary binary-file format. Visio 2010 added support for the VDX file format, which is a well-documented XML Schema-based ("DatadiagramML") format, but still uses VSD by default only. Visio 2013 drops support for writing VDX files in favor of the new VSDX and VSDM file formats, and uses them by default. Created based on Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) standard (ISO 29500, Part 2), a VSDX or VSDM file consists of a group of XML files archived inside a Zip file. VSDX and VSDM files differ only in that VSDM files may contain macros. Since these files are susceptible to macro virus infection, the program enforces strict security on them. While VSD files use LZW-like lossless compression, VDX is not compressed. Hence, a VDX file typically takes up 3 to 5 times more storage. VSDX and VSDM files use the same compression as Zip files. Visio also supports saving files in SVG files, other diagramming files and images. However, images cannot be opened by the program.

History Visio began as a standalone product produced by Shapeware Corporation; version 1.0 shipped in 1992. A pre-release, Version 0.92, was distributed free on a floppy disk along with a Microsoft Windows systems readiness evaluation utility. In 1995, Shapeware Corporation changed their name to Visio Corporation to take advantage of market recognition and related product equity. Microsoft acquired Visio in 2000, re-branding it as a Microsoft Office application. However, it has never been officially included in any of the bundled Office suites. Microsoft included a Visio for Enterprise Architects edition with some editions of Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005. Along with Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional, Microsoft introduced Visio Enterprise Network Tools and Visio Network Center. Visio Enterprise Network Tools was an add-on product that enabled automated network and directory services diagramming. Visio Network Center was a subscription-based website where users could locate the latest network documentation content and exact-replica network equipment shapes from 500 leading manufacturers. Visio Enterprise Network Tools was discontinued in July 2002. The following year, Microsoft released a patch which gave Enterprise Network Tools users access to the network equipment shapes via Visio's built-in Find Shape feature. Visio 2007 was released on November 30, 2006. Microsoft Visio adopted ribbons in its user interface in Visio 2010. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook (to some extents) had already adopted the ribbon with the release of Microsoft Office 2007. November 19, 2012: BPMN 2.0 was utilized within Microsoft Visio.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Microsoft Visio

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Microsoft Visio claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Microsoft Visio before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Microsoft Visio ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Microsoft Visio

In research: Microsoft Visio appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Microsoft Visio in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Microsoft Visio is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1992 software, 2000 mergers and acquisitions, Diagramming software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Microsoft Visio outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Microsoft Visio in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Microsoft Visio means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Microsoft Visio out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Microsoft Visio in simple terms?

Why does Microsoft Visio matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Microsoft Visio?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Microsoft Visio.