Interested in seeing if Export to Visio is important to more peeps

[HappyCatMachine]

I do have OmniGraffle for Mac at home but on the road I use a windows device with Visio. In fact more work that I like is actually done with Visio. Having to use my home machine to translate OGIP files into Visio files seems...troublesome.

I realise that Omni want's to keep their main selling point of the PRO OG exclusive to that version of OG but it seems unfair to users who do not have access to Macs to deny them this very important and fundamental (from a Windows-centric POV) feature.

It would certainly save me some headaches if Visio export was built into OGiPad.

Anyone else feel this way? What compelling reasons would there be for NOT including Visio export into OG for iPad?

Still lovin' it!

[Brian]

Great thread - just want to contribute one data point. Compromises are sometimes required to fit a desktop productivity application onto a mobile device that has 256 MB of RAM, of which any given app can only access a portion. (The iPhone 4 actually has more RAM than an iPad does.)

Converting a document between formats requires holding two copies of the document in memory at the same time; the document/format you're going from, and the one you're going to. If you try to use more memory than the device has available at any point in that process, the OS shuts you down in a way that looks like a crash to most customers. At best, a feature that does this becomes a two-steps-forward-one-step-back situation.

Folks that do want to see this added should definitely email the support ninjas (omnigraffle-ipad@omnigroup.com) and let us know. Just wanted to clarify that there are sometimes technical reasons to exclude features that we know are important to folks. :-)

[joekid90]

I must say I also have this issue, but found a way round me having to bring my files back to my MAC only to send them onto my Work PC.

I use the facility to store my files from my iPad into a sepcial folder in Dropbox. On my Home MAC I have a piece of applescript monitoring my synced Local copy of special folder on Dropbox,. When a new Omnigraffle file arrives, Omnigraffle on my MAC starts up and a save as visio is processed to a different Dropbox folder and an automated email is sent to my Work email address with the Visio version. On average this have never taken more than a couple of minutes and takes away the pain.

I have a seperate Script running on my MAC looking for any Visio attachments arriving with a certain heading I have defined. These are opened on my MAC in Omnigraffle and saved in an Omni Graffle format to yet another Dropbox Folder

MY Dropbox folder Structure

To Omnigraffle
To Visio
From Omnigraffle

It took a lot longer to work it all out than I planned, but it really has enhanced my experience and integration into my work life. Customers really like seeing me sharing Omnigraffle on a projector and sending them the results before they have even left the meeting.
************************************************** ***************
*Perhaps Omni could consider offering a similar Web based service for ipad* *owners of the application? *
************************************************** ***************

[davidsomeone]

Import and export OmniGraffle to VSD, directly on the iPad, is EXTREMELY important... especially now (May 2011) that the iPad 2 is generating such "corporate acceptance" en masse.

I'm constantly surrounded by network engineers and electrical engineers who tuck an iPad under their arm, but are "stuck" with corporate policy keeping them in a Microsoft environment on the desktop/laptop.

If they had an easy way in/out of Graffle, they'd be able to leave the laptop and only take the iPad to *that* many more meetings.

Please, oh please?

[paddrino]

Right now in order to send the data to co-workers I have to convert it on my mac and then send it out.

PDF seems to be a great way to get the data out quickly, but all they can do with it is annotate the pdf it and then send it back to me for me to edit. With co-workers that puts the workload back on me to make all the changes that come back. This would save me a ton of time in my workflow to just email out the Visio and import it back in.

[HappyCatMachine]

This has really become mission critical for me.

GoodReader can manipulate absolutely HUGE files with ease and the only occasional crash. Why can't OmniGraffle deal with converting a diagram to Visio? Is it really that much of a chore?

Drawing apps like iDraw and iDesign and painting apps like Inspire and ArtRage and proCreate convert images between formats all the time. Of course I generally clear most other apps out of memory before I begin to work in those.

I do understand that compromises must be made all the time in software. I am surprised that this cannot be handled in some way (say paging the document in sections).

[manojsb]

This is a necessary feature. It is important to import and export to visio format....

[HappyCatMachine]

Here is a screenshot of an app that I don't really like but it has built into it an export to Visio. Admittedly I haven't tried it yet but it can be done, at least by Instaviz. Please Omni, you have the code that does this. Optimise it for iPad and get it hooked up pretty please! I've had to redraw so many diagrams because of this!

http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_mTiWosn7vMw/TdWG_qnhLII/AAAAAAAAAFU/tqSLRGhE6X0/s1024/2011%2022:09:47

[miguelmarcos]

I also think this is critical. Visio is a heavyweight which needs to be kept in mind. Am looking forward to seeing this in OG iPad soon.

[vizwiz]

Step 1: Add this feature in a robust fashion
Step 2: Taunt Apple since they only have Keynote, Pages and Numbers so far
Step 3: Get acquired by Apple
Step 4: Take a big buyout and retire to the Cayman Islands

[ChristopherRose]

I use my iPad in company meetings to flowchart what the client is suggesting. It's great to show the client and then email them the Visio version. Quite a few folks have asked what drawing package I use and I'm only to pleased to tell them it's OmniGraffle

[Tez09]

I switched to another product after about a month of using Omni simply because I found I really needed Visio export to keep compatibility with colleagues at work. If this feature is made available in future, I am likely to switch back to Omni as it's nicer but at the moment, Omni is sitting in a folder I keep 'not used' apps in.

[BrettQ]

I would love to see the ability to import and export directly from OmniGraffle. I currently use TouchDraw instead of OmniGraffle just because I know that I can move the data back out to Visio for work. For personal/side projects, I use OmniGraffle because for everything else, it is a superior application. I do not have a Mac, so I am unable to convert to Visio using that work-around.

[tektonik]

I use Visio 2007/2010 for wireframes, sitemaps, etc. and want to share these with a vendor who uses OG (and Axure), and vice versa. I understand that v5 supports this but haven't tried exchanging files between the two apps.
Thanks,
Anthony

[nm2]

One + for Visio Export from iPad.

Making Diagrams in Workshops and then I need to email it to my Work PC (no Mac, no Chance). There I need it in Visio format ...

Please give us support about this, Omni.

Regards,

Niels

[damianiw]

Please add viso export and if possible import

[gordonp]

+1 for this feature.

I understand the technical limits of iOS. And I am personally an all OS X setup at work but co-workers are not so it would be nice to be able to share to Visio users.

Plus I think you would sell lots more versions for the iPad.

[rglenton]

ABSOLUTELY. This is a very necessary feature. In this day and with the iPad into the business environmental it is indispensable to import and export to visio format....

[schiefaw]

I understand the problem of the RAM limitation hampering conversion. However, you could try the "Zombie Booth" (among others) method of uploading the document to a server for conversion.

You would need to do something clever to manage the documents since it would not make sense to bring the Visio-formatted docs into OmniGraffle as a normal document. Maybe an email gateway would work in the short-term. At worst, you could release another app that does nothing but handle the communication with the server. The user would select the new app as the "Open in..." option from Mail. The app would send the file up and the converted file would be sent back to the same address. The conversion direction would just be determined by the incoming file type.

[Curlypaws]

Another +1 to the idea of Visio export (and, ideally, import). I’ve come to rely on OmniGraffle Pro’s ability to work on Visio diagrams from my work - and it would be a real advantage to be able to do the same on the iPad.

[paddrino]

Absolutely a must have to keep me using the product. I love it, but it gets really annoying to have to email it to myself, open it in omnigraffle on the air and then email it out a second time. Please help me save time and steps!!!