"3+hrs wasted on a family tree that…"

3+hrs wasted on a family tree that wouldn't load the next day. So annoyed. Beware. Glad I didn't purchase the software before testing it out.

"Avoid at all cost."

2013 Smartdraw version. Of all the software packages I've used over the decades, this is the worst. Many bugs and deficiencies. I greatly regret having chosen this for software documenation as I now have to convert all my drawings to another drawing package.
As for technical support....forget it.

"Pro User Review!"

I have been using Smart draw for the last 9 years and have had a lot of mileage out of it. I've used this program for housing plans/design creation, infographics/web, logo's. SD does a great to excellent job! For house plans it is far-far easier than learning/using CAD. I can make changes to a house plan on the phone to the client at the time. I can save the plan to a rough CAD plan that a drafts person can trace over and or get exact dimenetions.

What I love - I can create shapes/Logos/House plans and store them in a visual library for re-use in the future. Compared to Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat or MS Publisher/Power point it is a faster learn time with pretty much everything I would ever need.

What I hate - SD wont/cant show print borders ) on the screen (only shows the page border) Cant work separately on one page alone (every page you are working on is present on the screen so the PC takes time to catch up). It wont tell you if an object is centered on the page (like PShop & PPoint). As an example I am working on a 28 page brochure with lots of images and when I print to PDF my intel i7 lags plus some images don't print out. I end up having to create dedicated files for groups of pages to get an exact print (these problems appear as i am literally pushing this program to its limits though) My running gear within my PC is not stressing, so it is a program thing.

Summary- I think the team at SD where obsessed with having there service work in the cloud for the light user and have not really focused on power or pro users, nothing has really changed or improved in that 9 years, which can be a good or bad thing depending how you look at it! For SEO, google is focusing on infographics and diagrams and I couldn't say there is a better program for this that is easier to use! I strongly recommend SD, but if you have to do large-large files, I would possibly look at other options! 1x Star lost for speed!

"Okay(ish) but expensive"

SmartDraw is a decent enough piece of software but we've found it to be both expensive and in many ways quite inflexible for our needs. By inflexible I'd say it is in no way as intuitive as, say, a package like Visio, and because of that we won't be renewing our subscription. If you need to create complex diagrams and have the time to really learn the nuts and bolts of SmartDraw I'd definitely recommend it, but our CAD people have found that through a combination of Visio and SolidWorks they can produce pretty much everything we need. Also, set your email filters up as you'll seemingly be deluged with messages from the company.

"SmartDraw is full of bugs and expensive. Don't waste your time."

Full of bugs where symbols change shape by themselves. Auto aumatically saves the page without asking so you can't go back to where you were before the bug changed the page. Absolute waste of time. Amazing for a product that cost $295.

"Super Service"

Super service, helpful advice freely given.

"Easy to throw together very polished diagrams and visuals for professional purposes..."

I've been using SmartDraw since 2012 and I LOVE how easy it is to throw together very polished diagrams and visuals for professional purposes. I use this product to build industry-standard process models, UML diagrams, UI mock-ups for clients, as well as many day-to-day reports and tables for business use. With a little practice, the interface becomes very easy to get around and its worth the investment to produce great outputs. I use expensive EA software in my job and some open source software for diagramming and graphics at home, but SmartDraw is a good affordable all-rounder in all environments. Highly recommended!

"Smart draw meets all my needs"

Smart draw meets all my needs. Its a pleasure to work with.

"Excelent software!!"

Excelent software!!
Very complete!

"Poor all round."

Poor choice of scales available. Lacking in features and poor user friendliness. Inordinately complicated making simples drawings and tasks extremely time consuming.