Some of the tools I’ve used to create flowcharts, along with some of their drawbacks, are:
- PowerPoint’s SmartArt feature allows you to type text into boxes and automatically convert it into different kinds of charts, but it’s always felt clunky to me, with text that arbitrarily resizes and all the other fun features of PowerPoint, like creating files that are way too large for what they deliver.
- Adobe Illustrator (and many other drawing tools) allow you to create gorgeous infographics, but you’re essentially illustrating them by hand, and you end up with files that are time-consuming to create and can’t be maintained by people without the software or the skills.
- Visio is Microsoft’s diagramming application. I have only used it occasionally, and my impression is that it’s great if you need a full-featured set of diagramming tools, but not so great if your boss needs a quick org chart or your mom asks you for a family tree.
- Online tools (SmartDraw, Miro, etc.) are great at creating flowcharts. Each has advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is you have to pay for them! It’s very easy to subscribe to something for 8 bucks a month and forget to expense it or forget you even subscribed to it.
Instead, you can use a free online tool to do a rough layout of your flowchart, and then bring it into your fancy drawing software.
I tried out SmartDraw. Like its competitors, it’s a web-based application that markets itself as a tool to draw floorplans, org charts, and more. At the moment I like it because it’s very low friction to get started, and it doesn’t scream “Use my new AI tools!”
Step by step:
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Create the graphics you want to use in Illustrator. It’s a great idea to create at least a text box and an arrow with the look and feel you want; then you can copy and paste them to create new text boxes.
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Go to smartdraw.com/flowchart. At this writing that URL allows you to create a flowchart without signing up (if you go to the main SmartDraw home page you might not be so lucky).
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Create your flowchart and then make a screenshot of it. Go back into Illustrator and paste your flowchart. Lock the pasted screenshot so you don’t accidentally move it around while working.
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Now you can use your screenshot as a guide to place copies of the nice-looking box you created. Change the words, of course.
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When you’re done, delete or hide the screenshot.
I’ve found this method enables me to produce really nice-looking flow charts in a fraction of the time it took me before.
