Microsoft Visio Standard 2016

I upgraded from Visio 2003 (I know, ancient) to 2016 to have all the MS apps the same vintage. Visio 2016 is fully integrated with the MS ribbon, which unfortunately makes working with it very cumbersome. While all the tools are still there, it takes a lot of digging to find things that before were quickly available. The only way around this is to put what you frequently use on the quick access toolbar, which I guess is the default way of getting around the ridiculous ribbon. Anyway, it works fine, does what you want, but as my title indicates, this isn't the same old Visio. There is also very little new and useful additions to it, really none that I can find. Really just a facelift.

Works as expected.

This is the new version of Visio. It does essentially what the previous versions do. My last one was 2010 but essentially it is identical. The major problem is that it is a different file system. Your old Visio files must be run in a Compatibility mode like the old versions of Office. Also the Stencils that you may have created in the old version must be converted.A note of caution. The program has a strong tendency when loading older versions to go into a Not Responding mode and locking up. Then it appears that only a hard reboot is necessary. It appears as if Microsoft wants you to manually redo all your years of graphics. The program is very unstable with all prior drawings. I have not yet found a stable and time efficient way to re-enter stencils from the prior graphics. It appears that you must do them one by one and then save as the newer version. This takes hours since the system crashes so frequently. I have a new, 48 hour old, Dell Optiplex running W10 Pro so I guess I could not get any better. This is in my opinion a very poorly designed system, the stability may very well drive you to despair!You can run everything in Compatibility mode but it slows down to a crawl. It seems that Microsoft has taken a nice simple graphic program that I use for cancer pathway drawings on Technical Notes and converted it to a clunky "upgrade" which often just sits and runs doing nothing.I found that keeping everything in Compatibility mode allowed faster operations. I tried converting Stencils but that did not make things go better. Worse, and this is critical, 2016 can read previous versions but it appears that previous versions cannot read the newer one. So bottom line stay in Compatibility mode. It is slower than the older versions but at this point it is the only way to smoothly go back and forth.Microsoft does provide a patch for converting the newer version such as what this produces into an older working version. I did not find any significant issues. Still the 2010 version is much cleaner in appearance and the icons used in developing a drawing are frankly easier to access. Overall this is a much more clumsier design. Microsoft has this problem of designing hammers and just when you get good at using them they design a totally new one and you spend days learning it all over. Whatever productivity you gain in the tool you lose in its implementation.So what do you get with this new version? Some graphics, a 2016 interface, and a higher price tag. It is a shame that Microsoft cannot make better tools. It is not Apple after all.After a year working with this horrible piece of software let me tell you what to expect:1. Run it in compatibility mode otherwise everything you may have done for the past 15 years is junk!2. Expect ongoing crashes. I estimate at least a crash ever 2 minutes. It locks up, loses data and needs a hard restart.3. You will spend more time restarting than working. So be very CAREFUL and continuously back up your system! BE WARNED.4. Beware of adding any new or old templates. The system seems to hate anything you do that is the slightest bit creative, such as putting a circle atop a rectangle and saving it in red! It takes 3-5 minutes loading such a new template.5. Overall this is the worst software I have used in decades. Microsoft managed to take a reasonable but expensive piece of graphics sw and make it the biggest waste of time ever created!6. Now I had to get 2 additions for a variety of reasons. I then spent an afternoon from Hell getting the second activated, by Telephone! Never try this one unless you like to waste your life. In between research on cancer pathways I had to waste time with Microsoft! Don't blame me if we cannot solve that problem it is easier than activating any Microsoft Product!7. After several years with this product it really is incompetently designed. It locks up on any new stencils you try to open. It takes hours to add some new stencil and then locks up again! Microsoft should be ashamed but alas they seem to care naught. Just look at the number of dead computers after a W10 upgrade. The insult is the price. This system does a limited amount but I have such a backlog of drawings I am stuck! Since I am writing papers on cancer research I wonder how many deaths will result from this piece of junk.

All I can say is WOW! I have windows 10 but do not have office 365. I received the software electronically it took a while to install because of windows 10 but key code worked fine and software is working fine. I would buy from this seller again.

Visio 2016 rocks! It is intuitive, uses the standard MS interface, and gets out of the way to let create what I need.

great value

Unfortunately, as Microsoft has dumbed-down Visio for some perceived market, they have made it much less useful to all those of us who used Visio as a powerfur drafting tool...in my case for architectural plans and furniture. My biggest frustrations are that they have severely reduced the number of available shapes, particularly in the areas of architecture, and they have made it difficult to impossible to customize those shapes to accurately match architecture features.I briefly looked at competing products, then decided to stick with Visio due to mu hundreds of library drawings. This version isn't exactly useless, but I sure wish I still have my older version.

it was delivered on time and installation is simple