Visio Online Plan 1 users - could I ask for your assistance?

[Paul Herber]

Plan 1 users are not able to open 3rd-party stencils, so I want to know if Plan 1 users are able to access 3rd-party shapes within a document.
I've attached a zip file containing two .vsxd format documents, could someone let me know if these shapes are accessible from within Plan 1, i.e. can you select and move the shapes around and copy and paste them? Many thanks!

[Surrogate]

Visio (Online) Plan 1 aka Visio for Web have a lot of limitations
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/why-can-t-i-open-a-diagram-for-editing-in-visio-for-the-web-ea4a23d3-21d3-4878-945e-cf1be4140357?ui=en-us&rs=en-gb&ad=gb

[Paul Herber]

Thanks, it is a long list. I'd try Plan 1 myself but I get the "incompatible product installed" error.

[Paul Herber]

Visio (Online) Plan 1 aka Visio for Web

Seems it has a name change every week or so!
Office Online
Office 365
Microsoft 365
... next?

[Surrogate]

Seems it has a name change every week or so!

Marketing games 

[Nikolay]

I have Plan 2, I think editing online is exactly the same as Plan1? The drawing looks like this in Visio Online editor (attached)
The shapes are movable, you can copy and paste them. Just they look different from Visio (i.e. formatting is basically lost when you switch to edit)
Looks like they are converted into simple rectangles. I.e. when you open "View" you see the same thing as in Visio, but when you switch to "Edit In Browser" they become white rectangles.
Or maybe this is gradient fill not supported - not sure.

Personally, I've given up on Plan1. Not sure who might be the target audience of it. Maybe "there are no target customers but just targets" (c)
Now building completely on mxgraph (aka https://diagrams.net) library (https://github.com/jgraph/mxgraph).

Dear Visio Online, please come back when you grow up a bit and get support for apps and custom shapes

Honestly, mxgraph is not bad. And it's open source. In simple cases (like mine) when you don't need something fancy, it's good enough.
Even now, it can probably do more than Plan1. I was integrating it into SharePoint basically (SPFx), and now it might look even better than Visio 
And remember, full source code available, and no iframes. Means, any shapes and any behaviors can be modified . Since basically it's all defined in (javascript) code.
Unfortunately it's more "like linux" - you can change everything and you will change everything.

[vojo]

FWIW plan 2 has worked for me since getting in January thru employer.

[Surrogate]

Not sure who might be the target audience of it.

M$FT marketers believe this product will increase Visio audience! Users who do not have the application installed will be able to view and comment on documents sent to them.
Also instead of drawing a brilliant business plan on a napkin in a cafe. In the age of digital transformation, this can be done on IPad or Android-tablet or smartphone using Visio for the Web. If necessary, specially trained people can add some design or technical elements on the desktop version of Visio.
In other words, almost more than half of all MS Office users

I was integrating it into SharePoint (SPFx) basically, now it might look even better than Visio 

Nikolay, you mean desktop bassed Visio editions ?

[Nikolay]

Nikolay, you mean desktop bassed Visio editions ?

Not exactly. In my current project, Visio is kind of completely out of the picture. Hopefully we'll provide a cool tool.
On the picture below, it's not Visio, it's a mxgraph-based component actually (opened in SharePoint workbench)

[wapperdude]

M$FT marketers believe this product will increase Visio audience!

Really???  Making a new, incompetent product is going to increase market share.  I think not.  It will increase product contempt.  What happened to old fashioned idea of dropping the price ... to be competitive?

Just call me old fashioned!

[Paul Herber]

No Plan 1 users here?

[vojo]

to be honest here guys, if MS was focused on user value, they would combine PPT and visio.
if you look at it, PPT and Visio is a highly over lapped venn diagram
- both have rich colors and themes
- both have shapes libraries, although PPT is a fixed set of shapes.
- both have feeble attempts at 3D  (essentially unusable in its current UI in both tools)
- both deprecate/corrupt functions that work (try transparency on a group in 2003 vs 2019).
- Both continue to make UI and launch less useful (try to pin a drawing at startup or try to pick a color for line and fill...need at least 1 more click).

PPT is better at
- paragraph / bullet lists
- animation and presentation
- feeble attempts at 3D  (essentially unusable in its current UI)

Visio better at
- precision placement, drawing, controls, etc
- rich font processing (condense, expand, text box formatting)
- better shape mgmt.

So if MS wanted to drive user value, then pick either and add/enhance with features of the other.
"just how many drawing tools that solves most but not all the user needs does MS need?"

of course, MS pursued this approach, it would take 3 releases to get decent "best of both" release.

to be fair, Visio and PPt are far better than most others (get a Ph.D for just drawing lines between JPGs).
tool Darwinism has its place, but shilling a half assed tool like draw.io as the "ultimate drawing solution for mankind" is a joke.

[Surrogate]

No Plan 1 users here?

i think yes, peoples which needs can satisfacted with Plan 1, dont need register here 
But all subscribers of Plan 2, get included Plan1
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/visio-plan-2?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab

[Surrogate]

Really???  Making a new, incompetent product is going to increase market share.  I think not.  It will increase product contempt.  What happened to old fashioned idea of dropping the price ... to be competitive?

just amazed !

Lucidchart is utilized in over 180 countries by more than 20 million users, including business leaders looking to improve process flows, technical professionals mapping out network infrastructures, and people managers needing to create org charts. Ninety-nine percent of the Fortune 500 use Lucidchart, and customers include Google, GE, NBC Universal, and Johnson & Johnson. Since the Utah-based company's founding in 2010, it has received numerous awards for its product, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidchart.com

MS Visio have 10M+ users both: desktop and online !

[vojo]

so somebody believes lucidchart has 20M users for that half*ssed toy, really!!! 
Amazing!!!