CNET Editors' review
Diagrams can often organize information and get your point across in ways that text alone just can't. yEd Graph Editor is an easy-to-use tool that lets you create diagrams, flow charts, and many other visual representations of processes and relationships. It's a fairly sophisticated program and new users might have to spend some time getting acquainted with it, but the payoff -- an endless number of graphic possibilities -- is well worth it.
yEd Graph Editor has an attractive interface, with a tabbed work area that lets you have multiple files open at once. Several aspects of the interface are modular, allowing you to close them when not needed. An overview module shows a broad overview of the graph, while the neighborhood view shows details of a selected area, and structure view shows graph items in a tree hierarchy. The palette allows you to choose from a wide variety of shapes and connecting lines, and there are objects including people, computer networking hardware, UML objects, and more. Charts can be saved in a variety of image formats, as well as PDF and HTML files. We found it easy to get started with yEd Graph Editor, but referring to the built-in Help file provided us with plenty of thorough instructions for making the most of the program. We think that yEd Graph Editor is a great choice for anyone needing to create a graphic representation of information, be it a family tree, decision tree, flow chart, organizational chart, user instructions, or any number of other possibilities.
yEd Graph Editor installs and uninstalls without issues.
Publisher's Description
From yWorks:
Use yEd to quickly create flow charts, UML diagrams, mind maps, and many other kinds of diagrams, graphs, and networks. Choose from a wide range of highly sophisticated layout algorithms to automatically arrange your diagrams in no time. An intuitive and visually appealing user interface makes creating diagrams fun. Once you are done with creating a diagram you can save, print, or export it to popular formats like PDF, SWF, EMF, SVG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, or HTML image maps, HTML Flash Viewer.
What's new in this version: Version 3.9.2 adds support for specifying the header size of columns and rows in table nodes.
More Products to Consider
- Take an open-source approach to office productivity.
- Convert Adobe PDF file to MS Word file format.
- View, navigate, and print PDF files.Visit Site Or, Learn More About Adobe Reader XI
This download is served from an external site
closeNOTICE: This link will open a connection to a third-party site. CNET cannot ensure the security of software that is hosted on external sites.
Sponsored Products
- Open, edit, and save files using the new file formats in 2007 v...
- Create and share content with the help of a comprehensive set o...Visit Site Or, Learn More About Microsoft Office Word 2010
This download is served from an external site
closeNOTICE: This link will open a connection to a third-party site. CNET cannot ensure the security of software that is hosted on external sites.
Sponsored Products
- Convert PDF files to Microsoft Word format.
- Keep track of how you use your PC.
- Create, view, edit and share word, spreadsheet and presentation...
- Create, manage, and collaborate with others on presentations.Visit Site Or, Learn More About Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010
This download is served from an external site
closeNOTICE: This link will open a connection to a third-party site. CNET cannot ensure the security of software that is hosted on external sites.
Sponsored Products
- Develop your own custom solutions visualizing various data.Download Or, Learn More About Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
This download is served from an external site
closeNOTICE: This link will open a connection to a third-party site. CNET cannot ensure the security of software that is hosted on external sites.
Sponsored Products
Installed
Smart Install - Convert JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG images to PDF files.
- Create, encrypt, and merge PDF files.
- Render PDF files within applications that support the print fun...
- View and print PowerPoint presentations.
- Convert your PDF files into various image formats.
- Recognize text from images using the open source Tesseract OCR ...
- Process documents and save them in various formats.
- Convert Word, RTF, and TXT files into PDF documents.
- Prepare stunning presentations, save them on cloud, and share w...Visit Site Or, Learn More About Microsoft PowerPoint 2013
This download is served from an external site
closeNOTICE: This link will open a connection to a third-party site. CNET cannot ensure the security of software that is hosted on external sites.
Sponsored Products
- Organize your important events, journals, notes, and contacts.
- Create and track quotes, invoices, and credit notes.
- Create invoice templates and quotes and purchase orders.
- Track, graph, and report on the performance of your investment ...
- Convert image files to PDF documents.
-
All versions:
3.8 starsout of 16 votes
-
Current version:
0 stars Be the first to review this product -
My rating:
Write review
-
"Looking for a free flow chart software? THIS IS THE ONE"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.10
Pros
1) It's Free.
2) Easy to use. Has a very good UI.
3) Can be used to create professional range flow charts.
4) Can be exported to many formats.Cons
None that I can think of as of now.
Summary
I was searching for a free software to design a flowchart and I stumbled upon this one though there were many other freewares available. Initially it took some time for me to get used to it. But after about 30 mins, I became an expert. It is so easy to create perfect, modern flowcharts. And you can export it to many popular formats like jpeg,pdf and html. Two thumbs up for this one!
-
"Very nice tool"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.5.0.1
Pros
Easy to use
Flexible
Plenty of optionsCons
I haven't found anything yet
-
"Awesome Diagram Software"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.5.0.1
Pros
Amazing Layout routines that mean you can worry about the content not how it looks as yEd will make it look great. Good list of symbols and diagram types. Loving BPMN symbols. Works on most platforms. Free and has the backing of a company.
Cons
Nothing. If I had to be picky I'd say it's not easy to get data into in.
Summary
This software blows away every other diagram program I've used paid or not. If you ever have to do a process flows, network diagrams, family trees or organisation charts. this is the program for you.
-
"perfect for my use (designer)"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.5.0.1
Pros
Easy to use
Cons
Still miss some functions (join and glue)
Summary
Overall easy to use
-
"It was excellent -- years ago -- NOT NOW !"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.5.0.1
Pros
If you can get an earlier edition go for it.
I found nothing positive with this edition.Cons
Menus would not work properly; one would superimpose over the other.
Samples would not work.
Took a long time to do anything.Summary
I used this program ( edition 1 I think) and it was great. Now it has many more features but I could not get any of them to work. I was extremely disappointed with this edition.
I am not talking about working poorly; it just did not work. -
"A simple to use, yet powerful diagram creation software"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.5.0.1
Pros
Very flexible in the types of drawing that one can create
The hints that aid alignment and scaling of objects and lines are extremely useful
A very nice and useful grouping featureCons
Text formatting applies to the whole block, and no quick short cuts for that
PDF output is basically a high resolution image rather than text and vectorsSummary
A very useful and simple o use application and for a free software I cannot complain
I had special requirements for a software diagram that I wanted to create and I did not expect any drawing software to enable me to do them, but this one did. -
"Dynamite!!! Intuitive, flexible, smart and free"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.4.1
Pros
Building and modifying complex charts is easy. No learning curve to get started. Great results.
Cons
Documentation is thin. It would be nice to be able to use custom shapes. Picky complaints about a free product.
Summary
I am sure I use only a fraction of its capabilities, but I am still blown away by it. I needed to show graphically the complex interactions among future generations of products. This did it, took very little time to understand and gave great results.
I experienced none of the problems others reported. Saving, printing, and exporting (as pdf or other standard format) was flawless and easy and fast. -
"Intuitive, powerful, simple program. Does as claimed."
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.0.0.5
Pros
Easy to install. Works well. Easy to figure out. Does everything needed. Easily snaps lines to boxes. Aligns easily. Can snap to grid, copy boxes.
Cons
Could use more shapes.
Summary
Price is right and program works well for simple or even somewhat complex Flow Charts. MUCH easier than WORD/Publisher for this task. Well worth the little time it takes to load and run.
-
"Good product!"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.0.0.5
Pros
Easy-to-use, works like it should. I used it to create an experience map, which I then took into Adobe Illustrator to make look polished. I love the EPS export option for that.
Cons
Help file seemed lacking. I spent a while trying to figure out how to get my labels to do word-wrap inside a shape, which wasn't in the properties bar, but rather, a tool you have to use after you've created all the labels.
Summary
This is a solid product, even more so given it's free nature. Thanks yWorks.
-
"for free software , it's brilliant"
Version: yEd Graph Editor 3.0.0.5
Pros
works as expected
easy intuitive control of elements
it does what you want it to
easy to useCons
nothing worth mentioning
Summary
a pleasant surprise
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
Previous Versions:











