So, we can now all talk about Microsoft Office 2013, and, in particular, Visio 2013! Read about it at http://visio.microsoft.com/en-us/Preview/visio-benefits.aspx and find resources at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fp161226 . As a Visio MVP, I am delighted to see some of the exciting new capabilities. Of course, there are some tremendous visual enahancements, but the really big thing for me is the adoption of the Metro file format.
The Metro file format is the zipped-up, multi-part xml format used by Word, Excel and PowerPoint for several years already, but Visio missed out on this in the 2010 version, probably because so much effort was required to implement the FluentUI (Ribbon).
It may seem a small change, especially since Visio already had an XML format, but this new file format opens up so much more possibilities! One immediate benefit is the tighter integration with SharePoint … no more need to save into Visio Web Drawing format! Other benefits include Duplicate Page, Change Shape and Co-authoring … All of these must have been much easier to implement with the new Metro format. I’ll be blogging more about Visio 2013 in the future, but now I need to go explore …
Reader Interactions
Comments
Trackbacks
[…] Goldsmith and David Parker have already blogged about it. And Al Edlund has been busy working out some tools to tear the new […]
Paul Herber says
David, you’ve got a broken URL here (the benefits one), there is a surplus comma.
davidjpp says
Thanks Paul .. now fixed
Manuel B. says
OK, maybe only interesting for a small group, can’t install it on Windows XP.
(this is sure somewhere documented, but: who read it ? 😉
davidjpp says
Indeed, the new Office 2013 will not work on any version of Windows before Windows 7 … not even Vista!
Alan Farmer says
You can share Visio VSD documents through iOS mobile devices using little cool app called VSD Viewer
davidjpp says
I guess this is the link : http://nektony.com/products/visio-viewer-for-ipad-iphone
Looks interesting … except I don’t have an iPhone or iPad 🙁
Amanda Lynn says
Another alternative is to import your Visio files to an online Visio alternative like Lucidchart.
I do like the more open XML format that 2013 offers.
Caroline says
QUESTION: Should I purchase Visio 2013 ou 2010 Premium?
davidjpp says
Visio 2013 Professional
Caroline says
I asked myself that question so many times.I decided to stay in tune with the technology and purchased 2013. Very happy with it
Eric says
No new updates yet? I am curious about the co-authoring and maybe the Sharepoint publishing. The color scheme hurts my eyes, so I am not sure I will even use 2013 unless they fix that.
davidjpp says
Does this help : ?