Diagrams can be a great source of effective documentation because they are clear and concise — just steps or information that users need to learn. That’s why it’s a good idea to use diagramming software. Here I gathered some powerful of them.

draw.io

draw.io is an open source technology stack for building diagramming applications, and the world’s most widely used browser-based end-user diagramming application.

Their mission statement is “provide free, high quality diagramming software for everyone”. Why?

• Diagramming software is worth $1B+ annually, but nothing is happening in the field that justifies this sales volume. They are disrupting the industry with a new business model.
• Their model is based on the viral effect of a free application. When you share a draw.io diagram, you know anyone can open and edit it.
• SaaS apps have a trust problem. Currently, vendors provide both the application and store your data, then charge you monthly to access it. That’s good for them, bad for you. They’re changing that.

Lucidchart

Lucidchart is a web-based proprietary platform that is used to allow users to collaborate on drawing, revising and sharing charts and diagrams. Lucidchart runs on browsers that support HTML5. This means it does not require updates of third party software like flash. In 2010, the firm announced they had integrated into the Google Apps Marketplace.

Here are some features:

• When you set up a team account, you can have multiple people working on a document at the same time. Anyone can use our group chat and commenting features to provide feedback in real time.
• Lucidchart works wherever you do. With a Team account, you have complete access to Lucidchart’s seamless integrations with other productivity tools, including G Suite (Google Apps), Microsoft Office 365, Slack, Confluence, Jira Software, Hipchat, Box, Dropbox, and AWS.
• With one click of a button, you can import any Visio file (.vdx, .vsd, or .vsdx) and then edit it in Lucidchart.
• Our admin panel makes it simple to manage licenses, security, and documents on your Team account. Add users and choose their role, and then create groups and subgroups so you can easily share documents with an entire group at once. Control the security of your account by customizing sign-in, publishing, and sharing options for your team members.

Gliffy

In this tool, you can create different diagrams:

• For software engineering like UML diagrams, AWS architecture, Network diagrams, Entity-relationship diagrams.
• For Design needs — Floor plans, Wireframer.
• For Business — Flowcharts, Venn diagrams, Org charts, Mind maps, Business process modeling, SWOT analysis.

In order to help you save time, they have ready-to-use templates. For example, UML diagram templates:

Here are the key Gliffy features:

Embed Diagrams into Documentation

In those tools, you can publish your diagrams, but it’s not a good idea to have diagrams and your text manuals in different places. If you use a professional technical writing tool, you can embed diagrams right into documentation. Let’s see how you can do it using ClickHelp (a help authoring tool), for example:

• Open your diagram in a tool, for example, in Lucidchart.
• Click the File > Embed

• Copy the HTML snippet generated by Lucidchart.
• In ClickHelp, open your topic for editing and click Insert Custom HTML on the ribbon.

• Paste the markup and click OK.

That’s it, you have diagrams and your text user manuals in one place — your documentation portal, that makes your documentation more effective and informative.

What tool do you use for creating diagrams?

Ann Green, Content Manager at ClickHelp.com — best online documentation tool for SaaS vendors