Software: EDGE DIAGRAMMER v5.0

Information:

Homepage: http://www.pacestar.com/edge/eddesc.htm

Download Link: http://www.pacestar.com/trial/edtrial.exe

Price: $124.95 downloaded - educational discounts and packages with segmented features available

Review:

EDGE Diagrammer is a solid diagramming software, with many features that exceed normal diagramming software.  It is safe to compare this to Microsoft Visio 2003, Visio featuring a larger catalog of figures yet EDGE comes in at about 1/2 the best price we could find online (which is equal to about 1/3 of the price that you find in the retail stores).  We only tested the evaluation version, more templates and figures may be available in the full retail version.

Installing was easy, although a little slow going on our PC. 

EDGE was extremely easy to pick up and start using right out of the install, we were able to create a network diagram of the computers in our office in about 5 minutes, then switched gears to create an organizational chart of our company in a few more minutes. 

Both of these being typical business applications for this type of software, we found that it only required a very low technical level to create almost any diagram in a very short amount of time.

Saving a diagram is easy, and provides a few options.  One of which is the proprietary EDGE file, another is to save it as an HTML document.  We wanted to save it as a picture, such as a JPG or GIF for use in a Word Document, but there wasn't a feature for that.  This would be a great feature for users of typical Office style products that crave integrating an organizational chart or diagram map into a proposal or presentation.

We were excited to find that we could easily insert graphics and logos into a diagram, which is great when creating in-house templates.  We built a template for our company, with our logo and some basic information in just a few clicks.  These templates can be then called up to be reused with the logo and info built in. 

We printed PDF versions of our flow charts with Adobe Acrobat PDF Printer Driver and found that the diagrams printed perfectly, just how we designed them.

It is important to note that there are free add on packs, a free diagram viewer if you want to distribute them in a non printed format and even an advanced user manual concerning how to create your own figures and custom content available directly from the website.  I was surprised to not see a list of user built content and figures, hopefully this type of addition is coming soon.  User communuties help evolve software, and can be a great source of inspiration.

Summary:

EDGE is a great business tool, essential for professional presentations and diagramming.  If you want the core features of a Visio without the outrageous price tag you will find EDGE perfect.

businessEvolved Recommendation: Top Pick - Presentation/Diagramming Tools

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