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corriela
Participant
April 21, 2010
Question

Flowchart / workflow tools

  • April 21, 2010
  • 14 replies
  • 87801 views

I have been waiting with every new release for Flowchart / process flow tools in any of the Adobe programs.

I have tried building them in Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign and Fireworks but none of them seem to have connectors which stay 'connected' to the boxes when I move them!



Features needed:
- magnetic connectors (like freehand/omnigraffle)
- switch line style of the flowchart (direct, corners, bezier)
- draw bridges (halfcircles) where connection lines intersects for  better reading.
- ability to 'snap' connectors to any point around an object, not just its ancor points.

Nearest thing I can find is the 'line connector' in Fireworks, but again, if I move the box the connector doesn't go with it.

This is such a fundamental part of GUI design I can't believe it doesn't exist.

I've looked at non-Adobe programs like Visio, Omnigraffle, ConceptDraw and Mindmap etc etc but really want to make the most of the interactivity between the Adobe programs I already use.

Any help please?????????

Thanks

    14 replies

    Show previous replies
    T
    tayzano
    Participating Frequently
    January 19, 2016

    It's 2016... Any news ?
    I think this kind of tool would be MASSIVELY USED so I really don't understand why it's not a focus of Illustrator.

      E
      emontamb
      Participant
      September 21, 2016

      I was hoping that proper flow tools would have been introduced in Adobe Experience. I would be very happy if ANY of their programs had text-in-box that can have a stroke applied AND sticky connecting arrows. Jumps would be great with the connections but I could even live without that if we could just have the first two.

      Has anyone found plug-ins for Illustrator or InDesign these simple flow diagram tools?

      C
      corrielaAuthor
      Participant
      April 22, 2010

      Thanks for your replies.

      I agree Jet, I could do with those extra tools too. I think 'Hot Door' still do Illustrator plugins for CAD tools.

      Anyone feel like creating a flow diagram plugin?? You'd make a mint!!

      Thanks for the suggestions but I'm on a MAC

      Sigh - back to ConceptDraw

        JETalmage
        JETalmage
        Inspiring
        April 22, 2010

        Evidently, OpenOffice is also available for MacOS, both Intel and PPC. Go to OpenOffice.org. Click the link for other platforms.

        JET

        C
        corrielaAuthor
        Participant
        April 22, 2010

        You Legend!!

        That's perfect - lets me import my own images, add multiple connectors and create style sheets so I can update all the images at one.

        Also liking the image library (themes) which auto links to the original files - I can drag and drop and use a bit like Illustrator symbols.

        Only thing missing is connector 'hops' for when they overlap other lines and the shadows are a bit primitive but I can work around that.

        I think you have just saved me a massive amount of time, effort and money!

        Thanks SO much

        JETalmage
        JETalmage
        Inspiring
        April 22, 2010

        Illustrator sitll doesn't provide connector tools. Just as it still doesn't provide dimension tools, a proper cutting tool, user-defined drawing scales, live shape primitives....

        Just about any other drawing program provides connector tools. If you're on Windows, you might download OpenOffice.org (free) and use its Drawing module, which includes a full set of flowchart tools. If you must have it in Illustrator, you can copy/paste it to AI (but of course the connector lines will no longer be connector lines).

        JET

          W
          Wade_Zimmerman1
          Inspiring
          April 21, 2010

          I would say that flow charts art not a focus of Illustrator, I think a better application for you would be something like Canvas.

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