# Good way to make flow charts - answer wanted ASAP **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928 "2010-05-01T00:45:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/1 "2010-05-01T00:45:30Z")
I want to produce a flow chart to illustrate a proposal for SDMB; can someone recommend me a good way of doing one? On a PC. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/2 "2010-05-01T00:47:49Z")
Microsoft Visio. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/3 "2010-05-01T01:04:38Z")
Sorry, to be clear, I’d like to do it now and not buy some software I’ll only use once. Simplicity will be a virtue here, rather than features, as well 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Saratoga\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/4 "2010-05-01T01:43:01Z")
Try this: [RFFlow](http://www.rff.com/download.htm) I’ve used it for years; very easy to learn. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/5 "2010-05-01T01:59:46Z")
Microsoft Word in drawing mode ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/6 "2010-05-01T02:44:41Z")
google docs drawings: [Create, insert & edit drawings - Computer - Google Docs Editors Help](http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=179740) (free) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/7 "2010-05-01T04:24:12Z")
Try [Dia](http://dia-installer.de/index_en.html) (open source, and thus free). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/8 "2010-05-01T05:17:28Z")
[Inkscape](http://www.inkscape.org/) (also open source) can pull it off, too, although it doesn’t specialize in it. Just thought I’d mention it since you don’t want a single use software. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/9 "2010-05-01T05:42:10Z")
Or try a free online service like [LovelyCharts](http://www.lovelycharts.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-way-to-make-flow-charts-answer-wanted-asap/537928/10 "2010-05-01T07:35:43Z")
Just a note – flowcharts are no longer used much for computer systems logic. They have not proved to be a very good documentation tool. So are you sure flowcharts are the best tool to explain your process?