In the last years, switching from on-site to hybrid and remote work created a huge gap for companies and leaders wanting to continue effective team collaboration. The disconnect made popular diagramming applications like Lucidchart that became essential to maintain team collaboration, despite where the team was physically located.
Ultimately, businesses grew to rely on diagramming tools, but many asked if there were better Lucidchart alternatives. Processing and creating flowcharts, floor plans, organizational charts, or other company diagrams requires accessible and easy-to-use tools, even with the rise in remote work.
What is Lucidchart
Lucidchart is a web-based diagramming tool used by people in diverse industries to create detailed diagrams out of images, data, designs, or templates. It allows collaboration with other users and comes with multiple integrations, including Google Workspace and Atlassian, among others to streamline your process.
Lucidchart is available through four plans. First, a free one. Then, an individual one, which is $95.40 per year. Then, a team offer, which costs $108 per person per year, and finally an enterprise deal, that has custom pricing.
5 tips for using Lucidchart effectively
In this section, we will present some tips to use Lucidchart in an efficient way.
1. Mass format the shapes in your diagram
You should add style, such as color, font changes, and line formatting, to the objects in your diagram en masse. The recommendation is to use Command + A or pick “All” from the “Select” menu to select all objects on your page. In order to make a more specific selection, choose “All Shapes” or “All Lines.” You can even select “Inverse” to select everything that is currently un-selected on your canvas.
If you want to make a change to all shapes that have a feature in common with the shape that is currently selected, choose “Shapes with Same,” and then select a property from the offered list.
2. Align, distribute, and match the size
You can simply reposition and resize objects on the canvas so that your diagram is consistently polished with Lucidchart’s layout shortcuts. Select the objects you want to match up, and Lucidchart will match their size, align them, or distribute them evenly across space. Make sure that whatever shape you select last is the one you want them to match.
3. Re-order the toolbox based on what shapes you are using the most
If you are using many shape libraries for the same diagram, you can rearrange them in your toolbox so that you can effortlessly access the shapes you use the most. Move a library above or below another one by clicking and dragging by its name.
If there is a shape library in your toolbox that you no longer need, you can close it by clicking on the X in the top right corner. If you want to store it for future access, you can minimize it so that its name displays but its contents do not take up space.
4. Build your diagram sequentially, without ever losing your place
Lucidchart has some handy shortcuts that allow you to add shapes to your diagram without manually dragging them out of the toolbox. After dragging out the first shape of your diagram, you can add a second shape by clicking on one of the red dots along the first shape’s border and selecting a shape from the auto-prompt menu. You can build out an entire process diagram by doing it this way.
5. Navigate quickly around your diagram
If you are constantly zooming in and out of your canvas and moving from one part of your diagram to another, you need to do this in order to navigate easily. If you are using a trackpad, you can use two fingers to scroll your canvas up and down or side to side.
Plus, while using a trackpad, you can pinch/spread your fingers to zoom in and out of the canvas. If you are using a mouse, you can scroll in any direction by right-clicking and dragging the canvas.
3 Alternatives to Lucidchart
If Lucidchart is not the one app for you, here are some alternatives that work perfectly well, too.
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is one of the best Lucidchart alternatives because it has the same collaboration features but is much more powerful to increase team productivity. On top of it all, it is highly rated and preferred by startups, giants, and small businesses worldwide. It is ideal for teams that want to work smarter and more efficiently on a masterfully intuitive platform. It is customizable for any sort of workflow due to its several notable features.
2. Draw
Draw.io is an open-source diagramming software, meaning it is completely free. Despite its limited design options, it is one of the best Lucidchart alternatives because of its cost-free nature and several features. Nevertheless, its limited design options make it perfect for simpler projects.
To simplify diagramming, it has several templates and supports multiple import-export formats. It also has a suitable search function to enable working on projects faster. Plus, you do not need to create an account to use Draw.
3. Visio
No list of Lucidchart alternatives would be complete without one of the most well-known names in visual diagramming, Visio by Microsoft. It is a very powerful diagramming tool that allows you to easily collaborate on projects thanks to its annotations, co-authoring, and skype integration features. It allows real-time collaboration to increase the productivity of the team.
This software has an intuitive interface. Compared to Lucidchart, it has more templates, customizable shapes, and starter diagrams.
Bottom Line
Lucidchart is a great tool in this field. It usually serves finely to its users. Nevertheless, despite the offer it provides, like any other app, it is not the one for everyone. If you try it and you are not convinced, you should try one of its alternatives. Take into account that the one you choose must adapt to your job. It has to be like an extension to you, like a phone to your arm.
