Compatibility of yEd output with MS Visio or MS Word

Question

My IT department doesn't want me to use yEd unless the outputs can be editable in MS Visio or MS Word.  I think they would also like to be able to go the other direction too:  MS Visio flowcharts and MS Word flowcharts to be editable in yEd.

I'm aware of the graphics export abiity, such as to an SVG file, but this loses the "editability" when the file is opened in Visio.

Is there any plan to make yEd files fully exchangeable or compatible with Visio or Word?  Is there a converter, third-party or otherwse?  What is the main obstacle:  is it that Visio has proprietary code?  In other words, is there any realistic hope of a converter being made, or is this a dead issue...forever?

Thank you for yEd, by the way.  It's awesome!

Comments

It's too bad - this is a showstopper for me too.  I don't even like the provided answer.  Conceptual differences do not I'm imply that two files of similar diagrams can't be produced.  I can save a Word doc as a PDF and vice versa.  I can also import a NOSQL table into a SQL Server.

---

You are right, conceptual differences do not necessarily imply that something is not possible to do. On the other hand, your examples from totally unrelated fields are not the best indication here - the devil is in the details.

---

"Word vs PDF", "JPG vs PNG" and many others are actually valid examples of the use of libraries and drivers... You may want to check that before you write anything else. I also got here searching for an alternative to Visio but your answer tells me that you are not interested on potential customers among other things. This is probably the reason your product has zero popularity. Unless you change your attitude, it will remain that way.

---

Re:

"Word vs PDF", "JPG vs PNG" and many others are actually valid examples of the use of libraries and drivers...

I have to admit, that I do not understand what point you are trying to make. To me "Word vs PDF" means a comparison between Word and PDF for choosing one or the other. How is that related to the use of libraries or drivers? How is that related to OP's question about a data exchange format that lets him/her edit diagrams in both yEd and Visio?

That said, yEd is actually able to export to PDF, JPG, and PNG (and several other formats besides), but none of these are suited to further (diagram) editing in Visio (or Word).

Answer 1

There are currently no plans for adding Visio/Word export or import to yEd.

The main obstacle is the fact that yEd and Visio use conceptually different approaches to diagramming in almost all aspects.

Comments

Showstopper. What a shame. Such a great tool.