Top yEd Graph Editor Alternatives

yEd is an innovative product by yWorks, which is a successful company established in Germany. It is a cross-platform freeware diagramming software. It is a robust desktop app and a graph or diagram editor, that can be used to create high-quality diagrams, with ease and finesse.

How does it work?

yEd is free to use desktop software and supports almost all popular platforms, including MAC OS and Unix or Linux. Just download and install the latest version of yEd in your system and you are good to go. You can design graphs in your system, alternatively, you can import diagrams from an external source for review or rework. Import can be done form Excel or even an XML. With a diverse range of elements to choose from like, group nodes, swimlanes, BPMN symbols, ER symbols, etc, yEd makes it simple to design your diagrams and graphs. Diagrams need clear descriptions and annotations, yEd facilitates this by providing, automatic label positioning and properties mapper.

yEd's impressive Automatic Layout

One of the attractive functionalities provided by yEd is Automatic Layout. If you have a set of complex data scattered on screen and you are struggling to place each element in a way that it all makes sense, yEd can make this a cakewalk for you. yEds advanced mathematical layout algorithm aids to automatically place elements in a diagram in a selected format or structure. With a wide range of layouts to choose from namely, Hirearchial, Orthogonal, UML, Organic, Tree, Radical layout and many more, you can easily and effortlessly arrange elements within your diagram either with the help of algorithm automatically or manually.

Tweaking diagrams in yEd

Editing graphs are made smooth and fun by amply providing several useful tools and modern settings. You can also work on more than one graph at a time simultaneously. The panels on top of the application and screen can be moved and rearranged according to your comfort. yEd supports both English and German language with the help section integrated and available in both languages.

There is also a web version of the system app available which is called yEd Live. This eliminates the need for an installer making it faster and easier to use. It also makes it available anywhere and everywhere you chose to work, with just the need for the browser. The diagrams created can thus be shared easily with anyone and on any device.

Conclusion

yEd undoubtedly helps to instantly create flowcharts, maps and complex diagrams easily in any organization. With a visually pleasing and sophisticated user interface, yEd is being used by likely millions of people in countless organizations. With options to import and export in all popular formats, yEd makes it easy to collaborate the diagrams into any report or presentations.