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It is possible to open Microsoft Visio files in Ubuntu? Perhaps something like Dia, or OpenOffice Draw?

It is not an emergency, but it would be nice...

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10 Answers 10

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It's coming to LibreOffice now. Expect it in v3.5.

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    I confirm that LibreOffice can handle Visio VSDX documents Apr 19, 2019 at 9:02
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Quick update to the existing answers: the current version (4.3) of LibreOffice Draw opens .vsdx files indeed, although they appear a bit mangled so they'll require some work on it.

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You could use an online service like http://www.freepdfconvert.com (there are dozens) to turn it into a PDF and with that view it or manhandle it in Inkscape, et al.

But as for direct opening, not yet, I'm afraid. It's fairly niche too so I wouldn't expect a solution any time soon.

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Crossover handles Visio very well, unlike the many issues you may find with Wine. Although Crossover is a commercial product and Visio as well, as far as alternative Visio like applications there are a few.

  • DIA
  • Kivio
  • OpenOffice Draw
  • ArgoUML
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Open diagrams.net and drag and drop the file into the editor.

If the file is a .vsdx file and privacy is an issue use the desktop version

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I installed Visio in Ubuntu, but first I installed Wine. It's working fine (there are some issues!). I don't know if there is another way to open that kind of files. I tried with OpenOffice.org Drawing but nothing happen.

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    If you have Visio on hand, could you please see if Dia can open it?
    – Soviero
    Oct 11, 2010 at 23:19
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Dia can open Visio's XML format (VDX)

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    Just tried the sample package off the MS website. Error loading diagram /home/oli/Desktop/VisioSam/BlkDia.vsd. Unknown file type.
    – Oli
    Oct 11, 2010 at 23:17
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    You have to export as .vdx not .vsd from Visio
    – maco
    Oct 11, 2010 at 23:31
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If you have access to Visio 2003 or higher, you could try to convert it to .SVG That format is easily readable by both Dia and Inkscape. If not, you're in a world of pain because raw Visio is not easily convertible.

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With LibreOffice Draw 6.0.7.3 the *.vsdx Files from Microsoft Visio Standard 2016 that I have created there recently could be opened. Tested on Ubuntu 18.04.

LibreOffice Draw

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  • I don't have enough reputation scores to post my own answer. But I was trying to use LibreOffice Draw to open .vsdx files, and some elements (diagram names) were completely invisible. Then I tried another offline app for Linux - drawio-desktop. Surprisingly app was able to open .vsdx files and edit them, but files had to be saved under different extension after edit. File association is not enabled for Visio files, so you have to open Visio files directly specifying this app. Link: github.com/jgraph/drawio-desktop
    – Dmitry
    Jul 12, 2023 at 10:52
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Try the "Free Visio Viewer (Mac, Windows, Linux)" add-on in Chrome, by LucidChart. I just tried it in Ubuntu 14.04. It seems to work well.

enter image description here

As far as using LibreOffice goes, it's May 2018 and I'm using LibreOffice 6.0.1.1, and unfortunately LibreOffice Draw still won't open .vdx files as far as I can tell. :(

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    LucidChart will upload your Visio file to their server in order to present it in the browser, which for privacy-concerned files is not possible to do. Apr 5, 2019 at 13:56
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    I agree: a local Linux application would be better. I hope someday LibreOffice supports Visio files. Apr 5, 2019 at 14:27
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    Actually LibreOffice does support opening Visio files, however most of the files my company uses are not properly formatted when opened in LO. Apr 8, 2019 at 17:20

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