What needs improvement with Lucidchart?

Lucidchart could have more features to ease down the architecture creation. Perhaps some features could automate the design based on a certain use case and help us design the document and architecture automatically. User experience could be improved. It could be more accessible for initial users who are starting with Lucidchart. A better and easier interface would help new users get started. Additionally, integrations could be improved by providing more features.

Regarding improvements for Lucidchart, I feel that it works overall. The primary area that could be improved is the learning curve. I think it still needs some additional introduction, such as introductory videos or training for new users, as this platform can be overwhelming for those coming from a non-tech background. More advanced training or introductions could really help newcomers. Aside from that, everything is working, and I do not have any problems.

I wish Lucidchart would add dark mode to improve the user experience.

One way Lucidchart can be improved is by adding more toolkits like the AWS charts. Icons would be something we could look for because it is not just AWS; other cloud providers are also using the same.

The system is a bit clumsy when it comes to stylizing to match corporate imaging styles. In real estate, we need everything to have the same look and feel as our materials. Beyond dropping a logo in, it's not particularly comfortable working with our corporate font set.

I'm not a super user, and there might be a way of doing it that I haven't explored, but I was looking for some specific icons that are just standard icons, and I found the icon library to be very focused on architecture icons. It didn't have as many standard or generic icons. Another thing that somewhat irritated me is the fact that there is a paste function in the menu, but when you right-click and select paste, it tells you that you can't use paste. You must press Command-V or Apple-V to paste. They give you a menu option to paste, but every time you use that, they say, "We don't accept it." On top of that, normally, you'd have an option for paste or paste values, but when you use the paste function, you don't have that capability. So, to copy text from one place, I have to use Command-V to paste it, but if I don't like the format, I've got to go back and do copy style and then paste style on top of that. It is a small detail, but when you're doing diagrams, it is annoying that they don't support paste values. It is a small irk. I'm not penalizing it, and I still think it is a five-star product. In terms of other bigger things, I don't really have any comments or criticism so far.

The main improvement I would like to see is for them to improve the help section on the flow charts or on the formatting.

The improvement we would like has to do with what happens either in a license not being renewed, or if you have an end-of-life scenario where the plugin was used and you're not going to support it, or the customer is going to stop using it. What happens with the data on the diagrams that was there previously? I feel like there should be something in the way that plugins are managed that if other customers have a third-party tool, if there's a cached version of an image or something it should make sure that the content is never lost. Once you've used that you shouldn't have to be bound forever to maintaining that relationship or have that problem that I have where the plugin was a subset, they did something else and now I've lost years' worth of work. At a bare minimum, there should be some kind of fixed backup image on my server with the use of the plugin that would have been the better thing to do from the customer's perspective. I don't know if that makes sense, because this way it goes away, they don't want to support it. They want to change something. What happens to years of my work? And whatever else that I have. At a bare minimum, they should let me retain a PNG file or something of the diagram that I had. I would even have something to reference if I had to recreate it.

There were some things I wish were a little bit more user-friendly. For instance, when you're putting all the stuff onto a document or PDF, there's a set limit of width and height. It would have been very nice in certain situations to be able to drag people on the far edges and move them back up so that everything fits nicely onto the page. Lucidchart seemed to have a preset distance left to right and up and down from each box and I couldn't adjust that. It made it very difficult when I was getting to the end and I had 30 people on one document and then I had to put our logo there and our core values because it was going out company-wide and I couldn't move some people around to fit onto a page. Lucidchart was just going to allow it to be off the page. I spent an hour and a half trying to drag things around, trying to adjust things, move things and combine things in order to get everything to fit on one page. It does have endless scroll but I have to be able to print this thing off onto one sheet of paper. It wasn't going to allow it to fit. I couldn't fit it to one page with everything fitting nicely because all the distances between boxes were predetermined. We need things to be printed out and pasted across the walls of our company. We're able to go beyond the borders on the digital side of it and it would be nice to have a feature that you could click just one button, like fit to page or something like that, and it would adjust everything to fit onto one PDF page. A feature like this would be helpful because I had to go to each individual box and adjust the height and width of every box. And I had to combine some roles into one role in order to get everything to fit. If you looked at our chart, it's very wide because we didn't want people to think that this was necessarily a hierarchy chart. We wanted them to see that it's jobs across the board. The sales department would have six jobs going from left to right, not necessarily up and down. And so our chart became very wide and that's where I ran into issues. I couldn't drag things into open spots, which would make sense to our company because it seemed it was such a rigid structure that it wouldn't allow me to adjust or customize the space between boxes. It's a hierarchy, like an organizational chart. There are the people at the top and then the leadership team and the department heads. Then each department head has their own department and you have to have what each job is within that department. Some of the things that were very frustrating for me were that I couldn't adjust the distance between each box. If I had the department head above and then I created another role, it seemed like Lucidchart predetermined the distance. I couldn't shrink, extend, or drag without moving the entire thing all over the place.

In terms of improvement, there can be more templates. There are good templates but there could still be more. The ones they have are pretty general. It would be good to have templates for real business needs. It would be a lot easier if they had use cases that people could relate to. There are templates, but they could provide examples of real use cases.

We know that you don't need to have a Lucidchart account or license in order to view a sheet if you're just a viewer. However, I found frustrating when non-license holders created their accounts, which should only consist of creating a username and password, the setup process lead them to believe that they needed to give their credit card number to proceed. I have at least two colleagues who did put in their credit card information and then they forget to cancel the subscription, and they ended up getting charged for a license that they don't use. To me, the confusing set up for non-license holders is a barrier to entry. If you want new people to see this tool, the process shouldn't be that confusing to view a sheet for non-users. But as a user myself, it truly is perfect. For non-users, this is a pain point.

We're still getting comfortable with it and we want to make sure that we see all the different features that it has to offer. This might already be a feature, but I remember sometimes when we're just all viewing, if you accidentally click, then there's an arrow that pops up, and you have to go back and delete it. A lot of times there are accidental arrows being drawn when really we're just trying to present to each other. That's not even that big of a problem, but definitely, something that I thought of.

There are not a lot of learning resources that Lucidchart shares with the user. As such, users are really at the mercy of their colleagues and need to have them explain how to use the product. Otherwise, they have to learn on their own time just by trial and error. Lucid should create some proper documentation and video tutorials to demonstrate the capabilities of the product to new users. It should explain everything that it offers and everything that it can be used for.

When you start the software, it requests what type of diagram you would like. In one instance, I chose UML because I needed it for an assignment. The UML diagram that it gave me initially was a huge flow with a bunch of UML tables, and I wasn't going to need that many. If it was a more simple linkage between the tables then it would be easier to finish projects, instead of having to select unnecessary tables and delete them.

When I download a flowchart as a PDF file, it breaks it up. I would like to see the continuous display of flow charts, even if they are larger than one page. What happens is that when my layout is four to five pages long, it looks like it is cut from one page to the next. Having no space would make my design look better. After I started my subscription, I was billed and payment was automatically deducted two times. Because I was not using the product regularly, I did not plan on continuing my subscription so I raised a ticket with them regarding the cancellation. Ideally, there should be a reminder before there is a payment taken for renewal. The software should provide additional information about the shapes that are available. For example, if I use a round shape, then the software should suggest or point out that it is normally used to represent a database. This would help new users to draw layouts that follow the standard. Explaining the purpose of each shape will make it easier, overall.

I think that the trial period should be longer than seven days. When companies offer a free trial period, they are trying to get the customer hooked on the product. I don't think that seven days are enough for the customers to feel that it should be a recurring payment plan for that product. Having a trial period of 14 days would be better because it is enough time for the customer to better understand the product and the payment plan. Also, after the free trial expires, there should be more options available that people can still use for free. This way, once the trial expires, there is still enough to learn the product, use it, and then know enough to justify the subscription later. When my colleague initially tried to edit the file that I shared with him, he had some trouble. This is something that should be improved. I think that the advertising for Lucid could be improved because I really had to do a lot of deep-dive research to find them. Their search engine optimization isn't bad because they appear on the first, second, or perhaps the third page of a Google search. However, I did not know anything about them. If you compare this to software like Slack, it has become well known. Ideally, Lucid would be out advertising their products more so that customers don't have to search very hard to find them. When I first set it up, I couldn't see a quick tutorial, like a one-minute video, that explains what different tools are available in the product. Something like a popup below your screen to explain the different tools, or how to use Lucid effectively, would be very helpful.

Truly the only improvement I can think of is having the ability to export it to a PowerPoint file or slide. That would be nice to have. There are other workarounds for that, but just to be able to have that feature would be good for us. I think you can do it with the integration but I haven't taken advantage of it yet. They should continue to bring in more shapes. For example, I saw something cool the other day that was a timeline and in between each step, there was a circle. I thought that that was very clean and that's something that I could see myself using. Lucidchart could come up with more visualizations. I'm not a designer so I would like to have more visuals. That would make my job easier because it would make my job much more professional looking but without having to be a designer myself.

I would like an on-premises version of the software that I can just download and use. I think that it's easier that way.

It would be helpful if there were different options available for organizing the folders, such as having a high-level display with pictures.

It would be nice to be able to import not just contacts from Salesforce but also leads. In the beginning, when I was still learning the ropes and my way around it, I couldn't find such an option. There might be an option, but I just don't know about it.

Wireframing can be improved. For mock-ups and wireframing, only 10% of what is required is there. If they can develop this feature, it would be much better because it will then provide everything. Currently, we can design network diagrams, processes, etc., but we should also be able to do wireframing. I design the process flow, and after the developer starts the process, I also have to design the UI. At present, I'm using another solution for wireframing or UI, but even in that, most of the icons are missing, so I have to get the icons from the internet. If Lucidchart can have the wireframing options into it, it will be a major success and helpful for us. Lucidchart already has the concept, but it does not have many options. You can select only limited options even if you have a premium subscription.

It can have more colors or graphics. Currently, it is a little boring. It can have a little bit more fun factor.

I would really like to be able to set default appearance settings for new documents because I have a set of appearance settings that I always use. I end up setting that manually every time. There may be a way to do that, and maybe I am not able to find it. This is my only major point of feedback for improvement. There are other little nitpicky things, such as being able to lock layers without them looking like a big red line around them would be nice, but every graphic design software does that, so I understand why they have that. All my concerns are nitpicks. They're not big.

One area for improvement is in the fact that I had to create two sheets. I had to create a process flow diagram, and I had to create a timeline. I wasn't able to do that in one sheet. If they could add that kind of feature, where you could input a timeline and different types of templates into one worksheet, that would be really useful. I had to include two and then cut and paste, and that was an extra step for me.

In terms of improvement, they should make it very clear, whether it's a single A4 page or two A4 pages, it should be mapped out. Either I don't know how to use it, or it's not there, but having to stick to margins so I can see what's going to be on different pages when I print it or move it to a PDF has been my only challenge so far. In the next release, I would like to have good roles and responsibilities-type diagrams, like a table that's as a template. Because they have really good templates, but nothing for something like that.

The layering is something that can be improved because sometimes, it is confusing for me when I'm trying to get to the layer that I want to edit. When using the interface to maneuver about the axis, I struggle sometimes because I want to move only one line, as opposed to the entire sheet that I've just created.

I wish there were a lot more automations. For instance, if I'm using a project management software to list out all my WBS, I wish Lucidchart had the functionality where it would take all the numbering and generate a tree diagram. Something like that would help so much, but right now it's still a manual task, both in the project management software I use and in Lucidchart. I wish the project management software could do that. If it could do that, I honestly don't know if I would still use Lucidchart. But if Lucidchart could do that, it would definitely add a lot of value. In project management, or any kind of planning, it's one or the other. We either start with the diagram and then they make it into a grid, and then ultimately into a Gantt chart; or we make it into a grid and Gantt chart, then we make the diagram. If both are required for stakeholders and participants to understand things, something has to be automated. Either the project management software could take my grid with all of the WBS numbers and provide functionality to quickly make it into a diagram or matrix. Or Lucidchart could understand those WBS numbers and simply make it into a chart or a matrix. Whoever does it fastest will win. But ultimately I could see how project management software companies will make this functionality available. Also, Lucid doesn't do enough knowledge-sharing on how we could use Lucidchart. Other companies send out so many emails saying things like, "Did you know you could do this? Did you know you can do that? Did you know that we can integrate with this software?" Lucid doesn't do enough of that. I think that would be super-helpful. We have a subscription for certain projects and then we will cancel the subscription and start the subscription again for another project. The reason is that we don't know what Lucidchart can do for us. So we just use it for a project and, when the project closes, we stop the subscription. We've done that many times. It would help to know what other usages there are and how other companies are using Lucidchart to integrate with things like Salesforce. I didn't know that you could use Salesforce and Lucidchart together. I'm curious to know how people are using it. I want to know how they are using Lucidchart for ERP. How are they using it for CRM? How are they using it for project management software? How are they using it for operational work? How are they using it for Scrum? How are they using it for Waterfall? It would be nice if they could tell their existing customers so that we could become advocates.

The collaboration tools are fine, but the ability to share sometimes becomes difficult, specifically around permissions. It says somebody can edit and view, but they can't necessarily make all the changes. That can be confusing for some of the other users. The speed needs improvement. The reloading time sometimes is quite significant, especially if the computer that you are running it on is kind of bogged down with a lot of windows, running other tools. It can be a bit challenging. The interface could use improvement. When you try to select or unselect items, sometimes it gets very glitchy. It is not clear what you are trying to do. There is a lot more functionality that I am finding that we haven't even scratched the surface of yet. Part of the challenge is it has more power than we know about, and there is not really great support in terms of learning the tool at that level, other than maybe watching YouTube videos, etc. That is how we're learning it right now. I would like to see a grid that outlines functionality. Sometimes, you don't know what you don't know. So, if there is a grid that identifies all the features and functions, then you can drill down into video explanations of each one of those. That would be the optimal thing for us. We could then go in and explore, and say, "Okay, this is a function that we definitely could use. Here is a video that explains how to do it."

A feature that I would love to see on Lucidchart is the ability to collapse information and expand it out. If someone's looking for a reference to what I'm talking about, MindManager is an example of how you can collapse data down. The best part of that solution is I can have very large maps, but simplify it visually for people. Then, if we talk about it during a meeting, I can expand it out with a lot more data that can be provided. Whereas, with Lucidchart, I need to have a big canvas. Oftentimes, it gets really large and it's kind of overwhelming. If I'm in a presentation that I'm sharing, such as phased releases of a product line, it can be overwhelming if I have 100 pictures on there. There is too much going on, as far as comprehending it. It would be nice to have more features that help me visually present information. Since I use it as a canvas, my use case for it is probably very specific. I use it as a way to present information to people visually on a large mind map. So, it would be nice to be able to have more graphical things to clean it up, like a header, banners, or something to help draw attention to certain areas. I would also like more infographic-like features, because I am kind of limited to float chart shapes. This makes the solution a little cumbersome. If I have a presentation on a new product line to my board. I wouldn't want to use Lucidchart because it still looks like a real rudimentary flow chart. Whereas, if it gave me a bit more control over the visuals, I would be able to throw a bunch of information in it, rough it in, go back and clean it up visually, and then make everything pop out now that the flow has been laid out. That would be really nice to have. That has always been the downfall for me: It still lacks that visual. Usability is really high, but visually, it is still lacking.

Sometimes, I have created charts with a lot of layers, which locks down parts of the chart and hides parts of the chart to edit it. If they have a better way to deal with specific layers when it gets complex, then that would be helpful. I would like to see something like an illustrator program, where they have a pallet of these layers that I want and don't want as well as being able to see each layer individually. That is the one thing that could be helpful.

When you want to add text to a connector arrow, I have not figured out how to position the text vertically. It always wants the text to stay horizontal. This is frustrating when I would like the text to stay in-line with a connector arrow, or otherwise. Also, printing hard copies of PDF files that I have saved from Lucidchart has always been a problem. Although I don't print copies very often, every once in a while I need to do that for a meeting. The hard copies always come out missing colors and components of the chart I have created. I'm not sure if this is an issue with my printer, Adobe Acrobat DC, or otherwise.

I don't know if I will be able to add some animations if I want to. I believe the problem may be the program's process flows but if I want to transfer it into a PPP or any other document, I can only do image transfer. So if I created a flow chart, I should be able to copy it as it is, do the presentation and if I want to do some minor changes, I can do it in the presentation. But at this stage, I can only copy an image.