Microsoft adds another string to Office 365’s bow

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Microsoft has announced that Visio Online is now available to commercial customers running Office 365.

The online version of Microsoft’s long-running diagramming app allows users to both share and view their flowcharts, floor plans and so forth, in a browser – although it’s not possible to create content.

What you can do, however, is add comments to diagrams, allowing for discussions on the content being shared.

Last autumn, Visio Online was tested in preview, and Microsoft says the feedback it received regarding the app was ‘fantastic’. Hence the full release now, with VO being accessible by almost every commercial customer using Office 365.

Supported plans

Microsoft clarifies that this means the following subscribers: Office 365 Business, Business Essentials, Business Premium, Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Education, Office 365 Enterprise E1/E3/E5/K1, and Office 365 Government E1/E3/E5/K1. It also includes those on OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online plans 1/2.

The company further noted that it has unleashed JavaScript APIs for Visio Online to allow developers to pull off some fancy tricks.

Microsoft explains: “The APIs enable programmatic access to the embedded Visio Online diagrams in a SharePoint Online page. Developers can use them to interact with Visio diagram elements – pages and shapes – expose diagram data, write custom handlers for mouse events, create visual mark-ups on the diagram canvas and more.”

This move follows last autumn’s introduction of the Access database software to Office 365 business plans.

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