OmniGraffle Pro on your Mac — 7.26

OmniGraffle Pro 7.26 runs on Macs with macOS 14 or newer, supporting both Intel and Apple Silicon. That covers the latest MacBooks, iMacs, and Mac minis without extra steps.

What advanced layer tools does Pro add?

Shared layers let you place common elements — like a header or logo — on one layer and reuse it across multiple canvases. Change it once, and it updates everywhere. That saves time on complex diagrams with repeated components.

How does Visio compatibility work?

You can import Visio VSD, VDX documents, VSS stencils, and VST templates. Export as VDX to share with colleagues who stay inside Visio. Photoshop export is also built in for further image editing.

Can it generate diagrams from code?

OmniGraffle Pro can automatically create diagrams from Xcode projects, converting class structures into visual graphs. Lines can be converted into shapes for further manipulation, which helps when you need precise control over every element.

Starting a typical session

I usually begin by creating a new document from the welcome window. OmniGraffle Pro presents a choice of canvas sizes — letter, A4, screen presets — so I pick one that matches the output I need. For a process chart I recently made for my school's curriculum review, I chose a landscape A3 canvas to give the workflow room to breathe.

The sidebar on the left lists every canvas and layer. I rename the first canvas to something I'll remember, like "Curriculum Process," and I add a shared layer at the bottom for the title block. That title block appears on every canvas I create later, which means I don't have to redraw the school logo and date on each page.

From there, I drag shapes from the toolbar onto the canvas. The inspectors on the right let me adjust fill color, stroke thickness, and shadow without hunting through menus. I typically keep the Geometry inspector open because I like to align things precisely — 24 pixels of padding around every shape makes the diagram look cleaner.

Align shapes with a 10‑point snap grid

Before I do real work, I open OmniGraffle's preferences and adjust a few things. Under the General pane, I turn on "Snap to grid" and set the grid spacing to 10 points. That keeps shapes aligned without me having to eyeball it. I also enable guides that appear when a shape's edge lines up with another shape's edge — that feature alone saves me from crooked diagrams.

In the Canvas pane, I set the default canvas size to match what I use most: 1920 by 1080 pixels for wireframes, or A4 for printed handouts. The default measurement units switch to points for screen work or inches for print, depending on the project. I also activate the automatic backup timer, set to every five minutes, because losing a diagram I spent an hour on would ruin my afternoon.

For keyboard shortcuts, OmniGraffle Pro lets me export and share sets with colleagues. I imported a set a colleague from another school shared with me — it reuses the same keys I already know from Pages, so I don't have to learn new muscle memory.

Build an iPhone 14 wireframe from a rough app idea

A task I do regularly is turning a rough app idea into a wireframe that my club students can discuss. Here is how I work through it in OmniGraffle Pro.

I create a new document and choose the iPhone 14 Pro preset from the canvas size list. The canvas already shows the phone's screen bezel, which gives me a realistic boundary to work within. In the sidebar, I add three more canvases and name them "Login," "Dashboard," and "Settings" — each canvas becomes one screen.

On the first canvas I draw a rectangle for the login form, then use the text tool to add fields for username and password. I want those fields to look like real input boxes, so I convert the text into shapes — highlighting each field title, choosing "Convert to Shape" from the menu, and then adjusting the background and border until it resembles a text field. That conversion keeps the text as part of the shape, so resizing the field doesn't mess up the appearance.

After the login screen is done, I switch to the Dashboard canvas. I add a table from the toolbar to quickly lay out a grid of icons and labels. The table tool lets me add rows and columns and then place shape objects inside each cell. I fill the first row with four icon placeholders and label them "Profile," "Messages," "Reports," and "Logout."

On the Settings canvas, I reuse elements from the Dashboard by copying the navigation bar from that canvas and pasting it onto the shared layer. That way, if I later move the navigation bar's position, it moves on every screen at once. I add toggles by drawing small rounded rectangles and adding a green fill to one side — a visual trick that reads as "on" without needing actual interactive behavior.

When all screens are ready, I use the export function to save each canvas as a separate image. I choose PNG at 2x resolution so the club's volunteers can view them on phones without blurriness. If I need to hand it to someone who uses Visio, I export the whole file as VDX — they open it on their end without complaint.

• macOS 14 or newer
• Intel or Apple Silicon