Latest Features Showcase Speed, Power and Ease of Use

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 18, 2011 — (PRNewswire) — SmartDraw Software, makers of the world's first visual processor™, today announced the release of its new SmartDraw 2012, featuring completely redesigned project management, new information hubs, powerful meeting management, and revamped timelines and org charts.

"We've essentially rebuilt the project chart features from the ground up and tightened their integration with our other automated views, such as mind maps and timelines, to improve performance, ease of use and, most importantly, productivity for your entire organization," said Paul Stannard, CEO of SmartDraw. "Now, SmartDraw allows easy navigation and scales to suit any project with the same intuitive functionality, plus we've added exciting new meetings and planning features that will make project management with SmartDraw even easier for anyone to do."

Enhanced Project Management Performance

SmartDraw's intuitive software allows anyone to easily create professional-quality flow charts, mind maps, project charts, timelines and more. The newest version is specifically designed to improve project coordination, communication and success with a number of new features.  Floating toolbars and the ability to access feature-specific toolbars within the chart with a simple mouse over enhance the user experience.

Redesigned project views give users a more comprehensive vantage point with the ability to drill down to examine fine details. Zoom and scroll within the project timeline or fit the entire project chart to the PC screen and zoom in on the timescale to view as much or as little of the project as desired. Granular zooms make it easy to quickly scroll earlier or later in time to see what recent tasks have been completed and what's coming up. A single click expands the entire chart for a high-level view to scroll through the full timeline. Improved automated timelines performance ensures more natural, fluid behavior when adding and arranging events, which are scaled automatically to prevent overlap of adjacent milestones.

In addition to vastly improved performance for large charts and long-term projects, SmartDraw 2012 also offers enhanced integration with Microsoft Project. Users can easily plan their projects in SmartDraw and then export their data if desired to MS Project with a single click.

More Intuitive Project Planning

SmartDraw 2012's Planning functions include upgraded project views called Assignment and Outline for more efficient brainstorming that allows users to focus on idea creation, capture and innovation instead of manually trying to organize thoughts as they come. Easily move or duplicate commonly repeated tasks, processes and workflows from project charts to a mind map with simple copy and paste. Also duplicate idea sets, including all associated details (e.g. resources, percent complete, etc.) in any project to stay organized automatically. A new docked 'task library' even puts common tasks, like sorting email, prepping for a meeting, etc., within easy reach for increased time savings when planning similar projects.

All New Information Hubs

New visual information hubs organize ideas and information making it easy to access everything you need with just the click of a mouse, including hotlinks to not only other SmartDraw visuals, but also PDFs, Word documents, web sites, etc. Hubs are designed to foster the collection, organization and interaction with information for sharing with team members and bringing new employees up to speed when used in training and on-boarding.

Get More Out of Meetings with Meeting View

An all new view to accompany the planning, project and timeline views, Meeting View allows SmartDraw 2012 users to organize project tasks by person, making it fast and easy to assign action items to team members during project status meetings. With Meeting View, everyone will know what their responsibilities are, what their task status is, and what is left to do, leaving fewer unclosed loops and reducing the need for costly follow up.

In addition to a number of other restyled elements and cosmetic changes to enhance the SmartDraw user experience, an improved Page Tabs menu is always in view at the bottom of the Work Area to quickly change views from one module to the next to gain a different perspective in the same information, hiding layer controls when tabs are used as pages.

"We've pioneered real-time information capture with the user in mind, incorporating feedback and feature requests we've received from some of the thousands of customers who've harnessed the power of visual communication to transform their business," Stannard said. "Whether you're a long-time user or just beginning to discover the possibilities of SmartDraw, this latest edition makes it easier than ever to get things done for more agile, efficient innovation, operation and improved bottom line results for organizations of any size."

SmartDraw Platinum Protection customers will be automatically upgraded with the latest enhancements. To purchase the SmartDraw 2012 upgrade and to learn more, please visit www.smartdraw.com/product/upgrade.

To get started with SmartDraw, you can download a free trial at www.smartdraw.com/downloads/.

About SmartDraw Software

SmartDraw Software, LLC helps businesses increase their bottom line by improving communication, refining operations, completing projects on time, and successfully implementing their plans through the everyday use of visual communication. Publisher of SmartDraw, the world's first visual processor™, SmartDraw Software enables business professionals to easily and automatically create more than 70 types of common business visuals, including flowcharts, project charts, mind maps, org charts, timelines and more. SmartDraw lets anyone achieve professional-quality results in just minutes. SmartDraw is used by more than half of the Fortune 500, as well as thousands of law firms, police departments, health systems and private enterprises of all sizes. SmartDraw Software, LLC is privately-held, with headquarters in San Diego, California. For more information or to download a free trial of SmartDraw, please visit www.SmartDraw.com.

SOURCE SmartDraw Software, LLC