Microsoft is launching new lightweight Visio web app in preview this month

Rabia Noureen

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft announced its plans to launch a new lightweight version of its Visio diagramming tool for Microsoft 365 back in June this year. The new Visio web app was originally planned to be released in July, but the company apparently delayed the rollout of this tool.

In a recent update to the Microsoft 365 Admin center, the Redmond giant indicated that it’s moving forward with this release and expects the new lightweight Visio web app to be available in public preview by the end of this month. The company has also updated the Microsoft 365 roadmap to reflect this change (Message MC274189). Until now, Visio was only available for purchase as a standalone app, but the new web version of the app will be available at no additional cost for all Microsoft 365 commercial license subscribers.

“In this feature update (preview), we are adding Visio in Microsoft 365 commercial plans to your tenant users at no additional cost. Visio in Microsoft 365 comes with a web app that offers core functionalities of Visio and allows users to create, edit, and share professional diagrams and integrates with a variety of Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft Teams for a collaborative diagramming experience,” Microsoft explained in the message on the Microsoft 365 Admin center.

A screenshot of an org chart in Excel created with the Visio Data Visualizer add-in

The lightweight Visio app will be available as a title in the “All Apps” section on Office Online, and users will also be able to access it via Visio for the web. The web app will offer several design templates, and the tool will also enjoy seamless integration with other Microsoft 365 products such as Teams. If you’re interested, you can check out this blog post for more details.