Boston University has an educational Free license for Lucidchart (see the Lucidchart site for full details), a web-based diagramming software. Our connection to Lucidchart is integrated with BU Google Apps; to use it you will need to create a BU Google account if you do not already have one. Once you have one, you can get started. The educational Free license is only available to faculty and students.
Please note that since Lucidchart is a cloud-based service with an external provider, it should not be used for charting sensitive information (e.g. a network architecture on which credit card numbers are processed).
Benefits
Lucidchart allows users to collaborate and work together in real time to easily create flowcharts, organizational charts, website wireframes, UML designs, mind maps, software prototypes, and many other diagram types. Its functionality has been compared to that of (Windows-only) Microsoft Visio, but as a cloud-based package it is available to users of all devices.
Key Features
- See this page on the full feature list of Free EDU accounts
Requirements
- You will need a BU Google or Microsoft Office 365 account.
- It is recommended to use the most recent version of any given browser.
Cost
- Lucidchart offers a Free EDU account (see the Lucidchart site for full details) to BU faculty and students. To access premium features (see the Lucidchart site for details) to upgrade to a EDU Premium account. It is recommendation to upgrade to a EDU Premium account using a BU P-Card.
Help
As with other Google Apps elements (except email), BU IST does not offer tech support for Lucidchart. However, you can get help directly from the Lucidchart company in three ways:
- Lucidchart Support Home Page Help pages on various topics and answers to user questions.
- Submit a Help Ticket or email them at support@lucidchart.com.
- Get started with Lucidchart now.