Technipatch and Microsoft Visio
Visio is a general-purpose diagramming tool from Microsoft, on Windows and in the browser. Technipatch draws one thing, an audiovisual system, and generates the cable list, the patch sheet, the equipment list and the title-blocked PDF from it.
What each tool is for
Many AV companies draw their signal flows in Visio: stencils of boxes, connectors between them, a shape data field for the cable number. The drawing is whatever you make it, which is its strength and its cost: nothing in Visio knows that a line between two boxes is a Dante link, so nothing checks it or counts it.
Side by side
| Criterion | Technipatch | Microsoft Visio |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AV system diagram editor for live production and events | General-purpose diagramming, by Microsoft |
| Where it runs | Browser, nothing to install; a field viewer installs on a phone | Windows desktop and browser |
| What you need to start | Nothing: drawing, checking, exporting and sharing need no account | A Microsoft account and a Visio or Microsoft 365 plan |
| A line is a cable, with direction, signal and connector | Yes: direction, signal type and connector on every socket | No: a connector is a line; data can be typed on it by hand |
| Cable list generated from the drawing | Yes, computed from the drawing, CSV and PDF pages | Not out of the box; shape reports can be built from shape data |
| Patch sheet per device | Yes, one sheet per device, plus a DMX patch | No |
| Equipment list | Yes: devices, cables to prepare, adapters | Not out of the box; shape reports |
| Signal and connector compatibility checked when you connect | Yes, the moment you connect, with the reason and what to do | No |
| Device library | 557 entries reviewed against manufacturer documentation, plus your own devices | Stencils of shapes, without sockets |
| Sharing | A link, read-only, no account at the far end; field viewer offline | Through Microsoft 365 sharing |
| Import of an equipment list | Yes: quantity, brand, model and description columns | Data can be linked from Excel to shapes |
| Export formats | PDF from A5 to A0, SVG, PNG, one CSV per document, project file | PDF, SVG, PNG, VSDX |
| Price | Free to draw and export; Pro at €19 a month for server projects and a logo in the title block | Paid plan; included in some Microsoft 365 plans |
The Microsoft Visio column describes the product as its publisher presents it, at the date of this page; check its documentation for the current state. A cell marked “not verified by us” is one we could not confirm.
What Technipatch does that a drawing tool does not
A line is a cable. It has a direction, a signal type and a connector at each end, read from the device’s library entry, and the engine refuses a link that cannot work, with the reason and what to do: Dante into an analogue input, a connector that does not mate, a second source on one input.
The cable list, the patch sheet per device and the equipment list are computed from the drawing, in a fixed order whatever the order you drew in, and exported as CSV and as pages of the PDF. There is no second document to keep in step.
Sharing is a link that opens read-only on a phone without an account, and installs as a field viewer that works without network. Drawing, checking, exporting and sharing cost nothing and ask for no account.
When Microsoft Visio is the better choice
When the diagram is one page among many of a Microsoft 365 document set, when the drawing has nothing to do with cables, or when a team already keeps its templates and stencils in Visio and produces the cable list elsewhere.
Compared with other tools
The canvas is already open
Drop five devices, pull cables between their ports: the cable list, the patch sheet and the equipment list fill themselves in while you draw. No account, no card.