Frequently Asked Questions
General and Products
How do I?
Payments and Accounts
Collaboration
Security
Technical Troubleshooting
General and Products
What is Gliffy?
Gliffy is an online application that makes it easy for you to create, share, and collaborate with diagrams. It looks and feels like a desktop application, but it works through your web browser, so there is nothing to install or maintain.
What is a web-based service?
A web-based service provides software over the Internet. You get the performance and functionality of desktop software without having to install or maintain anything. You can access the latest version of the software every time you launch Gliffy in your web browser. We also store and back up your documents securely on our servers, so you don't have to.
What can I do with Gliffy?
Create an endless variety of professional-looking diagrams, drawings, process flows, interfaces, and designs. Check out these examples to stir your creativity.
How much does Gliffy cost?
Gliffy offers Free Basic Accounts and Premium Accounts that deliver
full features and collaboration capabilities at a fraction of the cost
of traditional products. View the Product Comparison page for more about
the differnt Gliffy account types.
What's the difference between Basic and Secure Login?
Secure Login means everything you do while using Gliffy is encrypted using the latest in SSL technology. While all your data will be secure when using Secure Login, you should know that one side effect of encyption is that data transfers are generally slower.
Do you offer a Gliffy API?
Our API is now in beta for the highly initiated. contact us for more information.
What do I need to run Gliffy?
You need a web browser with Macromedia Flash 7 or better. According to Macromedia, 99% of U.S. web browsers are configured with Flash 7, so you probably already have what you need.
I love your icons. Where can I get them?
Many of our icons were designed in house. Some were free, courtesy of FamFamFam.
What is a Gliffy Basic Account?
See the Product Comparison.
What is a Gliffy Premium Account?
See the Product Comparison to see the value of Gliffy Online Premium.
What are public/private documents?
A public document is a read-only version of the diagram that anyone on the Internet can access.
A private document can only be viewed through the Gliffy Online editor by the document owner and those you specifically invite.
If you need to protect sensitive information, you need to create private documents. Gliffy Basic Accounts can only produce public documents. Purchase a Premium Account if you need private documents.
Who can see my documents?
| Gliffy Online Basic | Gliffy Online Premium | |
| When you Create a document | Your document will be a public document. | Documents are set to be private unless you choose to make them public. |
| When you Publish a document | Your document will be a public document. | Once you publish your document, it is public. If you want to share it without making it public, either 1) Save it as a .JPG and embed it in a document. or 2) Collaborate instead of publish. Please note, collaborating enables viewers to edit the document as well as view it. |
| When you Collaborate on a document | Your document is public, but only those you invite can edit the document through the Gliffy Online editor. | Only those you choose to collaborate with can see and edit the document through the Gliffy Online editor. However, they can forward or publish your document to others. |
How do I ?
...import Gliffy drawings into illustration programs like Microsoft Visio or Adobe Illustrator?
From the Gliffy menu, Click File > Export as .SVG. After you save the file, you can open it with any illustration program that supports SVG, an open standard.
...import Gliffy drawings into word, presentation, or spreadsheet documents?
From the Gliffy menu, Click Flie > Export as JPEG or Export as PNG. Save the file to your hard drive.
...remove collaborators?
Open the document from which you'd like to remove a collaborator. From the Properties menu in the right column, click Collaborate Diagram. Click the minus sign next to the individual's name that you'd like to remove.
...publish a document?
Open the document you want to share. Click Share on the upper left portion of the screen. Select Publish info.
...print documents in "Landscape", i.e. with the long-side of the paper horizontal?
1. In Gliffy Online, from the File menu, select Print Setup. Click landscape. Click OK.
2. When you click Print in Gliffy, a dialog box will appear. Select Printer Preferences and set your printer to "landscape".
...make sure my computer is set up for optimal performance with Gliffy?
Install the latest version of Flash from Macromedia, currently Flash Player 9. Mac users should consider using Safari which generally performs better with Gliffy than Firefox does.
Payments and Accounts
How do I purchase or upgrade to a Gliffy Premium Account?
Login to your Gliffy account and click on any Upgrade Now or Why Upgrade buttons located in Gliffy. These will take you to our upgrade page where you can choose to signup for a paid premium account.
How do I add additional users to my accounts?
Log into your account, and click 'Manage Account' where you will be able to add extra users. If you started with us before November of 2008, it's possible that you have a legacy 'Basic' account which only allowed for 1 user. If this is the case, click any upgrade banner and you'll have the option of upgrading to a Free 30 day Premium Account. You'll now get to add up to 1000 users. If you let the trial expire, your account will revert to 'Basic' status, but you'll still get to keep all your new users as all new Basic Accounts now support unlimited users.
What if I want to cancel my Premium subscription?
Please contact us if you'd like to cancel your subscription. You will not be billed further for our service.
Multi-user Accounts: Only an account administrator can cancel an account. Please contact us with your account name and number when cancelling. This is located from the Manage Account dialog.
What is your refund policy?
If you are not happy with our service for any reason, we will be happy to refund 100% of your current subscription period and cancel your account.
How do I change my personal account information, like my password?
Login to Gliffy. On the right side of the top navigation bar, click Profile. In the dialog box that opens, you can change your account information, including your email address, password, and whether or not you want to opt-in to promotional emails.
How do I upgrade the user pack license for my multi-user account?
If you are an administrator of the account, login to Gliffy Online as the administrator. Once logged in, click on the Manage Account button from the document manager. When the Manage Account dialog appears, click the Upgrade link next to your total user count. This will take you to the purchase upgrade page where you can select the plan you would like to upgrade to. You will then continue to be billed based on the amount of the upgraded plan.
How do I change the credit card or billing information for my Premium account?
Please contact us if you need to update your credit card or billing information. We will get back to you shortly to get your new account information.
We have signed up for a free trial multi-user account that is now expired. Have we lost all of the information related to our account?
No, the account information will not be lost. Once you pay for a subscription, all information that the account had during the trial (diagrams, users, etc.) will be accessable.
Where can I find out more information about multi-user accounts?
Click here
Are payments I make on your site secure?
Yes. We do not store credit card information, but our payment gateway does to allow for ease of payment to the customer. We also send all credit card information over a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
Collaboration
What is Collaboration?
When you collaborate with Gliffy, you invite others to view and edit your document. They can save their revisions to your document.
What if I don't like a collaborator's revisions?
Gliffy stores a copy of your file every time it is saved. You can instantly see previous versions to track changes or revert to an earlier version.
Can my collaborators share my document with others?
Yes, anyone you invite to collaborate can share your document with others.
Can I collaborate with anyone?
Yes, as long as the user has an email address, web browser, and internet connection. When you invite them to collaborate, they will automatically receive an email notifying them that you have invited them. The email will include
1) a link that will create a free Basic Account for them and
2) a temporary password they can use to login and see the diagram.
How will my collaborators know to look at Gliffy online?
When you invite them to collaborate, they will automatically receive an email notifying them that you have invited them. The email will include
1) a link that will create a free Basic Account for them and
2) a temporary password they can use to login and see the diagram.
Can I remove collaborators?
Yes, you can remove collaborators at any time. To remove collaborators: Open the document from which you’d like to remove a collaborator. From the Properties menu in the right column, click Collaborate Diagram. Click the minus sign next to the individual’s name that you’d like to remove.
Can I share in a way that prevents others from editing my document?
Yes, you can share without allowing viewers to edit the file. You can publish the document publicly using the Share>Publish feature. Or, you can save the document as a .PNG or .JPG and import it into a private document.
Can I collaborate documents from my multi-user account to individuals outside of the account?
Yes, you can.
Security
Are my documents secure?
Gliffy stores your documents on secure servers that are backed up, so your data will not be lost. However, Gliffy Basic users can only have public documents. Gliffy Premium users can have public or private documents.
Is it safe for me to make my document public?
When you publish a public document, anyone on the Internet can see the information. If you need to protect sensitive information, you should create private documents with a Gliffy Premium Account.
Technical Troubleshooting
I'm using Safari and I can't enter my username/password at the login screen.
A bug in Safari or Flash prevents the keyboard input from working sometimes. Restart Safari. This usually corrects the problem.
I see a warning message saying, "A script in this movie is causing Macromedia FlashPlayer to run slowly. Do you want to abort the script?"
Click No. Gliffy should continue to operate normally. If the warning continues to appear during the same operation, please contact our support team.
I am using Internet Explorer, and I am unable to export my diagram as a JPEG, PNG, or SVG.
You will need to make sure your pop-up blocker is turned off, or allow pop-ups for Gliffy.com.