Need 5000 FREE Visio network shapes? Or maybe just a couple of hundred? Well, if you do, you’ve come to the right place!
Today I’ll tell you about a wonderful resource for Visio network shapes called the Visio Cafe. They’ve got rack shapes, network shape, and auxiliary shapes that go along with network diagrams.
At last count, this site offers over 300MB of Visio networking madness, including 192 stencils which contain 4999 Visio network shapes. All of them for free!
I was messing around with some Visio automation code and thought it would be fun to generate a huge HTML table that would add a lot of value to this article., however, that huge list broke this blog post. So I’ll just limit this post to an overview of the manufacturers and product families that Visio Cafe offers.
Visio Cafe Overview
When you arrive at Visio Cafe, you’ll be greeted with an enticing screen full of network equipment manufacturer logos:
click to visit Visio Cafe
Many of the collections offered are “official” collections, which are provided or endorsed by the manufacturers. There are also private collections provided and maintained by individual networking maniacs who are very handy with Visio.
If you have been developing your own collection of network shapes, I’m sure Visio Cafe would be glad to either host your shapes or provide links to where Visio users can download them.
Here’s a quick run-down of the great features of Visio Cafe. The last time I checked was 2009, so the list has likely grown since then:
- 192 stencils with 4999 shapes!
- Shapes are free!
- Official corporate collections
- Unofficial collections from Visio fans
- Shape sets organized by manufacturer or creator
- Update notices regarding state of shape set posted on each set’s page
- Download complete sets of stencils (BIG zip files) or individual stencils (smaller zip files)
- Rack equipment, logical network equipment and other symbols
Visio Cafe Quick Links to Manufacturer Sites
If you’ve stumbled upon this article because you are looking for a specific piece of equipment, this table of links is organized by manufacturer, and will get you to the shape you want faster:
Visio Cafe Humor
When I first wrote this post back in 2009, we were living outside of Vienna, Austria. I couldn’t help but imagine network equipment shapes in a famous Vienna cafe…
Network shapes enjoying a “Verlängerter” and a “kleiner Brauner “at Cafe Central in Vienna
i’m looking for an isometric view of a coaxial cable connector shape with an attaching lid chain – can someone help?
Hi KS,
Any images or photos out there in Search Land that would help us to understand what it looks like?
I don’t see an article, just the title.
I suspect there was supposed to be a link to
http://www.visiocafe.com/
Hi Awfki,
Thanks for commenting. For some reason the monster table is causing problems with the page. I’ve cut it out and am working on getting it going again.
I need to make a diagram of a basic cable run through a room with 60 runs of wire that will be held with ladder racks. It will also have two server racks with 30 runs for each rack and 30 punchdowns each. I cannot find any visio shapes for these components. Can you steer me in the right direction?
I can’t find the download link for the visio shapes? Much other clutter is visible on this website.
Why not have a search box? All I want is a shape that looks like a cylinder (large disk drive icon).
Hi Curly,
Just look for the underlined manufacturers, listed under “Visio Cafe Quick Links to Manufacturer Sites” at the beginning.
The point was to list all of Visio Cafe’s shapes, so that you could use your browser’s search function. The list is incomplete, because the blog software or theme was having trouble with my HUGE table of entries.
Clicking the BIG IMAGE that shows logos of network equipment manufacturers will also take you to http://www.visiocafe.com, where the shapes live.
I can’t seem to download pullig_sun_servers.vss from the site.
The zip file contains no stencil, can anyone help?
Many thanks in advance!
Thanks for the list Chris, I was looking for GBIC module and was faster to find it on your index! 🙂
Thanks for taking the trouble to do this.
Best Wishes
Sean
I have book marked it for later read very very interesting and informative
Hello all, I’m looking for a visio template of a fiber pull outside manhole. No specific brand just one in general please let me know if you can help thanks.
Thanks for all the great stencils.
I am wondering if you know where I can find one for a Cisco 2700 Wireless Location Appliance? I have tried all the usual suspects with no luck.
thanks
Janet
Hi Janet,
Cisco has a web page with tons of Cisco stencils of Visio shapes. Have you looked there:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/visio-stencil-listing.html