---
title: "How to install SVG conversion support"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/CVP/69173821/How%20to%20install%20SVG%20conversion%20support"
format: markdown
---
> Macro (aura-html)

<span style="color: #000000">With</span> [release 4.0](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CVP/pages/69173827) <span style="color: #000000">of</span> Visio for Confluence<span style="color: #000000">, Confluence administrators have the ability to enable SVG image conversion support so that the </span><span style="color: #000000">*Visio*</span><span style="color: #000000"> macro can render images on browsers not capable of rendering the Internet Explorer (IE) Visio viewer control. This support requires the installation of a SVG conversion program on the Confluence server. The conversion program is not perfect, but can provide a reasonable image in many cases. The rendering is likely to improve over time as the program is developed further. The conversion program installation on the Confluence server must be updated as updates of the program become available.</span>

> ✅ ### Confluence administrators only!
> ✅ 
> ✅ <span style="color: #000000">The installation must be done on the Confluence server.</span>

## <span style="color: #000000">Limitations</span>

1. <span style="color: #000000">The conversion library may not convert some Visio diagrams or convert them with significant corruption of the image shown.</span>
  - <span style="color: #000000">If you have specific issues, file bug reports -</span> [How to Report Bugs in LibreOffice](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/BugReport)
  - <span style="color: #000000">For instance, the following has been filed based on testing -</span> [https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59266](https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59266)
2. <span style="color: #000000">The conversion routine adds additional processing when rendering Visio diagrams when </span><span style="color: #000000">*best*</span><span style="color: #000000"> or </span><span style="color: #000000">*svg*</span><span style="color: #000000"> options are used in the app configuration. The processing has been observed to be sub-second on sample Visio diagrams and modern CPU, your mileage may vary </span>🙂<span style="color: #000000">. The</span> [Cache macro](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/VwP4Aw) <span style="color: #000000">together with the</span> [attachment support](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CVP/pages/69173827)<span style="color: #000000"> can be used to improve performance and reduce server load if necessary.</span>
3. <span style="color: #000000">Modern browser versions are required to support inline SVG - see</span> [http://caniuse.com/svg-html5](http://caniuse.com/svg-html5)

## <span style="color: #000000">Support</span>

<span style="color: #000000">Users are required to open issues with the 3rd party library directly and upgrade their installation as appropriate to improve the rendering. Related request/issues on the app is not supported unless there are changes to the library requiring parameter changes to the app calls.</span>

## <span style="color: #000000">Installation steps</span>

<span style="color: #000000">The program is OS specific. The primary difference being Windows. The base library is</span> [libvisio](http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libvisio)<span style="color: #000000"> provided by the</span> [LibreOffice](http://www.libreoffice.org/)<span style="color: #000000"> group (GPL licensed). A command line version is required for </span><span style="color: #000000">*Visio for Confluence*</span><span style="color: #000000"> and is available as a free (GPL licensed) program - see </span>[vsd2svg](http://dia-installer.de/vsd2svg/)<span style="color: #000000">.</span>

<span style="color: #000000">Download and install following the OS specific instructions:</span>

> ℹ️ **Windows**
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ [http://sourceforge.net/projects/vsd2svg/files/vsd2svg/](http://sourceforge.net/projects/vsd2svg/files/vsd2svg/) <span style="color: #000000">- </span><span style="color: #000000">*vsd2svg.exe*</span><span style="color: #000000"> and DLLs (includes libvisio)</span>
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Find and open the latest version folder - for example 0.0.3</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Find and download the zip file</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Unzip to get the EXE and DLLs necessary to run</span>
> ℹ️ - <span style="color: #000000">Put these in a directory</span>


> ℹ️ **non-Windows**
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ <span style="color: #000000">These libraries may also have dependencies that need to be installed as well. This depends on what is already available on your installation.</span>
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ <span style="color: #000000">libvisio -</span> [https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libvisio](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/DLP/Libraries/libvisio)
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ <span style="color: #000000">vsd2svg -</span> [http://sourceforge.net/projects/vsd2svg/](http://sourceforge.net/projects/vsd2svg/)

## <span style="color: #000000">After installation steps</span>

1. <span style="color: #000000">Conversion support must be on the path used to start the Confluence server.</span>
  - <span style="color: #000000">First, check to see if the installer set your path already: Open a new command prompt, type </span><span style="color: #000000">*vsd2svg*</span><span style="color: #000000">, and make sure it is found.</span>
  - <span style="color: #000000">If not found, either add the path to the conversion executable to your server PATH environment variable or modify your Confluence startup script (for example: </span><span style="color: #000000">*bin/start-confluence.bat*</span><span style="color: #000000"> or </span><span style="color: #000000">*bin/start-confluence.sh*</span><span style="color: #000000">) to append the path to the conversion executable to the PATH environment variable.</span>
2. <span style="color: #000000">Restart the Confluence server (consider the Optional step instructions before doing the restart).</span>
3. <span style="color: #000000">Go to UPM, find </span>`Visio for Confluence`<span style="color: #000000">, and click the </span><span style="color: #000000">**Configure**</span><span style="color: #000000"> button.</span>
4. <span style="color: #000000">Change the default output to </span><span style="color: #000000">*best*</span><span style="color: #000000"> (recommended) so that all existing </span><span style="color: #000000">*Visio Viewer*</span><span style="color: #000000"> macro usage takes advantage of the support.</span>

## <span style="color: #000000">Optional step</span>

<span style="color: #000000">While not required, this step makes it easier for your users to use SVG images on your site.</span>

- [How to display SVG attachments in Confluence](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/DYDWNw)