Cablefolio vs spreadsheets and Visio: replace the port map spreadsheet

Cablefolio and spreadsheets and Visio, side by side
Topic	Cablefolio	Spreadsheets and Visio
What it is	Network and low-voltage documentation software	A general-purpose spreadsheet, and a general-purpose diagramming application
How a connection is recorded	A link between two device ports, over a cable run with its own ID, traceable end to end	Rows and shapes you design yourself; links between them are kept consistent by hand
Rack elevations and topology	Drawn from the recorded devices and links, and redrawn when they change	Drawn by hand, and redrawn by hand when the network changes
On site	A phone-first app that works offline, with photos, QR lookup, and checklists	Files opened on a laptop or a phone, edited one at a time
Labels and reports	Printed from the same record: QR labels, wire flags, PDF, Word, CSV, and Excel	Prepared separately, from a copy of the data
History	Every field’s history, with who changed it and a revert	File versions, depending on where the file is stored

Cablefolio and spreadsheets and Visio, side by side

Topic

Cablefolio

Spreadsheets and Visio

What it is

Network and low-voltage documentation software

A general-purpose spreadsheet, and a general-purpose diagramming application

How a connection is recorded

A link between two device ports, over a cable run with its own ID, traceable end to end

Rows and shapes you design yourself; links between them are kept consistent by hand

Rack elevations and topology

Drawn from the recorded devices and links, and redrawn when they change

Drawn by hand, and redrawn by hand when the network changes

On site

A phone-first app that works offline, with photos, QR lookup, and checklists

Files opened on a laptop or a phone, edited one at a time

Labels and reports

Printed from the same record: QR labels, wire flags, PDF, Word, CSV, and Excel

Prepared separately, from a copy of the data

History

Every field’s history, with who changed it and a revert

File versions, depending on where the file is stored

Where spreadsheets and Visio are the right tool

A spreadsheet is unbeatable for a quick list, and Visio and draw.io for a one-off drawing nobody needs to keep current. If a site has a dozen devices and changes once a year, they may be all you need.

Where they start to cost time

The trouble starts when the same fact lives in three files: the port map says port 14, the diagram says 12, and the label on the cable says something else. Cablefolio keeps each fact once — a link between two ports over one cable run — and draws the rack, the faceplate, the topology map, the floor plan, the labels, and the report from it. Change it once and every view agrees.

Bringing your files across

Import devices from a spreadsheet, and seed a property’s rooms, racks, cable runs, and links from one, with the columns mapped and previewed before anything is written. Topology views download as draw.io files, which draw.io can save as Visio. See switching to Cablefolio.

Questions and answers

Can I import my existing spreadsheet into Cablefolio?

Yes. Cablefolio imports devices from any spreadsheet and seeds a property’s rooms, racks, cable runs, and links from one, mapping and previewing the columns before anything is written.

Can I still get a Visio diagram out of Cablefolio?

Cablefolio downloads topology views as SVG, PNG, and draw.io files; draw.io can save a draw.io file as Visio VSDX.

Sources

What this page says about spreadsheets and Visio comes from their own public pages, each dated where it is quoted; product names are their owners’ trademarks. If something here is out of date, tell us at the support page and we will correct it.