Create a Database Model (also known as Entity Relationship diagram) in Visio

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In Visio, with the Database Model Diagram template, you can create a new model or reverse engineer an existing database into a model.

Newer versions 2010 2007

This article describes how to create a database model and what you can do with the model after you create it.

Note: The Database Model diagram is only available in certain versions of Visio. See Can't find the database modeling features? for more information.

1: Start a database-model diagram

How do you want to begin?

2: Refine the structure of the diagram

After you create a database model diagram, the work of refining the diagram begins. You can add and customize the three main components of a model:

Entities (or tables),
Columns (which describe facts about a table), and
Relationships (the associations between tables). Relationships can be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many.

Select a heading below to open instructions about adding the feature to your model.

Tables

Columns

Relationships

3: Add features for searching and updating data

To make other refinements to your diagram (such as creating indexes, check clauses, and triggers), select a heading below to open instructions about adding doing any of the following:

Create indexes

Create views

Set extended properties for tables and views

Create check clauses

Create stored procedures and user-defined functions

Create triggers

Can't find the database modeling features?

Some editions of Visio lack some or all the database modeling features:

Visio Standard does not include the Database Model Diagram template.
Visio Professional and Premium editions support the reverse engineering features for the Database Model Diagram template (that is, using an existing database to create a model in Visio) but they don't support forward engineering (that is, using a Visio database model to generate SQL code).
The full suite of database modeling features, including both reverse engineering and forward engineering, is in Visio for Enterprise Architects. Visio for Enterprise Architects is included in MSDN Premium Subscription, which is available with Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Team System role-based editions.

To find out which edition of Visio you have, click About Microsoft Office Visio on the Help menu. The name of the edition is in the top line of text in the dialog box.

If you are using Visio Plan 2 and want to learn about how to engineer an existing database into a database model, see Reverse engineer an existing database.