OmniGraffle 4.2 beta 1 is now available (including Pro).

Happy Valentine's Day, and much love has been directed at OmniGraffle since the 4.1.2 release last August.

Shape combinations have been meticulously looked over and we've fixed the lion's share of bugs that have resulted in unexpected results, error panels, and a crash or two. There are still a small number of outstanding issues that will be addressed before the final release.

Microsoft Visio XML import and export support has gotten a good deal of attention as well, fixing rendering bugs as well as allowing objects on master canvases and text variables to export properly.

Along with hundreds of bug fixes, we've offered a few new features as well: Basic shapes can now be converted to custom polygonal/bezier shapes and vice versa; Layers can now be merged; Files can be compressed upon saving. Three's also the Document Settings Inspector – A new inspector has been added which shows document creation and change information, allows file compression, and per-document settings for saving the file as a flat file or file package. Currently this inspector resides in the Canvas: inspector group, we are considering breaking it out into its own group; feedback is greatly appreciated.

OmniGraffle 4.2 beta 1 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run.

Please understand that this version is still under development, and due to the large number of changes and fixes in this first beta release, foreign language localizations are pretty broken. The beta 2 release will be the UI freeze, and that release will be the one released to our localization teams for that work to be done. Apologies to our international users for the inconvenience this may cause. As always, OmniGraffle 4.1.2 is still available for download.

Voluminous release notes are up for perusal, please direct your feedback to our support page or by using the Send Feedback feature in your copy of OmniGraffle.

Enjoy the new beta now!