The Visio Viewer 2003 allows anyone to view Visio drawings and diagrams (created with Visio 5, 2000, 2002, or 2003) inside their Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later Web browser. Visio users can freely distribute Visio drawings and diagrams to team members, partners, customers, or others, even if the recipients do not have Visio installed on their computers. Internet Explorer also allows for printing, although this is limited to the portion of the drawing currently displayed.

The Visio Viewer 2003 enables users to discover the advantages of using Visio drawings, charts, and illustrations in a Web-based environment. It is particularly useful for teams that need to collaborate from different locations.

Viewing Visio drawings is as simple as double-clicking the drawing (files with the .VSD, .VSS, .VST, .VDX, .VSX, or .VTX extension) in Windows File Explorer. Internet Explorer will open, and the Visio Viewer will render the drawing in the browser window. You can then pan and zoom in the drawing window by using toolbar buttons, keyboard shortcuts, or menu items in the right-click menu. Also, you can see properties on any shape by opening the Properties and Settings dialog box and then selecting a shape. Some rendering and display settings are available in the Display Settings tab of the Properties and Settings dialog box. Additionally, drawing-layer visibility and colors can be set in the Layer Settings tab, and annotation visibility and colors can be set in the Markup Settings tab.