How to: Database Model in Visio 2013

Reverse Engineering in Visio 2013 has been removed, according to the Visio blog: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2012/10/17/uml-and-database-diagrams-in-the-new-visio/

Deprecations

The new software and database diagramming capabilities in Visio represent a departure from the capabilities of previous versions. We place a strong emphasis on diagramming and sharing instead of rigorous modeling. Specifically, there is no ability to generate a diagram from existing code or a database definition. Also - just like in recent releases - there is no ability to go from diagram to code or database. Existing UML and Database diagrams can be opened in the new Visio, but they are effectively frozen for editing since the previous feature set has been removed. The behavior of existing diagrams is equivalent to the experience you get today when opening them in Visio 2010 Standard.

There are alternatives:

  • Use Visio 2010 instead. Note: If linking to SQL Server 2012, follow this suggestion.
  • Visual Studio using the Entity Framework1: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/jj206878