Free online STD to DWG converter

What the STD format is

In the mind maps and flowcharts category, STD refers to an OpenOffice.org or StarOffice Draw template. It can contain reusable flowchart shapes, connectors, text, page settings, and other drawing objects for creating new diagrams.

STD files are typically created or opened with OpenOffice Draw or LibreOffice Draw. They are usually encountered in older diagram libraries, office-document archives, and projects that used StarOffice or early OpenOffice versions. Opening an STD file may produce a template rather than a normal editable drawing, so save or instantiate it as a drawing document before exporting.

What the DWG format is

DWG is the native drawing format used by AutoCAD and many CAD applications. It stores geometry, layers, blocks, dimensions, text, layouts, and other structured drawing data.

DWG is appropriate when the result must be edited in AutoCAD, included in a CAD project, exchanged with engineering software, or preserved with layers and scalable vector geometry. It is not a native flowchart-template format, so some STD features—especially page styles, grouped objects, and text layout—may not map exactly to DWG.

How to actually convert STD to DWG

There is generally no reliable native STD-to-DWG export in OpenOffice Draw or LibreOffice Draw. A practical desktop workflow is to export the STD drawing to SVG, convert the SVG to DXF, then save the DXF as DWG.

1. Open the file in LibreOffice Draw with File → Open. If it opens as a template, create a new drawing from the template and copy the required page or objects into it.
2. Save an editable source copy with File → Save As, using .odg if LibreOffice offers that format.
3. Export the diagram as SVG through File → Export, select SVG, and keep the original page dimensions. SVG preserves scalable paths more effectively than PDF for the next conversion step.
4. Open the SVG in Inkscape. Convert visible text to paths with Path → Object to Path only if the receiving CAD system does not have the required fonts; otherwise, retain text so it remains editable.
5. Export or save the drawing as DXF. Select the required DXF version, use millimetres or the source drawing unit, and verify the export scale.
6. Open the DXF in AutoCAD or another DWG-capable CAD application. Check UNITS, layer assignments, text positions, connector geometry, and page scale.
7. Save the verified drawing with File → Save As and choose DWG. Select a DWG version compatible with the application that will receive the file.

You can also try the built-in converter on 101convert.com for free without installing software. Review the resulting file in a DWG-capable application before using it as an editable CAD document.

Quality and compatibility limitations

The conversion is usually not a semantic transfer of a flowchart. It converts visible drawing content into CAD geometry, so template metadata, theme settings, page backgrounds, hyperlinks, and some connector behavior may be lost.

SVG-to-DXF conversion can turn text into outlines, replace unsupported fonts, split curves into line segments, or change arrowheads. If text must remain searchable and editable, preserve text objects during export and install matching fonts in the CAD application.

Measure a known object after opening the DXF. A mismatch normally results from SVG pixel units, document units, or the DXF exporter scale setting. Recheck line weights, layers, grouped shapes, and labels because these commonly require manual cleanup before the DWG is delivered.