Working with Shapes
Shapes are the building blocks of your diagrams.
Adding Shapes
- From the library — drag a symbol from the library sidebar on the left onto the canvas
- From the Draw menu — click Draw in the toolbar, pick a shape (Rectangle, Circle, Rounded Rectangle, Round End Rectangle, or one of the Smart Shapes), then drag on the canvas
See Vector Drawing for lines, polygons, paths, and freehand drawing.
Selecting and Moving
Use the Select tool (V) to work with shapes:
- Click a shape to select it
- Cmd+Click to add a shape to the selection or remove it
- Drag a selection rectangle around several items (hold Cmd to add them to the current selection)
- Drag selected shapes to move them
- Arrow keys nudge the selection by 1 point; hold Shift to nudge by 10 points
Resizing
When a shape is selected, resize handles appear at its corners and sides. Drag a handle to resize the shape. For exact values, use the Inspector's Arrange tab → Geometry section.
Rotating
Shapes, vector paths, and images have a rotation handle when selected — drag it to rotate. To enter an exact angle, use Arrange → Geometry → Rotation in the Inspector. With Snap to Grid on, rotation snaps to 15° steps.
The Shape Action Toolbar
Double-click a shape to open its floating action toolbar:
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Edit Text | Edit the shape's text (you can also select the shape and press T) |
| Replace Shape | Swap the symbol for another while keeping connections — see Replace Shapes |
| Shape Style | Background, contour, and shadow options |
| Color Scheme | Recolour the symbol with one of the notation's colour schemes |
| Create Connector | Start a connector from this shape |
More Shape Operations
- Duplicate — Edit → Duplicate (
Cmd+D) - Step and repeat — Edit → Repeat… (
Shift+Cmd+D), see Repeat - Combine — Edit → Combine (Union, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude), see Combine Shapes
- Stacking order — the Arrange Z-Order menu in the toolbar: Bring to Front, Bring Forward, Send Backward, Send to Back
- Align and distribute — the toolbar Align and Distribute menus, see Alignment
- Group — Edit → Group (
Cmd+G), see Groups