🗃️ Templates
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🗃️ Shapes
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📄️ Align connectors easily with a waypoint shape
In any diagram with branches - trees and org charts, Ishikawa diagrams, wiring diagrams, and even some flow charts - you will have multiple overlapping connectors attached to the parent shape. Using a waypoint shape between connectors will prevent manual alignment frustration when you move the parent or child shapes.
📄️ Align and space shapes for neater diagrams in draw.io
Diagrams look neater and are easier to read when the shapes are aligned and evenly spaced. It can be time consuming to line everything up using the grid by hand - there is an easier way. In the Arrange tab of the format panel, the Align and Distribute tools let you align and space multiple shapes quickly and easily.
📄️ Automatic layout shapes for flow charts, tree diagrams and mind maps
The automatic layout shapes in the Advanced shape library in draw.io organise your flow charts, tree diagrams, org charts, and mind maps for you as you add and connect more shapes. The automated layout ensures that all shapes in your diagram are spaced evenly, either in a horizontal or vertical format, and will automatically increase or decrease the container shape's size to match the contents.
📄️ Use AWS icons to create a free Amazon architecture diagram
Draw your Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure with draw.io for free. You don't need to register or sign-up, and you can store your diagrams in your favourite cloud storage platforms, like Google Drive, One Drive, and Dropbox.
📄️ BPMN 2.0 shapes for detailed process flows and choreography models
Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a standardised diagramming system used to visualise business processes. BPMN diagrams are a form of flowchart, similar to UML activity diagrams. While it is typically used by business analysts and managers, its simple and understandable set of shapes and flows makes it a good choice to document processes for stakeholders in any department.
📄️ Change connector arrows in draw.io
There are many different styles of connectors - the lines that join shapes in a diagram. Some are plain, some have arrows, and some have particular symbols to show a type of connection. Change the connector arrows and their styles in the Style tab of the format panel.
📄️ Change the drawing canvas grid
The drawing canvas in draw.io has a number of features that help you align and space shapes and connectors in your diagram. By default, it also indicates how your diagram will appear when printed across one or more pages, dependent on page size and orientation.
📄️ Switch between editor themes and light/dark modes
With draw.io, you can switch editor themes via the menu - Classic, Simple, Minimal, Sketch (whiteboard) and Atlas. There are also editor modes to switch between dark and light modes.
📄️ Can you draw graphs and charts in draw.io?
draw.io is not a spreadsheet program - there are no figures from which to draw charts and graphs automatically. But there are plenty of useful shapes in draw.io, so you can easily create attractive charts and graphs for presentations and infographics.
📄️ Collaborative editing in draw.io for Confluence Cloud
Confluence allows you to collaboratively edit the content of its pages: You and other Confluence users will see each others' changes in real-time as you edit the page.
📄️ Complex diagramming on an online whiteboard
Many people prefer a minimal interface for diagramming, as there are fewer distractions. While online whiteboard applications often have a limited set of available tools, draw.io lets you use its advanced features in a less cluttered diagram editor theme.
📄️ Collaborate in real time using draw.io
When collaborating in real time using draw.io, you now share your mouse cursor. Seeing your team members' cursors makes it easier to ask about or explain something in a diagram or on a quick whiteboard sketch as you work on it together.
📄️ Configure the draw.io app in Atlassian Confluence Cloud
The draw.io app in Confluence allows administrators to configure a wide range of options, from default palettes and shape/connector styles for consistency across teams, to custom libraries and custom templates.
📄️ Customise and configure the draw.io editor to diagram faster
The draw.io editor has a mountain of configuration options that can make your diagramming faster. Set custom colour palettes, styles, fonts, shape libraries, templates, and even editor themes, enable or disable certain features, set defaults for connectors, and more via the extensive draw.io configuration options.
📄️ Configure the draw.io template library to use custom template diagrams
If you are using draw.io outside of Confluence, you can now customise the template library via the draw.io configuration using the `templateFile` property. Add your own custom templates, and specify which shape libraries and custom shape libraries are opened whenever a new diagram is created from a template.
📄️ Search for diagrams in Confluence Cloud and Server
You can use the built-in search features to look for draw.io diagrams in Confluence Cloud, as well as Confluence Server and Data Center. In the following examples, you can see a comparison of how Confluence finds draw.io and Gliffy diagrams.
📄️ Migrating with draw.io from Confluence Data Center/Server to Confluence Cloud Alternative Process
Note: Do not use this migration process unless agreed with draw.io support.
📄️ Several ways to connect shapes
You can connect shapes using the mouse, or the keyboard, or a combination of mouse and keyboard. By cloning shapes, you can add a shape and automatically connect them.
📄️ More flow animation styles for connectors
draw.io has added more styles for connector flow animations. You can use animated connectors in draw.io to illustrate workflow, supply chains, electrical circuits, PERT charts - any diagram with connectors that indicate a direction.
📄️ Consistency makes technical diagrams easier to read
Diagrams can convey a lot of information at a glance, but only if they follow the three C's - for drawing technical diagrams that means concise, clear and consistent. As the diagram author, you are responsible for clarity and conciseness. For consistency however, draw.io has many tools to help you draw diagrams that are easier to read.
📄️ Diagrams in tables with container cells
With draw.io, tables aren't limited to holding text data. Because you can drop shapes and images into container table cells and drag connectors between them, you can get creative with diagrams inside tables.
📄️ Crow's foot notation for ER diagrams
Crow's foot notation is used in entity relationship (ER) diagrams to show how data in different database tables relate to each other.
📄️ Customise default colours, fonts, styles and the draw.io UI in Confluence Cloud
As an administrator, you can customise draw.io in Confluence Cloud to make it easier and faster for your users to create diagrams following your company’s particular style by setting default colours, style palettes, and fonts. You can even make the draw.io interface fit your customised Confluence Cloud interface.
📄️ Customise draw.io for Confluence Cloud
As an administrator, you can customise draw.io in Confluence Cloud to make it easier and faster for your users to create diagrams by making custom shape libraries, templates, and plugins available by default.
📄️ Work with custom shape libraries
Custom shape libraries let you add the shapes, images, clipart, groups of shapes, custom shapes, and even entire diagrams to your own shape library to make diagramming faster and easier.
📄️ Create and share custom template libraries with draw.io
You can use custom shape libraries to store and share custom template diagrams, in addition to your favourite shapes, freehand sketches, and custom shapes. As you can also store icons, watermarks, images, parts of a diagram, and entire finished diagrams in custom shape libraries, they are an excellent way of sharing your custom templates with people outside your organisation.
📄️ Use the diagram editor in dark mode
The Dark mode for the default, Minimal and Sketch editor themes, and the new simple mode, lets you switch draw.io to match your operating system's dark mode or night mode.
📄️ Introducing Data Governance in our Standard draw.io plans
draw.io is a security-first diagramming app for Atlassian products. Diagram data only lives in your computer memory, or as an attachment to a Confluence page or Jira issue.
📄️ Work with default styles
When you set a default style for shapes and connectors in draw.io, all subsequent shapes that you add from the shape library will use that default style. This includes shape outline or connector line colour, thickness and style, shape fill colour and effects, opacity and more.
📄️ Draw technical diagrams securely offline with draw.io Desktop
If you have an intermittent or restricted internet connection or want to draw diagrams without worrying about whether they will be scraped by cloud storage providers, you can use the draw.io Desktop. With the full set of draw.io shapes. templates and diagramming features, the draw.io Desktop app works offline on Windows, Linux and macOS.
📄️ Share diagram data in an image file
With draw.io, diagram data can be stored in many different file types, including PNG and SVG images. When you share an image with embedded diagram data, the recipient can drag and drop it onto the drawing canvas to open the diagram and continue editing.
📄️ Choose a different draw.io editor theme
You can customise the draw.io editor and choose your preferred theme for the user interface. The editor theme controls which editor elements are displayed, minimised or hidden in the user interface, including the menu, toolbar, panels and dialog boxes.
📄️ Diagramming tools from simple to complex
Humans understand information faster and more easily in diagrams. This is why there are many visualisation tools, from simple sketching apps, to single-purpose diagramming tools and whiteboarding apps, through to technical drawing applications like draw.io and hyper-specialised CAD and architectural tools for precision drawings.
📄️ Generate diagrams from code
Documenting software costs developers time and becomes outdated quickly. A code-first diagramming approach - describing the diagram in code or text while programming - works well for entity models (SQL database code), and class descriptions using Mermaid syntax.
📄️ Use draw.io diagrams in Google Docs, Slides and Sheets
Diagrams help you convey complex information faster and more accurately, helping your audience understand your documents more easily. Export your draw.io diagrams to PNG image files and then import them into your Google Docs, Slides and Sheets - drag and drop the image file into your document.
📄️ Diagram in Lark with our open-source editor
We aim to make diagramming as accessible as possible. As draw.io is an open-source application, an increasing range of applications have integrated our diagramming editor or provide an add-in with our diagramming technology.
📄️ Diagram with draw.io in Plane.so pages
Plane.so, a project management platform, has developed a draw.io integration where you can add, edit and store draw.io diagrams in Plane.so pages. Plane is a useful platform for technical documentation and project management for distributed teams. Both the simple draw.io Board editor and the full draw.io diagram editor are available, with all the standard built-in draw.io shape libraries and templates, as well as the generated smart templates and Mermaid diagram support.
📄️ Include diagrams in Notion templates with the draw.io extension
With our draw.io for Notion chrome extension, you can easily embed diagrams and the diagram editor directly in your Notion page and in Notion templates when you use Google's Chrome web browser.
📄️ Diagrams in software design - forward or backward design?
Software and web applications have become more complex, interacting with many different systems, and using a wide range of services and libraries. Good documentation, with technical diagrams of many different types, is used as both a planning and design tool, and to post-document a running system in order to make it easier to maintain and extend after deployment.
📄️ Disable distracting animations in diagrams
Flow animations on connectors can make diagrams much easier to understand - they can clearly show in which direction a process flows or how control/data moves through a system. But such animations can distract you while you edit a diagram. You can now disable the visual animation via the draw.io menu, but keep the flow animation style on the connector.
📄️ Disable resize children to resize grouped shapes individually
Normally, when you resize a group of shapes, all of the shapes are resized proportionally, and maintain their positions in relation to each other.
📄️ More tips to draw faster in draw.io
Keyboard shortcuts for styles and shapes, default styles, and modifier keys when using the mouse help you to diagram faster. Here are a few more ways that draw.io helps you to draw faster and more easily.
📄️ Draw freehand infographics in draw.io
While the shape libraries in draw.io have a vast array of shapes for technical diagrams, there are relatively few illustrations for use in infographic diagrams. You can create your own illustration shapes easily using draw.io on a tablet. For example, all of the illustrations in this tidal pool infographic were drawn as freehand shapes in draw.io.
📄️ draw.io is now an Atlassian Cloud Fortified app
We are pleased to announce that draw.io is the only secure diagramming application to meet Atlassian's new Cloud Fortified standard.
📄️ Migrate draw.io from Confluence DC to Zero Egress Cloud
You can now migrate from draw.io for Confluence Data Center to the Zero Egress draw.io app for Atlassian's Confluence Cloud. The Zero Egress draw.io app is fully client-side and Forge-only. This enforces data residency and isolation - there is no external data egress. Diagram data is stored within the Confluence page content on Atlassian's infrastructure and in the user's browser as they edit diagrams and pages in that Confluence Cloud instance.
📄️ A modern and streamlined interface for draw.io
The draw.io editor is being freshened up to match the new Google Drive user interface with a modernised and streamlined user interface. All the drawing editor tools are in the same locations around the drawing canvas, so your workflow will not be disrupted.
📄️ draw.io zero-egress Forge apps for Confluence and Jira
Companies want complete control over their content and data when using cloud platforms. Atlassian's secure-by-design Forge development platform enables and enforces isolation - with zero-egress apps like draw.io, none of your data ever leaves your Atlassian cloud environment.
📄️ draw.io in Confluence Cloud - features and security by design
Whether you have added draw.io as part of a migration to Confluence Cloud, or are considering switching diagramming applications, there will be tools and features that you will be unfamiliar with. With our focus on data security, draw.io is engineered differently to other diagramming apps - you always have control of your diagram data.
📄️ draw.io for diagrams on all platforms
Unlike many software companies, our team develops draw.io using their preferred operating system and browser - whether that is Windows, macOS or Linux, and Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Edge. We each prefer a different combination of OS and browser, an ideal way to ensure draw.io works everywhere.
📄️ All the tool panels in draw.io
draw.io has many modes and editor themes to suit your diagramming style, from the feature-rich classic editor or its simple mode, to the clear whiteboard-like Sketch editor theme. Not all tool dialogs or panels are visible by default in each mode or editor theme. All the tools are available in all modes and editor themes - see how you can open these tools below.
📄️ Edit the connection points on a shape
You can now edit a shape's connection points visually with the new connection point editor. Drag the connection points around the shape, add new connection points, and delete those you don't need.
📄️ Edit diagrams directly in GitHub with draw.io and github.dev
For developers, github.dev allows you to edit files stored in GitHub repositories in a web-based code editor. It has many of the benefits of Visual Studio Code - search, syntax highlighting, and a source control view. After installing the unofficial draw.io extension for Visual Studio Code into the web-based editor, you can quickly navigate, view and edit diagram files stored in your GitHub repositories without ever leaving your browser.
📄️ Embed diagrams in Confluence Data Center and Server
There are two ways to display diagrams on Confluence Data Center and Server - either attach the diagram file to the page and use the draw.io diagram macro, or embed a diagram that is stored elsewhere using the Embed draw.io diagram macro. You can embed draw.io diagrams easily from the following locations:
📄️ Embed diagrams into Notion from draw.io
Notion is a collaboration platform with web, desktop and mobile applications, providing individuals and teams with a range of features for collaboration, documentation and personal organisation: notes, databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars, and reminders.
📄️ Use emoji in labels and tooltips
Emoji are being used in all communications at all levels of society - a single picture takes up less space and conveys more information than its matching text. You can use the Unicode emoji in shape and connector labels, and in tooltips in your diagrams.
📄️ Step through and explore diagrams interactively
Step through your diagram interactively in the draw.io editor via the Arrange tab in the format panel - select a shape then click on connected shapes in the Explore viewer to see how the shapes in your diagram are related.
📄️ Export images of diagrams directly from the lightbox viewer
When you look at a draw.io diagram in our lightbox viewer, and not in our online diagram editor, hover the mouse over the diagram to see the viewer toolbar. Click on a tool to select which layers to display, zoom in and out, and step through the pages in a multi-page diagram. You can also export your diagram as a PNG image and print the diagram directly from the draw.io lightbox viewer using these tools.
📄️ Export a diagram to HTML
You can embed a diagram in a web page or in any online platform that can render HTML. While some third-party integrations can embed diagrams more efficiently (in WordPress, for example), embedding a diagram as HTML may be a good option. You can also share these HTML diagram files with others.
📄️ Export diagrams to PDF files
There are many reasons why you may want to print a diagram, or save it as a PDF file: floor plans with emergency routes or conference booth layouts, infographics, business plans and BPMN diagrams, or infrastructure and rack diagrams when you don't have a tablet on hand for easy reference.
📄️ Export diagrams as SVG images
SVG images load quickly, especially when compared to loading diagram images in other formats. You can embed an SVG image exported from draw.io in a website, document or even a WordPress site if you have installed a plugin that support the upload of SVG files.
📄️ Export diagrams to WebP format images
The WebP format is a newer raster image format designed for the internet. WebP images typically have a smaller in file size than JPEG, PNG and GIF files, which allows browsers to load web pages faster. If you want to publish your draw.io diagrams on the web, you may want to export to a WebP image file.
📄️ Export a diagram to a URL
draw.io makes it easy to share your diagrams. You can even encode it in an URL if your diagram is smaller than a certain size. When someone clicks on the (very long) URL, they will open the diagram in the diagram viewer. From there, it's easy to print or edit their own copy of the diagram - your original diagram will not be changed unless you specify otherwise.
📄️ Using external or custom fonts in draw.io
If you don't want to use the fonts that are available by default in draw.io, you can use your own custom fonts or external fonts, such as Google's fonts or web fonts stored on your own server. This is useful when you need to match the style guide of a publication, your company's corporate image, or to add interest and emphasis in an infographic.
📄️ Draw freehand shapes and annotate diagrams
When you draw a freehand shape in draw.io, it is saved as an image with a transparent background on the drawing canvas by default. You can change the freehand-drawn shape's style like you would many other shapes: line colour, fill colour, opacity and more. You can also resize, flip and rotate your freehand drawing.
📄️ Gantt charts to plan and track anything
If you've worked on a project in a team, you've probably seen a Gantt chart. These diagrams are used in all industries to plan tasks, note dependencies and track progress. You can create Gantt charts easily in draw.io in a number of different ways.
📄️ Generate more types of diagrams in draw.io with the new sparkle tool
The smart templates feature has been upgraded - click on the new Generate tool (sparkle button) in the draw.io toolbar to generate a diagram. The Generate tool uses multiple AI generators to support a wider range of diagrams, including interface mock-ups, infrastructure diagrams, Mermaid diagrams and more.
📄️ When does it make sense to generate a diagram?
In draw.io, the smart templates feature allows you to generate a diagram from a text description. It's easy to get hyped up about quickly generating visual documentation, but when should you generate a technical diagram? What types of diagrams can't be generated?
📄️ Secure GitHub support via OAuth
draw.io and our online editor supports GitHub using OAuth - the editor will never see your GitHub password.
📄️ Secure GitLab support with direct client authorisation
You can store your diagrams in GitLab after authorising access to your account and repositories - draw.io and our online editor will never see your GitLab password.
📄️ Switching tools - how Gliffy and draw.io are different
It's becoming more common for companies to change tools and applications regularly. That means users need to be migrated and get used to using new tools quickly. Unfamiliar workflows and tool positions inside the editor can cause frustration. In this post, we'll explain some of the larger differences to help you make the switch from Gliffy to draw.io easier.
📄️ Use draw.io with Google Classroom
With most teachers and students now working virtually, as schools have been required to close due to the pandemic, the tools that support online teaching have been drastically improved. Many schools are now using Google Classroom to communicate with students, organise curriculum, and assign and submit assessment digitally.
📄️ diagrams.net supports Google shared drives (Team Drives)
You can store and collaborate on diagrams using your company's shared drives in G Suite, previously known as Google Team Drives, in the same way as you can use your personal Google Drive with draw.io.
📄️ Home lab and smart home diagrams
Over on the home lab, home networking and smart home subreddits, it has been fantastic to see diagrams of increasingly complex home computing and network setups being shared. Diagrams help home you understand the physical and logical connections between networked devices, and are useful for setting up security zones, upgrading hardware and debugging connection problems.
📄️ How layers work in draw.io
Layers in art, photo and diagram software all work a little differently. In draw.io, unlike in the more artistic drawing tools, you can select diagram objects on different layers and move them together on the drawing canvas - these objects stay in their own layers. Plus, in draw.io, connectors 'live' on one layer, but can attach to target and source shapes that 'live' on different layers.
📄️ End of support for IE 11
In line with Microsoft's end of life date of Internet Explorer 11, we will end support for IE 11 on 15th June 2022.
📄️ draw.io import formats and sources
As draw.io aims to become the de facto diagramming tool, used by everyone around the world, it's important to be able to import from a variety of file formats and from a number of storage locations.
📄️ Import diagrams from Lucidchart EDU to draw.io
Lucidchart recently limited their free education plans, Lucidchart EDU, for students and teachers to only 3 editable diagrams. That means that all of the diagrams after your most recent three diagram files are set to read only, unless you switch to a premium subscription.
📄️ Increase the drawing canvas space
To increase the amount of drawing canvas space quickly in draw.io, click on Fullscreen in the top right or select View > Fullscreen. The drawing canvas will expand to fill your browser window.
📄️ Insert a diagram from specially formatted CSV data
You can create a diagram automatically from a combination of formatting information and CSV data from a spreadsheet. This may be practical when working with spreadsheet models of various types of data (org charts, attack trees, process flows), or CSV files exported from other programs, for example, modeled network topologies or software dependencies.
📄️ Insert from text to create tree and entity diagrams
Several features in our diagram editor let you create diagrams automatically from simple text statements.
📄️ Insert from SQL to create an ER diagram
Entity relationship diagrams show how data is structured in relational databases. Each entity consists of rows of attributes. ER diagrams are used in software development and by IT workers to design and document database structure.
📄️ How to install and insert a diagram in Confluence Cloud
If you are looking for information on licensing draw.io for Confluence DC, there is another article for that.
📄️ Create an interactive diagram and toggle layers with custom links
Complex diagrams can be made a lot easier to read and understand when you split them up into logical smaller diagrams on multiple pages, or by using a number of layers.
📄️ Use lists in diagrams to present text information clearly
The list shape in draw.io functions just like a table shape - use keyboard shortcuts, or the table tools in the Arrange tab of the format panel on the right, or the table tool in the toolbar above the drawing canvas to quickly add and delete list entries.
📄️ Maths equations in diagrams
You can add maths equations to your diagrams by enabling mathematical typesetting via the draw.io menu. When you enter an equation into a text shape or label, enabling mathematical typesetting will use MathJax to render your equation. MathJax renders equations neatly and works in all browsers.
📄️ Use Mermaid syntax to create diagrams
Mermaid is a syntax similar to Markdown where you can use text to describe and automatically generate diagrams. With Mermaid's Markdown-inspired syntax, you can generate flow charts, UML diagrams, pie charts, Gantt charts, and more.
📄️ Embed existing draw.io diagrams in Confluence pages
We recently completed the migration of our reference implementation of our open source diagramming project draw.io from Google App Engine to Cloudflare. We see around 400,000 visits on an average working day, so migration across providers is not something we do lightly, there needs to be compelling technical reasons and clear messaging from the provider that the platform is evolving in the direction we want.
📄️ Create a mindmap from text with Mermaid
Mindmaps are useful to quickly capture ideas, and are easy to draw in draw.io and our draw.io branded apps. But some people prefer to work from text lists when brainstorming. Drop a text list into the Mermaid import tool and draw.io will generate your mindmap for you - no need to fuss with connectors or layouts.
📄️ Draw interface mockups and store them in Jira issues
Quick mockups of the user interfaces are invaluable for software developers and designers both for websites and software or mobile applications. Designers and software engineers can draw it together collaboratively with the mockups shape library in our draw.io apps or our online editor.
📄️ Move shapes forwards and backwards on the drawing canvas
In addition to sending shapes to the back or bringing them to the front, you can now step shapes backwards and forwards when the overlap each other.
📄️ Add multiple pages to your diagrams
Some diagrams can get very large and complex, for example, business processes, UML diagrams, floor plans, or even large brainstorm mind maps and hierarchical tree diagrams. These diagrams are often more readable when they are broken into smaller component diagrams.
📄️ Number shapes in a diagram
You can now number shapes and connectors in a diagram using the `Enumerate` shape property. A yellow number label is applied to each shape and connector where this shape property has been enabled.
📄️ Use the online diagram viewer to share .drawio, VSDX, Gliffy, and Lucidchart diagrams
You can share diagrams easily, open and edit them, no matter whether those diagrams are in .drawio, .vsdx, .vdx, .gliffy or .lucid file formats, by using draw.io's free, online diagram viewer.
📄️ An online whiteboard for Confluence with draw.io
With remote working on the rise worldwide, online replacements for analog tools like the whiteboard are increasingly needed. With the draw.io app for Confluence, your teams have an easy-to-use, collaborative online whiteboard, directly in Confluence, that can be used for agile brainstorming, story mapping, mockups, project planning and tracking, flowcharting, and more.
📄️ Placeholder labels respect scope
You can define custom properties for the shapes and connectors in your diagrams. This shape metadata can help explain your diagram to viewers. For example, the tooltips that can appear when you hover over a shape are one such property.
📄️ Work with placeholders in labels and tooltips
Each shape in a diagram can contain metadata or custom properties - extra information about those shapes.
📄️ Use PlantUML in draw.io
With PlantUML in draw.io using our web application (app.diagrams.net) you can quickly draw UML diagrams from a text description. When you input your PlantUML text, the diagram editor will automatically layout and arrange the diagram for you, based on your description and the style of output you select. It supports many different types of UML diagrams, as well as mindmaps, tree diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, Gantt charts, ER diagrams and more.
📄️ Technical diagrams for manufacturing - process engineering shape library
In draw.io, the wide range of shape libraries let you draw many kinds of technical diagrams. The large process engineering shape library (Proc. Eng.) helps you visualise manufacturing processes and production lines. This library also includes various ISO shapes should you need to diagram to specific standards.
📄️ Plan, design and track projects with diagrams in remote teams
Teams in different departments use many different methods to plan projects, but most of these plans are initially sketched on a whiteboard. Collaborate in real time and online with distributed team members, customers and stakeholders easily in the draw.io whiteboard-like editor theme throughout your project development process.
📄️ Use a custom shape library from the web
draw.io makes it easy to collect your most used shapes, images, custom shapes and diagram fragments in your own convenient custom shape library. Many custom libraries are available online as open source for you to use in diagrams, infographics and user documentation.
📄️ Publish a diagram as a link from Google Drive
Publishing a diagram that you have saved on Google Drive as a link makes it easy to share them with people on forums, via chat apps or by email.
📄️ Click to add shapes to the drawing canvas
Instead of dragging shapes from the shape library in to the drawing canvas, you can quickly add them by simply clicking on the shape. This makes it faster to add a lot of shapes to the canvas at once, and then place, style and connect them later.
📄️ Case study - Requirements flows for a new website
When you contract an external company to create a website, a mobile app or a program interface, you need to provide clear requirements - user interface specifications and mock-ups, user flows and use cases, as well as data structures and note the various rules that must be followed. You could draw a set of technical diagrams for each context, or you could put it all into one diagram.
📄️ Diagrams for retail - customer paths and planograms
You can use diagrams in many ways in retail, including to visualise customer shopping data, to plan customer journeys, to analyse and optimise your retail space, and to improve workflows for both customers and co-workers.
📄️ Rotate shapes, connectors and connector labels
Shapes are placed on the drawing canvas in draw.io using a default orientation. You can rotate shapes into another position as you need.
📄️ Use your favourite location or platform to save your diagram files
As draw.io does not store your diagram data, you need to select a location to store your diagram files. With an increasing number of cloud storage and Git platforms, as well as your browser and local device, we've streamlined the location selection to a drop down list.
📄️ Search for shapes, in-diagram text, help and more with the new search omnibox
The search field in draw.io has been extended. In addition to shape search, you can now open various features from the menu via the search field, generate a smart template, apply styles to text, and more. The omnibox search field can speed up your diagramming workflow.
📄️ What can you do with shape data in diagrams?
The shapes, connectors and text elements in your diagram are described in XML - their sizes, locations, groupings, shape styles, z-order on the drawing canvas, and how they are connected to each other. You can attach much more information than this to create richer diagrams and interactivity, including tags, tooltips, links, custom shape properties and more.
📄️ Edit shape properties in diagrams
The shape libraries in draw.io provide you with a wide variety of shapes and clipart to use in your diagrams. The Style tab lets you quickly style your shapes, but for finer control and complex shapes, you can modify the shape properties.
📄️ Customise shape shadows to add impact to your diagrams
You've long been able to add basic shadows to shapes in draw.io. But now, you can customise shape shadows - set their colour, offset, opacity and blur so your diagram makes the impact you want.
📄️ Share diagrams via Google public links
You can share and collaborate on diagrams with anyone, either inside or outside of your company, when they are stored as public files in your Google Drive account.
📄️ Share diagrams and edit them in draw.io
When you save or export your diagram as a `.drawio file, a SVG or PNG image, a PDF file, a HTML` page, or encode it in a URL, the embedded diagram data that is included by default. When you share it with someone, they can open the file in draw.io and continue editing the diagram for free. No account is needed.
📄️ Use keyboard shortcuts to work faster with styles
There are a large number of keyboard shortcuts that let you create diagrams faster and more easily with draw.io. One of the more common and time-consuming tasks when you create a diagram is styling shapes and connectors.
📄️ New Simple editor theme for draw.io
With the new Simple editor theme for draw.io, we have redesigned the diagram editor to combine the fixed panels and page tabs from the original diagram editor layout, the responsive toolbar from the Minimal editor theme, and the menu and shape picker from the Sketch whiteboard-like theme.
📄️ Diagram only in selected GitHub repositories
Previously, you could edit your diagram files and use your GitHub repositories as a storage location as an OAuth app, which required access permission to all of your repositories. The new GitHub Apps offer more fine-grained repository access settings. With the upcoming draw.io App for GitHub, you can choose exactly which repositories you want store your diagram files in.
📄️ How to use sketch.diagrams.net as an online whiteboard
The draw.io editor online at can use the Sketch editor theme which has an endless whiteboard-style canvas and simple toolbar. This theme is ideal to use as a collaborative online whiteboard with your remote team. The lack of page and grid lines, along with the simple toolbar, minimised panels and the default hand-drawn rough style for shape outlines, shading, connectors, and text labels feels like an informal physical whiteboard, much less intimidating than traditional diagramming apps.
📄️ Smart diagram generation for more template diagrams
When you create a new diagram with the draw.io web editor, you can now choose to use our new smart diagram generator instead of one of our existing templates. Describe your diagram in a text phrase, and the tool will generate a diagram based on what it parses.
📄️ Snap to grid and other helpful alignment tools in draw.io
The draw.io editor helps you to align shapes and connectors with various tools and guides, including snap to grid, guidelines and spacing, and snap to connection point. You can disable them or bypass them with a keyboard shortcut if they stop you from making fine adjustments to your diagram layout.
📄️ draw.io for Notion Chrome extension
You can now create and store your diagrams directly in Notion pages using the draw.io for Notion extension for the Chrome, Opera and Edge web browsers. The draw.io for Notion extension uses the whiteboard-like simple editor theme, and resizes the embedded image displayed in your Notion page automatically to display your entire diagram.
📄️ Straighten connectors in diagrams
When working with connectors in diagrams, sometimes you may find a floating connector is not straight between two shapes. You can straighten such connectors quickly and automatically by changing the path style. Depending on where the connected shape is, the connector will straighten automatically.
📄️ Change the style of text in draw.io
While the dream of drawing technical diagrams is to be able to understand them with very little text, labels on shapes and connectors add essential descriptive elements. There are many ways to style text in draw.io - you can even use multiple styles in one label.
📄️ Swap shapes and connectors in draw.io
You can swap shapes on the drawing canvas in draw.io via the Arrange tab of the format panel, or by dropping a new shape from the shape libraries on top of an existing shape. You can also reverse the arrows on a connector easily via the Arrange tab.
📄️ Use swimlanes with flowcharts to show who does each step
Flowcharts are one of the most common diagram types, showing all of the steps that must be followed to complete a process. Not many processes are limited to just one person or one team, which is why swimlane diagrams and cross-functional flowcharts are used - these show the flow of data or control across different groups.
📄️ Use grab handles to move table rows
The improved table shapes in draw.io are useful for many different types of diagrams. Now, using the grab handles on the sides of table rows in draw.io, you can select rows more easily, and move a row to a new position in a table, or move it to another table - even if that table is a different size.
📄️ Use tags in diagrams to select, hide and display related shapes and connectors
You can now use tags on shapes and connectors which allows you to select, hide or display multiple elements in your diagram. With tags, you don't need to group shapes into a fixed combined shape, or place them on one layer before you select, hide or display the tagged shapes.
📄️ How many shapes do you need to draw technical diagrams?
There are so many different notations used for technical diagramming that this is a hard question to answer. draw.io supports all your icon needs - there are shape libraries for a vast range of different technical diagrams, and you can extend the built-in libraries with your own shapes in a custom library if you need to.
📄️ Diagrams in technical documents
Technical diagrams are a form of documentation by themselves. But they are also used to supplement text in many other types of documents created by technical writers and documentation teams. While some teams may have graphics designers responsible for the diagramming, tech writers may be less familiar.
📄️ Align text labels inside and outside shapes
You can change the alignment of text labels in shapes and on connectors in a number of different ways. The options below are available in the Text tab of the format panel on the right.
📄️ Draw diagrams on a touch screen
It is easy to diagram on a tablet or any other device with a touch screen because draw.io is a web application. Point your browser to our online editor at app.diagrams.net, select where you want to save your diagram file, and start diagramming.
📄️ The many types of technical diagrams
Technical diagrams are used throughout many different professions and industries, both for internal documentation and to help customers or provide training. Many of these fields have their own specific types of technical diagrams.
📄️ Draw and style connectors in draw.io
Connectors are lines that connect your shapes together and may or may not have arrows at one or both ends. In a diagram, connectors provide context information, showing how the various shapes and entities in your diagram are related.
📄️ Vertical text for Japanese, Chinese and Korean
Japanese, Chinese, and Korean texts can be written vertically, and read from right to left. draw.io can now display labels and text shapes vertically without rotating the characters, to be read top down, from the right to the left. Use the Text tab of the format panel to change the Writing Direction.
📄️ Three ways to add watermarks to draw.io diagrams
Watermarks are used widely in photography, illustrations and diagrams. You can add a watermark to a draw.io diagram in a number of ways - using a locked shape or image, a locked layer in the foreground or background that contains the watermark, or a watermark on a separate diagram page used as a background image.
📄️ Join connectors with the waypoint shape
The waypoint shape allows you to join two or more connectors together. In electrical circuit diagrams or logic gate diagrams, it is essential to show contact points where wires are connected, as opposed to passing each other without connecting. Waypoint shapes help you organise and route connectors neatly in tree diagrams, org charts, gitflow diagrams, hold connector lines together in a fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram, and more.
📄️ Work with waypoints on connectors
Connectors show how the different shapes in the diagram are related. In complex diagrams, you are likely to have many overlapping connectors. While line jumps are useful when you have one or two connectors that cross but shouldn't intersect, you can change the path that your connectors take to make your diagram clearer by adding extra waypoints.
📄️ How to write better queries for smart generated diagrams
Query writing, also known as prompt engineering, is becoming an important skill as large language models and AI tools become more popular. It is hard to write a good query to ensure a good outcome from any type of content generator. Here's how you can make the most of the diagram generation features in draw.io.
📄️ Embedded XML in PNG image files
The PNG image file format supports embedded metadata in a number of ways. draw.io can export a PNG image of your diagram and include the diagram itself in the image, by including the XML code in the `zTxt` section of the image file.