Working with the elements palette and canvas

To build a BPMN Model, you can place elements from the palette onto the canvas. You can adjust the element properties in the attributes panel on the right side of the canvas.

To build a diagram, you must connect the elements with each other. You can also click an element on the canvas and select the following element to be connected to from its context menu.

This table gives an overview of additional edit tools for the canvas:

Name	Icon	Location	Description
Zoom In		Toolbar on canvas	Increase the diagram size.
Zoom Out		Toolbar on canvas	Decrease the diagram size.
Fit to Screen		Toolbar on canvas	Reset zoom and make the diagram fit in the available canvas space.
Hand Tool		Toolbar on elements palette	Helps you move the whole diagram on the canvas.
Lasso Tool		Toolbar on elements palette	Click and drag the lasso tool to select a few elements and move them together.
Create/Remove Space		Toolbar on elements palette	Helps add or remove the space between the elements on the canvas.
Global connect tool		Toolbar on elements palette and element context menu	Connect elements by using SequenceFlow, MessageFlow, or Association.
Change type		Element context menu	Change this element into another element with a similar type. For an overview, see Working with the BPMN elements.
Append		Element context menu	Add a text annotation.
Remove		Element context menu	Remove this element from the diagram.

The canvas has these additional features:

• You can use standard keyboard shortcuts:
  • Copy - CTRL+C
  • Paste - CTRL+V
  • Delete - Delete key
  • Undo - CTRL + Z
  • Redo - Ctrl + Shift + Y
• The BPMN Model is automatically validated as it is being built. You can turn on or off the validation functionality by clicking the Toggle validations button at the bottom of the canvas.

In presentation mode, the drawing on the canvas is shown on the Diagram tab.