Working with the elements palette and canvas
To build a process map, you can drag elements from the palette onto the canvas or you can add new elements from the context menu of an element. You can adjust the element properties on the attributes panel on the right side of the canvas.
You can place elements on top of each other and connect them with lines.
The canvas has these features:
- You can select multiple elements on the canvas and move them together.
- You can zoom in or zoom out to fit to the screen by using the toolbar on the right side.
- To delete an element from the canvas, select the element and click the delete icon that is displayed in the upper left corner of the shape.
- To make a copy of a shape with its attributes, you can use CTRL+C and CTRL+V shortcuts. This feature is available for rectangle, circle, image and text shapes.
- To add a text element on top of a shape, double-click the shape on the canvas . Note that the shape attributes and the text attributes are edited independently.
- While there are unsaved changes, you can use to undo changes and to redo changes.
- Click the keyboard shortcuts icon to see a list of all supported shortcuts.
- After you drop several shapes on the canvas, helper lines appear when you move the shapes to enable you to align the shapes relative to each other.
- To connect two elements on the canvas, select one element and click the icon from its context menu, then select the target element. A straight line is drawn between the original element and the target element.
- To add a new element connected with the current element, select one element and click any shape icon from its context menu. A new shape of the selected type is added to the canvas, connecting to the original elements with a straight line. You can move the new element to the desired location after it is added to the canvas.
In presentation mode, the drawing on the canvas is shown on the Diagram tab.