Shapes, text and links between things

Shapes and text are for diagrams and labels around your tasks and notes. Links are lines and arrows that join two things, or point at one.

The shapes bar

Click Shapes and connectors in the toolbox. It shows the shape or line you used last, a square at first. The shapes bar rises above the toolbox, with that shape ready to place.

The bar holds, left to right:

• Connections: Curved, Elbow, Straight and Line.
• Basic shapes: Square, Circle, Diamond, Triangle, Upside-down triangle, Rounded square, Pentagon, Octagon, Cross, Left arrow, Right arrow, Chevron, Star and Speech bubble.
• More shapes (⋯), which adds a second row of flowchart shapes: Process, Decision, Data, Database, Document, Folder, Card and Start or end.

Hover over one to see its name. The bar stays up until you click Shapes and connectors again, press EscEsc, or choose a drawing tool or the Sticky tool. Opening the add panel, or going to another board or page, puts it away too.

With the keys, the bar is one TabTab stop. Use ←← and →→ to move along it, and ↵Enter or SpaceSpace to choose.

Add a shape

Choose a shape in the shapes bar, or press RR for the shape you used last, without the bar. Then click the board to place it, centred where you click. Or drag to draw it at the size you want, holding ⇧Shift to keep its proportions.

After one shape, the tool goes back to Select. You can also drag a shape from the bar onto the board, where it lands centred under the pointer.

A shape placed with a click is 120 by 120 pixels for the Square, Circle, Diamond, Decision, both triangles, Rounded square, Pentagon, Octagon, Cross and Star. Start or end is 160 by 80, and the rest are 160 by 120.

Change, colour or resize a shape

Select one or more shapes, and nothing else. Click Change shape in the actions bar, which shows their shape. The shapes bar comes up without its connections. Click a shape, and every selected shape becomes it, keeping its size, colour and words. The bar stays up until you select something else.

A shape is plain with a grey outline. Choose a Colour in the actions bar to fill it with that colour’s light shade, with a stronger outline. No colour makes it plain again.

To resize a shape, drag a corner, down to 40 pixels each way. Hold ⇧Shift to keep its proportions.

Add text

Choose Text in the toolbox, or press TT. Click where the words should start, and type. The tool goes back to Select once the text is placed.

• Size: new text is Medium. With only text selected, Text size in the actions bar offers Small, Medium and Large.
• Colour: the text colour at first, or any of the seven colours from Colour in the actions bar.
• Width: text grows as you type, up to 640 pixels wide, then wraps. Drag a corner to give it a width of its own, from 40 pixels.

Text with no words goes from the board when you finish.

Type in a shape or text

To type in a shape or in text later, double-click it. Or select it and press ↵Enter, or click its words.

• ↵Enter starts a new line.
• ⌘↵Ctrl+Enter, EscEsc or a click somewhere else finishes.

A shape grows taller to fit its words, which stay inside its edges.

Link two things

There are four kinds of link, from the shapes bar’s connections:

• Curved, Elbow and Straight each have an arrowhead at the end. Until you choose another, links are Curved.
• Line is straight, with no arrowheads.

To draw one:

1. Choose a connection in the shapes bar. Or press LL for the one you used last, without the bar.
2. Press on a node, or on the empty board, and drag.
3. Let go on another node, or wherever the link should point.

The tool goes back to Select after one link. There are two other ways:

• Link dots: a selected node shows four small dots, one beside each side. Drag a dot to draw a link from that side.
• Link to in the node menu lists the board’s other nodes by name. Choose one to link to it.

Where an end meets a node depends on where you let go:

• Near a side: the link meets that side.
• Anywhere else on the node: it meets the side facing the other end, and keeps facing it as you move things.
• On a task in a list: it meets that task’s row.
• On the empty board: the end stays where you let go, so a link can point at something or stand alone as an arrow.

Change a link

Click along a link to select it.

Its actions bar holds:

Option	Choices
Colour	Gray, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, or No colour
Path	Curved, Straight or Elbow
Line	Solid, Dashed or Dotted
Arrowheads	None, End or Both

• Reconnect: drag the round handle at either end onto another node, another side, a task, or the empty board.
• Move: a link with a free end moves when you drag its line. Its ends on nodes stay put.
• Remove: press ⌫Backspace.

A selected link keeps its colour, with a heavier line and a blue glow. A link with no colour turns blue.

Links follow the things they join when you move or resize them. Removing a node from a board removes its links there. Drawings and sections can’t be linked. A link from a clock to a task or a task list joins the clock to it: see Timers and clocks.