What are non-standard shapes?

Non-standard shapes in diagrams help to present data in a more visually appealing way that keeps accuracy of the information. Some ways that non-rectangle shapes can enhance design in diagrams are:

• Making the design more customizable

• Ability to visually separate hierarchy via shape (ex. root item is a circle and children items are rectangles)

• Help visually separate groupings of associations

Smart diagram shapes: rectangle, circle, pill, diamond, parallelogram, square, hexagon, and octagon.

Resizing shapes

You can resize shapes using the side handles in diagrams. Resizing scales the shape while the contents are resized.

Mind maps

Flowcharts

Changing shapes

Mind maps

When changing shapes in mind maps, the size of the shape is based on the greater of the content width or height for 1-1 aspect ratio shapes and based on the content width for non 1-1 aspect ratio shapes. You have the option to resize or scale if the change results in an undesirably large shape - this maintains the desired shape and distributes the contents better.

When changing from a rectangular shape to a 1:1 shape (circle, polygon), the layout takes on a single column. The layout in a circle/non-standard shape is always center aligned by default.

Flowcharts

For flowcharts, when changing shapes, the width is determined by the content width.

Types of item layouts in diagrams

• Multiple text boxes

• Single text box

• Single icon

• Icon + text box(es)

Alignment

The layout for non-standard shapes in diagrams is always centre-aligned by default.

Ports

In a rectangle mind map, the ports are available in all four directions (N, W, E, S). In a circular mind map, the ports are available around the root item. In a flowchart, the ports are available in all four directions to all items (N, W, E, S).

Lines

The lines in all diagrams can be changed using the Line Type drop-down.

Note: the line endings only work with Stepped Lines (not with Curved or Straight lines)

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