Diagram and Canvas
A view's map has two modes. Switch with the Map button in the view toolbar.
| Diagram | Canvas | |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Arranges itself, every time it draws | You place each card; Atlas saves where you put it |
| Best for | Reading and reviewing a process, an org chart or a hierarchy | Hand-tuned pictures and free-form layouts |
| Shapes | Flowchart or Swimlane | Free-form |
| Comments | Pinned to cards and paths, with a review panel | Pinned to a spot on the canvas |
A view opens in Diagram unless someone has switched it to Canvas.
Switch modes
- Click Map in the view toolbar.
- Choose Diagram, then Flowchart or Swimlane. Or choose Canvas.
Switching does not change your atlas, and Canvas keeps its card positions while you use Diagram.
Diagram
Diagram draws the view with Mermaid and lays it out automatically. Add a step, remove a point or change a path, and the diagram redraws with everything in order. There is nothing to drag into place.
- Direction sets which way it reads: Top to bottom, Bottom to top, Left to right or Right to left.
- A process with two or more of its own steps in the view is drawn as a box around those steps. Right-click it and choose Ungroup Container to draw it as a card.
- Layout and the path style button do not apply in Diagram.
Work in a diagram
- Click a card or path to select it. Double-click (or press Enter) to open its properties.
- Shift-click to select several points. Shift-drag to draw a selection box.
- Right-click for the same point menu as Canvas. Right-click empty space for Add Point and Add Path.
- Drag empty space or scroll to move around. Hold Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) and scroll to zoom.
- Press Esc to clear the selection.
Swim lanes
Choose Map > Diagram > Swimlane to put each piece of work in the lane of whoever does it. Work with no performer goes in an Unassigned lane.
Click Lanes in the toolbar to change how lanes are drawn:
- Lane source: Performs (who does the hands-on work) or Accountable for (who owns the outcome).
- Altitude: Performer (one lane per person, position or group) or Department (roll each performer up to the group it is a
member_of). - Lane order: by default Atlas orders lanes so work crosses the fewest of them. Drag lanes to set your own order, or click Reset to automatic.
Click Apply. The lane settings belong to the view, so everyone who opens it sees the same lanes. Only people who can edit the view can change them.
Comments
Diagram views take comments, pinned to a card, a path or a spot on the diagram.
- Click Add comment at the top left of the diagram, then click where the comment belongs.
- Type it and click Comment (or press Enter).
Comments (n) opens the review panel for this view: filter open and resolved threads, Go to a thread, Reply, Resolve or Reopen.
To have Navigator act on a comment, click Send to Navigator instead (or press Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter). This needs edit access to the atlas.
Canvas
Canvas is free-form. Drag cards wherever you want them; Atlas saves their positions with the view.
- Drag a card to move it. Drag empty space to pan, and scroll to zoom.
- Shift-click to select several cards, or Shift-drag to draw a selection box.
- Elbows / Auto switches how paths are drawn. Auto is straight where a path runs direct and bends where it has to turn.
- Comment (top left) drops a comment pin where you click.
Arrange a canvas
You do not have to place every card by hand.
- Layout in the toolbar rearranges the map: Auto picks a layout for each cluster of points (process flows in layers, org charts as trees). Tree and Flow apply one layout to the whole map.
- Direction reruns the layout in the direction you pick.
- Right-click empty space and choose Auto-arrange to tidy the whole map.
- Right-click a selection and choose Arrange Group to arrange just those cards.
- Right-click a container and choose Arrange container to set the direction its contents run.
With several cards selected, the bar at the bottom of the canvas offers the same layouts for just the selection.