Canvas shapes
Group and annotate a process with rectangles, ellipses and diamonds โ shapes that organise the canvas without taking part in the flow.
Shapes are rectangles, ellipses and diamonds you can drop on the canvas to group related actions, mark a stage of the flow, or write a note next to it. They are there for whoever reads the process โ including you in six months.
A shape never runs. It is not an action: it has no ports, it cannot be connected, it does not appear in a run, it consumes nothing, and it never affects validation. It is drawing on the canvas, and it is saved with the process.
Add a shape
- In the toolbar, switch from Actions to Shapes.
- Drag the shape you want onto the canvas, or double-click it to drop one in the middle.
There are three:
| Shape | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Rectangle | Boxing a group of actions that belong together. |
| Ellipse | Calling out a start, an end, or a note. |
| Diamond | Marking where a decision happens, next to a Decisional. |
Drag a shape by its body to move it, and use the handles on its edge to resize it.
Write on a shape
Double-click the shape and type. Press Enter to save what you wrote.
A shape holds two separate pieces of text:
- A title, which sits at the top of the shape and can be aligned left, centre or right.
- The body text, in the middle, which is what you get by double-clicking.
Style a shape
Click a shape to open its panel:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fill color | Pick one of the preset swatches, or open the picker for any colour you like. |
| Fill opacity | 0โ100%. Lower it so the actions underneath stay readable through the shape. |
| Title | The shape's heading. |
| Title alignment | Left, centre or right. |
| Order | Bring to front / Send to back โ which shape wins where two overlap. |
Use a low fill opacity for a shape that sits behind actions. A shape drawn at full opacity over a group of actions hides them until you send it to the back.
The right-click menu
Right-click a shape for:
- Bring to front
- Send to back
- Delete
Shapes and actions behave differently
A few differences worth knowing, because they surprise people:
- Copy and paste does not apply to shapes. Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V copy actions. To get a second shape, drag another one from the toolbar.
- Shapes do join a multi-selection, so Ctrl + click picks up shapes and actions together and drags them as one group.
- A shape is never validated, so it can never be the reason a process is invalid.
Related
- Platform Tricks โ the other canvas gestures.
- Process Designer basics โ the toolbar and the canvas.
Save action as a template
If you need to repeatedly use the same actions with the same configurations, you can save it as a template in your Toolbar. You can also disable an action you do not want to run, without deleting it.
Keyboard shortcuts
Every keyboard shortcut in the Process Designer, what it does, and how to change one to a combination you prefer.