Arrows

Arrows are how a diagram turns a pile of shapes into a flow, a hierarchy, or a relationship. Add one with the Arrow tool in the palette's Draw category (or press A), then connect, style, and reshape it however the diagram needs. livediagram gives arrows real flexibility: every line style, draggable curve and elbow handles, and endpoints that snap onto shapes or even onto other arrows.

Drawing and connecting

An arrow links two points on the canvas. An arrow's endpoint can sit freely, pin to a shape's connection anchor (so it tracks the shape as it moves), or attach along another arrow. Drag from a shape's edge to quick-connect, or drop a plain arrow from the palette and position its ends by hand.

Two Shift tricks make fanning out fast:

• Shift-chain: hold Shift while a quick-connect arrow's endpoint lands and a fresh arrow immediately starts from the same spot on the source, so a hub can point at several targets in one flow. A plain click places the last one.
• Shift-fork: hold Shift and drag a selected arrow's head to peel a branch off its line, one trunk that splits toward a second target instead of a parallel near-duplicate arrow.

Styling the line

From the arrow's context menu you can set its line style, thickness, dash pattern, and arrowheads, add a label, and choose whether it passes behind boxes it crosses (on by default). The controls are independent, so you can mix any line with any head. See Arrow styles for the full set.

Shaping the path

Curved and angled arrows expose a draggable handle so you can bow a curve or position an elbow exactly where the diagram needs it, without breaking the arrow's connections.