Work with shapes in draw.io

The large collection of built-in shapes in draw.io are organised into shape libraries and displayed in the shapes panel, typically on the left of the drawing canvas.

Some of the simpler editor themes may hide the shapes panel. Press the Ctrl + Shift + K keyboard shortcut in any editor theme to show or hide the Shapes panel.

To see and enable/disable the shape libraries, click on More Shapes at the bottom of the shapes panel.

To search for shapes - even in libraries that are not currently open - enter the shape name in the search field. This will search for shape that have names that match as well as those with alternate names that match.

Add shapes to the drawing canvas

• Double click on a blank area of the drawing canvas and select a shape to add.
• Drag a shape from the shape library onto the drawing canvas.
• Click on a shape in the shape library to add it to the center of the drawing canvas.
• Click on one of the direction arrows that appear when you hover over a shape to clone and connect another of that shape.

Select and manipulate shapes

• Select multiple shapes: Drag a selection box around them or hold Shift or Alt as you click on the shapes.
• Deselect one or more shapes: Hold Alt+Shift and clicking on the selected shapes.
• Rotate shapes: Drag the circular rotate handle in one corner of the shape.
• Resize shapes: Drag the sides or corners of the selected shape to resize it.
• Replace a shape on the drawing canvas with a different shape from the shape library.
• Delete a shape including its connections.
• Swap two shapes on the drawing canvas.
• Find existing shapes on the drawing canvas with their labels or shape name.

Arrange and align shapes

• Move shapes forwards and backwards.
• Arrange and align shapes using the tools in the Arrange tab.
• Overlap shapes on container shapes and groups.
• Group selected shapes and connectors to keep them together when you move or resize them.

Work with special shapes

• Work with table shapes.
• Use list shapes.
• Work with container shapes.
• Add rows to list shapes and similar shapes.
• Use the waypoint shape to join connectors neatly.
• Change the UML lifeline shape.
• Learn about automated layout shapes.

Work with shape properties and shape data

• See and edit shape properties in the Style tab.
• Work with shape metadata.
• Disable group-resize (child shapes).
• Constrain proportions when resizing shapes.
• Change the shape perimeter.
• Add tooltips, links and tags to shapes.

Make your own custom shapes

• Describe the geometry of complex custom shapes.
• Customise the connection points on any shape
• Draw freehand shapes.

Label, connect and style shapes

See the Text, Connectors and Styles sections in this documentation for more information.

• Position labels in and around shapes
• Number shapes
• Enable autosize to resize a shape to fit its label

Work with shape libraries

See the Types of diagrams section of this documentat, as well as Tutorials, and Use cases for examples of diagrams that use specific shape libraries.

• Search for shapes in the shape libraries.
• Use the scratchpad as a temporary custom shape library.
• Make your own custom shape library.
• Open and use public shape libraries.
• Configure draw.io to open custom shape libraries by default