We’re happy to finally bring you Diagrams’ biggest update since the initial release. Version 2.0 includes a totally new way to design your diagrams, adds new styling options, and is fully optimized for macOS Big Sur and the new M1 Macs.
PALETTES
Diagrams’ handling of palettes has been taken to a whole new level. Not only can you now choose from multiple palette presets, but you can also customize them for your use cases and even create your own palettes from scratch. The limitation to a fixed palette in all documents is gone.
A new palette customization interface, accessible from the toolbar and the main menu, supports you when crafting your element and relationship types, naming them, and configuring their visual attributes. Giving your types a meaning and reusing them in your diagrams allows you to work more efficiently and consistently.
• Added the ability to choose how to create new documents. You can now choose from one of the built-in presets (Universal, Grayscale, Flowchart), start with an empty palette, or load a palette from an existing document.
• Introduced a shortcut, Shift+Cmd+N (⇧⌘N), to quickly create a new document with an empty palette.
• Introduced a new interface for managing a palette in your documents. It allows you to add, duplicate, reorder, and remove types. Furthermore, you can use it to name types in the palette and configure their visual attributes.
• Alternatively, you can now create new types or edit existing ones in the in-canvas palette, which is primarily used for creating new elements and relationships.
• Added the “Palette” menu for palette customization actions.
• Added toolbar and main menu items, as well as the shortcut Cmd+1 (⌘1) for accessing the document palette.
• Added a context menu item to objects on the canvas — “Edit Type in Palette…” — which opens the document palette with the type of the clicked object selected.
NEW STYLING OPTIONS
There are new options available for styling your types, which complement the palette customization functionality. You can both pick from a broader set of element colors and format text. This flexibility will allow you to better differentiate between elements while still keeping your diagrams beautiful.
• Extended the set of element colors from four to nine. This includes grayscale options that are suitable for more professional diagrams.
• Support for bold, italic, underline, and code text options for element captions and relationship labels.
• Support for text alignment configuration in rectangular elements.
• Support for code-related ligatures when using the code text format option.
Introduced a new relationship head: a filled arrow.
BIG SUR AND APPLE SILICON READY
Diagrams is now fully optimized for macOS Big Sur, and it runs natively on Macs with the brand-new Apple M1 chip.
• New app and document icons.
• Optimized user interface for macOS Big Sur.
• If you haven’t updated yet, you can still take advantage of the old UI language of macOS Catalina.
• Added Big Sur’s new system icons to context menus for a faster workflow (only for Big Sur and newer).
• Universal app that supports both the Intel and Apple Silicon architectures.
Diagrams 2.0 now requires macOS 10.15.2 or newer.
If you like this update and have a spare minute, please rate the app or leave a review on the App Store. It’s a great way to support us and it also helps other people find Diagrams.
2.0.0 2021/02/16