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The Power of OmniGraffle Connectors

These lines maintain meaningful relationships.

OmniGraffle 7

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The diagramming app OmniGraffle offers a host of drawing tools, but the connecting line is among the most powerful. You’ll find it useful whether you’re creating flowcharts or flower-garden plans.

Although it may look humble, this connecting line is far from simple: It’s a persistent relationship between two objects. As you move or resize an object, its connection to others remains intact.

Want to show the relationship between team members and their managers on an org chart? Document which computer port a hard drive gets plugged into? Propose a sequence of actions in a user-interface mockup? Connecting lines can help with all. Here’s how to get started with them.

Color and “hops” make it easy to follow lines, even in complex documents.

Make your first connecting line

1. Draw any two shapes with the Shape tool.
2. Click the Line tool, then hover over one of the shapes so its outline starts strobing.
3. Click that shape, then the other one. Marvel at the connecting line that automatically appeared.

Drop anchor

Want to anchor a connecting line to a different part of a shape?
Select the Magnet tool and click anywhere in the object, then drag the anchor point to where you want it.

Feel free to move shapes around—the connectors will follow!

Bend a little

By default, a connecting line is straight, but OmniGraffle gives you options: curved, orthogonal, and Bézier are available in the Object Inspector’s Line panel.

Gussy it up

You can style a connecting line as you would any other line in OmniGraffle. The most useful way is to add arrows to create heads—but circles, squares, and diamonds are fun too.