Arrows
An arrow links two cards or notes and shows a relation: "depends on", "comes next", "blocks". An arrow is not a record: it belongs to the board, and follows the elements it links when you move them. People who arrange the board (who edit records in the table) create them.
Only cards and notes have ends. Loose text cannot be linked.
Connect with the dots
Hover a card or a note: four connection dots appear, one on each side. Drag from a dot to another card or note and let go. While you drag, an arrow follows the mouse and a ring marks the element you are about to connect to.
When you let go, the arrow attaches to the side of the target that is nearest, and stays selected. To cancel without writing anything, press Esc, or let go on the very element you started from.
A click on a dot also works: it arms the connection from that side, the notice "Clica noutro cartão ou nota para ligar" (click another card or note to connect) appears with a Cancelar (Cancel) button, and the next click on another card or note creates the arrow.
Connect with the Arrow tool
Pick Seta (Arrow) in the toolbar, or press A. With the Arrow:
- drag from a card or a note to another one to create the arrow;
- or click a card or a note (the connection is armed, and the card does not open its record) and then click another.
After you create the arrow, the tool goes back to the one you had before, and the new arrow is selected. To make several arrows in a row, hold Shift when you create one: the Arrow stays picked. With the Arrow, dragging the background still pans the board.
Connect with "Ligar com seta"
On a touch screen, or when you prefer a menu, use Ligar com seta (Connect with arrow) in the card's or note's sheet (see Phone and tablet). The notice "Toca noutro cartão ou nota para ligar" (tap another card or note to connect) appears with a Cancelar button: tap the other card or note and the arrow is created.
While a connection is armed, however you armed it, the source element's bar and handles hide so they do not cover the targets: the ring, the connection dots and the notice stay. Tapping an arrow's label does nothing.
Snapping
When you drag from a dot, or let go on an element, the arrow is fixed to that side. When you connect by tap and tap, or with Ligar com seta, the side is automatic: the arrow picks the shortest side on its own and changes sides if one of the elements is moved.
An arrow from an element to itself is refused. If an identical arrow already exists (same ends, same sides), no second one is created: the existing one is selected. An arrow in the opposite direction, or with other sides, counts as a different arrow.
Letting go on the empty board: "Criar nota aqui"
If you let go of the arrow, or tap with the connection armed, on an empty spot, a small menu opens with Criar nota aqui (Create note here) and Cancelar:
- Criar nota aqui creates a note there, connects the arrow to it and puts the note in edit mode. A single history entry holds the note and the arrow. If you finish the note empty, the note and the arrow both disappear, leaving nothing to undo.
- Cancelar (or closing the menu) writes nothing.
The arrow bar
With a single arrow selected, a bar appears above it with:
- Tipo (Type): Reta (Straight), Curva (Curve) or Cotovelo (Elbow). The elbow has one or two corners and does not steer around other elements.
- Pontas (Heads): Uma ponta (One head, at the target; the default), Duas pontas (Two heads) or Sem pontas (No heads).
- Traço (Line): Contínuo (Solid) or Tracejado (Dashed).
- Cor (Color): Tinta (Ink, the default), Destaque (Accent) or Cinzento (Gray), the same colors as loose text.
- Rótulo (Label): writes a text in the middle of the arrow, up to 200 characters.
- Apagar (Delete).
Each choice is a change you can undo with Ctrl + Z.
The label
Rótulo in the bar opens the field in the middle of the arrow ("Escreve um rótulo", write a label). You can also open it with a double click on the arrow or on the label, or with Enter while the arrow is selected. Esc or a click elsewhere finishes and saves, in a single history entry. A label with only spaces disappears.
Change the target
With a single arrow selected, a round handle appears at each end. Drag one to another card or note and let go: the arrow now connects to that element, by the nearest side. The other end stays.
If you let go of the handle on the empty board, or on the arrow's other end, the arrow goes back without writing anything, and no menu opens. For an arrow that already exists, "Criar nota aqui" is not offered.
Select and delete
Click an arrow, within 12 px of the line, to select it. With a finger the tolerance is larger (22 px). A double click edits the label, and Shift + click adds it to the selection or removes it. If a card sits over the line, the click goes to the card and opens the record. The lasso and Ctrl + A pick up an arrow when both its ends are in the selection. The arrow's line cannot be dragged: dragging from it is like dragging the background.
To delete, use Apagar in the bar, or press Delete or Backspace with the arrow selected: only the arrow is deleted.
Cascading delete
Arrows never dangle. When you delete a note, or remove a card from the board, the arrows going to or from it are deleted with it, all in one history entry. Desfazer (Undo) brings back the element and its arrows together, and Refazer (Redo) removes everything again.
If a card's record is deleted, or the card is hidden by a filter, its arrows stop showing, but they are not lost: they show again when the card comes back. Undo does not restore an arrow whose element is no longer on the board. A card that comes back to the board, dropped from the tray or by importing the column positions again, comes back without its old arrows.
See also Undo and redo.
On touch and on the phone
- On a selected card or note, the four connection dots show with any tool, with a 44 px target. Tap a dot to arm the connection from that side, or drag it to pull an arrow. The dots hide while you drag, draw the lasso, pan or edit.
- With the Seta tool, tap a card or a note to arm, and tap another to create the arrow. Tapping the same element disarms, and tapping the empty board opens the "Criar nota aqui" menu. With a finger, dragging from an element with the Arrow also pulls an arrow.
- Tap an arrow to select it. A long press on an arrow opens the arrow sheet.
- Two fingers always pinch: if you were pulling an arrow, it gives up without writing.
- On the phone (narrow screen) there is no arrow bar and no end handles. The selected arrow shows the ⋯, and the sheet has Rótulo, Tipo, Pontas, Traço, Cor and Apagar. To change the target, delete the arrow and connect again. The Seta is in the bottom bar, after the + menu.
See Phone and tablet.
Not yet
Text as an arrow end, "Criar registo aqui" (create record here), frames, shapes and the pen come later.