Diagrams

A diagram is a flowchart you build by dragging: add a step, link it to the next one, and Napkin lays the chart out for you. Nothing to line up by hand. Good for onboarding flows, decision trees, and system maps.

Diagrams live in the same gallery as sketches, docs, and sheets. Open Diagrams in the top navigation and choose New diagram.

Building a chart

Add a step. Double-click anywhere on the empty canvas, or press Add a step. Type the label and press Enter.
Link steps. Drag the + handle on either side of a step to the step you want it to point at, or drop it on empty space to create a new connected step there.
Keyboard. With a step selected, Tab adds a connected step after it and ⇧Tab adds a sibling. Enter edits the label. Delete removes the selection. ⌘D duplicates it.
Direction. The toolbar switches between top-to-bottom and left-to-right. The layout re-flows and animates into place.
Groups. Select several steps and press ⌘G to put a box around them. ⌘⇧G ungroups.

Every change saves on its own. The Saved whisper in the header confirms it. If a save fails, a band above the canvas says so and offers Retry. Your edit stays on the canvas until it goes through.

Describing a step

Select a step to open its panel on the right:

Description — longer notes that live behind the label. Use it for the detail that would clutter the box.
Kind — mark a step as a Person, System, Data, Intelligence, or Decision. The step picks up a small icon so the shape of the process reads at a glance.
Color and line style for the step and its connectors.
Link to something in your workspace — a step can stand for a real thing: a Workbench flow, a Compass page, a Caliper eval. Search for it from the panel. The step shows where it points, and the link opens the thing in its own tool.

Getting the chart out

From the File menu:

Export SVG downloads the chart as a vector file that scales cleanly in slides and documents.
Export PNG downloads a 2× image.
Make a copy creates a new diagram with the same steps, descriptions, and links.

Working with others

Share a diagram the same way as a sketch: Share in the header creates a view link that anyone can open without an account. See Sharing.

Two people can edit the same diagram in turns. When a teammate saves a change, your view updates to theirs and tells you it did. Archive a diagram from the File menu to take it out of the gallery. Restore brings it back.

Shortcuts

Press ? on a diagram to see the full list.

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