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Visibly "grouping" shapes Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I have recently started using OmniGraffle for "mindmapping." I love it. One thing I'm trying to figure out how to do is visibly group nodes ("shapes").

Use Case:
  1. add a bunch of disconnected "nodes" (maybe oval shapes).
  2. start making connections between them.
  3. realize existence of group.
  4. ???

I'd like some visible way to indicate that a bunch of nodes are semantically related. and have this indication stay with the nodes even if they're moved around/rearranged a bit.

Right now i just drew a large oval over all of the related ones, and then sent it to back, but of course as soon as I move any of the members of the group, my oval's off, and in need of readjustment.

What'd be a better way to do this within this powerful tool?
 
Color code the groups?

If you do this, then you can also use the Select Similar Objects command to quickly select them all.
 
Group the objects (I think in the Arrange menu)? Not semantic, but should get basic job done in the short-run.
 
Thanks to bheller and ericscheid for their suggestions, but I'd really like some shape "surrounding the objects. If I have to put them in an actual group to make this happen, that's fine with me. but is there some perimeter or border object? that could some how be anchored (for example) to some geometric center (centroid?) of the group?

It seems that outside of my very specific use case, others might also like to have some "encapsulating" shape as well.
 
I should have remembered this earlier.

Select the group of objects, then choose "Group as Subgraph" from the Arrange menu. Your selected items are now placed inside a shape. You can draw connections to this shape, and also draw connections to the objects within the shape. The subgraph shape can be given a label (default is "subgraph"), and you can do some formatting (can't change the shape to non-rectangular, can't change the corner radius, can't designate magnets, can't turn off stroke, but you can set the stroke to be a 100% transparent color).

And now some magic: a subgraph is a special shape .. you can cause it to be shown in full detail, or collapse it to a much smaller labelled shape.

It's what you want =)
 
champions. is it possible to add to an existing subgraph group?
 
 


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