In Elements.cloud, managing complex processes is made easier by breaking down your diagrams into manageable components. You can create child diagrams, import existing ones as children, and even send selected shapes to a new child diagram — all of which help keep your main diagram clean and easier to navigate.
Creating a Child Diagram from a Box Shape
In edit mode, click on an activity box. Click on an activity box without a child diagram. A floating toolbar will appear. Select the 'Child diagram' icon (arrow facing down). From the dropdown select 'New'.
This will create a child diagram instantly. You will be navigated to the child diagram. The flowlines connected to the activity will be re-created in the child diagram.
To get back to the parent, at the top toolbar, near diagram name, select 'up' icon and navigate to parent diagram.
Importing an Existing Diagram as a Child
If you already have a diagram that fits as a sub-process, you can import it as a child. Click on an activity box without a child diagram. A floating toolbar will appear. Select the 'Child diagram' icon (arrow facing down). From the dropdown select 'Import'.
This lets you reuse existing diagram hierarchy. If you have a diagram with many child diagrams, the entire diagram hierarchy will be copied and imported as a child for the selected activity box.
Importing an existing diagram simply copies the selected diagram and re-creates the diagram (and its children) as a child diagram. The original diagram still remains and is not deleted or moved.
Sending Multiple Shapes to a New Child Diagram
To declutter your main diagram by moving a group of shapes into a child diagram:
Select multiple shapes by holding
Command(Macbooks)Shift(Microsoft) and clicking each one.You can also click, drag and select multiple shapes that fall under the selected area
This is especially helpful when a portion of your process grows too complex or distracts from the main flow.
Right-click to open the context menu. From there, select 'Drilldown' -> 'Send to child' option. It will create a new activity box, with "What?" as the text. As usual, double click to edit this text.
If you then click on the drill-down (blue corner with box number) on box 13 (the activity box with a drill-down), you would get to the detail. Note that the diagram title is “What?” by default, so to modify that you need to click on SWITCH TO EDIT and open the right panel using the right panel icon, where you can edit the diagram title.
