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View a diagram

Open a diagram from the repository tree and its Diagram tab shows the latest version you're allowed to see. Everything here works without checking the diagram out.

Prerequisites​

  • View access to the diagram. Without the See Unapproved item permission you see the latest approved version only.

Steps​

Zoom and full screen​

The view bar in the lower right holds Zoom In, Zoom Out, the zoom percentage, Fit to Content, and Enable Full Screen (and Exit Full Screen). Once the diagram is scrolled below the top of its content, an arrow pointing up at a bar, tooltip Go to top, joins them: it returns the view to the top of the content, leaving the horizontal position and the zoom unchanged. Panning works with a right- or middle-button drag, or space bar plus left-button drag.

The view options menu​

The view bar's More Options menu collects the display toggles:

  • Navigator — a movable overview window for finding your way around large diagrams.
  • Grid — dot grid, line grid, or none.
  • Page Breaks and Header and Footer — show print layout on screen.
  • Languages Grid — the diagram's translations side by side.
  • Layers — focus on one layer's fields at a time: pick a layer and the diagram hides all indicators and fields, showing only that layer's fields in a distinct style below the shapes. One layer at a time.
  • Customize side panels — show, hide, and arrange the side panels. See Customize the side panels.

The menu follows the diagram's state: Layers appears while the diagram is checked in, and Smart Guides and Describes Hints take its place while you have it checked out.

The view bar's More Options menu with navigator, grid, and layout toggles.

Customize the side panels​

The side panels sit on the left and right of the diagram. In view mode you get panels such as Shape Legend, Comments, Describes List (every object this diagram describes), and Paths. Some panels appear only when the diagram is checked out, such as Shapes, Arrange, and Styles. For the full list, see Create and edit a diagram.

Your panel arrangement is saved to your account. It applies to every diagram you open, whether you view or edit it, and it stays the same in any browser you sign in from.

To show only icons, right-click the left or right side panels and select Hide labels. Those panels then show only their icons. Hover over an icon to see the panel's name. To bring the names back, right-click the same panels and select Show labels. While the Customize side panels dialog is open, you can also click the round arrow icon beside each side, tooltip Hide labels or Show labels. The left and right side panels each keep their own setting. Unlike the panel arrangement, this setting stays in the browser you set it in.

To reorder panels or move one to the other side, drag its button within its side or to the other side. The change is saved right away.

To hide or show panels, or to apply a preset:

  1. Right-click the side panels and select Customize side panels, or select it from the view bar's More Options menu. The Customize side panels dialog opens. Its dashed area holds the panels that are hidden.
  2. To start from a ready-made layout, choose one under Preset (see the list after these steps). A preset replaces your current arrangement.
  3. Drag a panel's button to change the layout:
    • Drag it into the dashed area to hide it.
    • Drag it from the dashed area to either side to show it again.
    • Drag it within a side or to the other side to reorder it or move it there.
  4. To swap the left and right side panels, click the opposing-arrows icon, tooltip Swap sides.
  5. Click Done.

The Preset list offers these layouts:

  • All — the default layout. It shows the panels listed in Create and edit a diagram. Choose it to restore the default layout.
  • Minimal — Shapes, Comments, Describes List, and Arrange on the left, and Diagramming, Describes, Custom Properties, and Styles on the right. Everything else is hidden.
  • Empty — hides every panel.
  • Simulation (Cloud only) — Shapes, Arrange, and Comments on the left, and Narrative, Custom Properties, and Styles on the right.
  • Custom — appears once your layout matches no preset. To return to your own arrangement after trying a preset, choose it before you click Done.

The changes toggle — live or as-approved data​

A diagram version freezes a snapshot of its described-object data at check-in. When the data has changed since — and depending on the repository's live-describes policy — the version indicator at the top offers a Changes toggle that switches between Data as of the version and Live Data, so you can see what changed in the model after the version was frozen. For the changes that make the toggle appear, see What makes the Changes toggle appear.

Approved Only mode​

To read the whole repository the way an approval-only audience sees it, select your avatar in the upper right, tooltip Account settings, and then select View Approved Only. Diagrams then show only their approved versions. To leave the mode, select Stop Viewing Approved Only in the same menu. While the mode is active, you can't vote in approval cycles.

Whether the mode is offered, and whether every session starts with it already on, is decided by an administrator with the View Approved Only mode server setting.