Using the Gliffy editor

The Gliffy editor includes a drawing canvas, a toolbar, and shape libraries.

Drawing canvas

The drawing canvas is where you build your Gliffy diagrams. Drag shapes from a shape library or create new objects using the toolbar to customize your flowchart, diagram, schematic, wireframe, floor plans or whatever else you desire. Use the bottom and side scroll bars to move around in larger diagrams. Hold down the spacebar while you click and drag to pan around the canvas. And, if you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can use that, too!

Shape library

Gliffy includes a wide range of shape libraries to help you build your diagrams, such as basic shapes, business process, software and network design, and floor plans. You simply drag and drop any shape from any library right onto the drawing canvas. You can also add your own custom shapes, logos, and images to a custom library. See Shape libraries.

Data-driven diagrams

Gliffy diagrams seamlessly integrate with Mermaid, the dynamic diagramming and charting tool. You can generate diagrams directly from code using Mermaid markdown-inspired text definitions. See Gliffy integration with Mermaid.

The toolbar

The toolbar at the top of the Gliffy editor lets you select tools to create lines (see Lines and connectors), shapes (see Shapes), text (see Text) and to format and manipulate them (see Manipulating objects).

Right-click menu

Another way to work faster with Gliffy is to use the right-click, or context menu, to access commonly-used commands. For Mac users, control+click. The options shown vary based what object you selected.

If no object is selected, you have the option to Paste here, Select All objects, Zoom and View diagram source.

If an object is selected. One Shape selected and mouse is over a shape: Option to Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Lock Selection, Bring to Front, and Send to Back.

If more than one shape is selected and mouse is over a shape: You will have the options above and the option to Group or Ungroup.

Diagram Themes and Layers

With themes, you can to apply colors styling to your diagrams. In complex diagrams, you can use layers to separate or group objects and to control the visibility of objects. See Using themes and Using layers.

Resource Center

Resource center is a place to learn about Gliffy use cases, browse Announcements to see what's new in Gliffy, or find links to support, feedback, and more.