Groups
Last updated
Last updated
Groups used to be called "Areas" and are available on all plans.
Groups are used to overlay additional information around model objects in a diagram. You can assign any model object, except another group, to 1 or many groups. This information is stored in the model.
Groups auto-size around objects assigned to them and resize around other groups to ensure easily readable diagrams with less overlap. You cannot manually edit the size of a group when you have assigned model objects to it.
A group with no child objects can be used as a flexible visual overlay or bounding box without storing the objects inside.
Groups can be used in many ways to show a collection of objects as additional information.
Some examples of when to use groups:
Deployment group - showing how objects are deployed together
Microservice - for example, an API with a data store, making a Microservice
Environment information - for showing what lives in Production vs Development
Domains - show your domains as a physical bounding box
Technology choices - such as cloud providers in a multi-cloud solution
Tags - Show a bounding box for any tag group, team, status, etc.
Have another cool use case? Let us know here 👈
To create a group in a diagram:
Hover over the + Add button in the left-hand toolbar
Click the Group option, and a new group will be added to the diagram
Name your new group
Double-click anywhere in the diagram canvas to create existing or new objects.
In the diagram view or model view, select a group
Go to the 3 dot menu top right
Select Delete object
Confirm the deletion of this group by clicking Delete from model
Objects can be assigned to 1 or many groups. A group can store any object type except other Groups.
Select the object you wish to add to a group
Click the Group dropdown in the right-hand panel
Click on the + Add to group button
Search and select the group(s) you want to add these objects to
You can multi-select and add multiple objects to groups at once.
Multi-select objects using Shift key + click objects
Select the Groups dropdown
Select the Groups you want to assign them to
Adding an object to a group in the diagram will auto-resize it to fit the containing objects. If the group isn't in the diagram, you'll need to add it from the left-hand options or by double-clicking in the diagram.
Select the object or objects you wish to remove from a group
Click the group dropdown in the right-hand panel
Deselect the group(s) you want to remove these objects from
When you unassign a group from the last object, they won't be removed from the diagram. You may need to clean up the diagrams they're in.
Groups without any model objects assigned are considered unassigned, meaning they're flexible bounding boxes that can be placed anywhere. These do not resize around objects and can be manually resized.
