From Steps to Structure: Creating Process Diagrams in Diagrams. net

1. Introduction to the Course: Hello and welcome to from steps to structure, creating process Diagrams in diagrams.net. Am Pratik and I bring over a decade of experience in general computing and multimedia. In this course, I'll guide you step by step as we explore diagrams.net, a free and powerful tool for creating process Diagrams. Together, we'll start with the basics, learning about shapes, connectors, and formatting. Then move on to building a complete online shopping workflow diagram. You'll see how to add decision points and align elements and starle your diagram for a professional look. For your project, you'll create your own diagram as well, applying everything you've learned to a workflow, routine or system of your choice. So let's get started. 2. Getting Started with Diagrams: So diagram.net is a free to use diagram application. It allows you to create stunning visuals, that is Diagrams easily right through your web browser. You can go ahead and use a web version of it or install a desktop version of the app as well. So to access it, you can go to drawo.com, and you can go ahead right here onto start to access out the web version or download and install it on your computer as well. My case, I'm going to click onStart, and it actually loads up app diagrams.net, which is the web application. And this is what we're going to use in order to go ahead and start making our diagrams. So over here, you can see on the left hand side, you got different shapes that you can bring in, and then you can place the diagrams as you like. For those particular shapes that you select, over here on the right hand side, you can see that there's many different sort of properties that you can change to aint out the outlook of the diagram. Over here on the left hand side, there's more shapes that you can access as well. Over here on the top, you get the navigational panels, as you can see just like this. And over here, you got the menus right here, just like this as well. So apart from that, if I were to go around over here onto file right here, you can see that IG saving Options opening and so forth right here. So we're going to go ahead and utilize this application to create a diagram of our own, as well. For example, we're going to go ahead and create a step by step process for an online shopping shopping process. So, so what you need to make sure of is to always save your work. And whenever I go ahead and make changes, you can see that right now as the saves are unchanged. So that is there is no saving happening whatsoever. I can go ahead and save it to my local drive here into device. But what I'm going to do is for constant uh, online saving. I'm going to link my file to Google Drive. So to do that, you need to go around over here onto FL. And then, let me just go ahead and let's just name this as online shopping. Let's say, for example, here, and then rename it. And then in order to save it, I'm going to go around over here onto FL and then let's just go ahead and save it to my Google Drive. You can also use other drives as you want, but in my case, I'm going to use Google Drive and click on S. Now once you do that, it asks you to authorize out your Google Drive, as you can see here. So let's just go around onto authorize. Then I can actually go ahead and then select out my file at here. So let's just go ahead and continue here just like this. And then I'm going to go ahead and allow permissions to my Google Drive so that diagrams can access and modify the file. And once you do that, what happens is that it saves out the file in Google Drive itself. So if I were to actually go around over here onto my Google Drive, so let's just access out my Google Drive R. Here, you'll be able to see your file R here. And whenever you actually go ahead and make changes to it, what will happen is that it'll go ahead and save and update the file onto Google Drive. So even if you were to accidentally forget to save it, then it'll automatically be saved into Google Drive. Yeah. So this is what you have, and you can see that there are some grids as you see, as well. You can even go ahead and change this out if you want to. So you can go around and see the outline here. You can actually see the outline of the pace here. You can view many things. You can enable and disable the grid as you want. You can also go ahead and enable and disable the guides as you want here. So as we actually move along and work with the shapes and so forth and work by creating the diagram, we're going to go ahead and utilize all of the important tools that you need to know so that you can go ahead and then create the diagram of your own easily. So on the next video, we're going to go ahead and begin the process of diagram making and start understanding the symbols and how to use them. 3. Basics of Process Diagram Elements: In order to start making diagrams, you need to know how you can actually go ahead and add those diagrams over here in the canvas. So to do that over here on the left hand side, you see the general diagrams right here. That is actually enough to make most type of diagrams. So over here, let's say, for example, over here, there's a rounded rectangle. I can go ahead and keep it wherever I want. I can use the corner handles to go ahead and resize. And over here you can see that I got these dots here to change around how the shape actually looks. Similarly, if I were to bring in this diagram, let's say, for example, there's this yellow dot rot here, and that is how you can actually go ahead and change out how the diagram looks. You can go ahead, press the delete key to delete it out as it's selected as well. Well, let me just go around over here onto this one here, and you can see that you got the diagram wrote here, just like this as well. But for basic diagrams like rectangle, you don't get the yellow right there. Anyways, you can go ahead and then click and drag it out and please it wherever you want. So this is the diagram, and let's say I have another diagram rot here, and you want to go ahead and connect the diagram to it. So this is what you have. This is a square diagram, as you can see right here, which is perfectly square. So if I want to connect to it, I can actually utilize different sort of lines right here. I can click and connect it to this diagram. These points here, just like this. As they are connected, you can see that they are actually linked to one another right here, just like this. I can go ahead and select and delete out these points as well. And apart from that, I can also go around over here and you can see that I have this button right here. I can click and drag this line right here to connect it out to other shape here, just like this, or I can delete this out as well. Or apart from that, I can click on this top right here, just like this. I can click on it, and then I can choose another shape that I want, and then you simply have a connected shape as you can see. And as I move along this shape, you can actually see that the diagram rot here is straight, and that is what you have. So I can click on the diagram, click and drag these points out as well to change around how that looks as well. Let me just go ahead and click and delete this out rot here. And apart from that, you can see that I can add and curb, sort of a shape as well. You can go ahead and click and then click and drag it, and you can see that this is how it'll actually work here. Let me just go ahead and delete it. And apart from that, you can also see that there's many there are many sorts of diagrams like one with the labels around over here. You can go ahead and click, and this is what you have, as you can see, Yeah, you can go ahead and delete this out as you wish, as well, just like this. So that is what you have, and that is how you can actually work with connectors, as well. Let me just go ahead and connect it out just like this. And then apart from that, you can also go ahead and type something within the shape as well as you want. So let's say, for example, I'm going to say sample right here and sample right here, just like this. And I can go ahead and double click antens around the boldness. You can go ahead and tine around the justification for it, the size for it, right here, just by selecting out the shape right here, just like this as well. You can go ahead and change the shape. You can also go ahead and in around the color right here, just like this. And this is what you have. Apart from that, you can also go around over here. And select out many different background colors for the shape as well to change around how that looks and even enable and disable the fill or add in a gradient as you wish as well, just like this and choose the color of the gradient as you want, as well to make it more fancy right here. So you can turn it like a sketch as you can see here by using the sketch. You can add in a shadow, make it a glass, look here to go ahead and change the design as you wish as well, just like this, as you can see. That is what you have, and you can go ahead and change around the arrowheads, as well. So you can see that I have this default arrowhead. I can go ahead and change the arrowhead. Yeah, I can change the type of the line here just like this, and I can go ahead and change the arrowhead as you want, as well, just like this. So once you go ahead and do that, you can see that this is what you have, and you can change around the line size. As you want, as well, just like this and change around all of these parameters. You can go ahead and turn it into a sketch, make it like a flow animation, add in shadows as well as you want to. So this is what you have, as you can see right here, just like this. And then you can go ahead and make out the changes. Here, another thing that you need to know while you're drawing is the snapping that happens. So there's a little grid rat here, and as I move around the shapes, it actually snaps onto these grids here so that the shape is balanced. So if I were to go around over here onto view, you can enable and disable the grid as well. And you can see that as I disable the grid, the snapping is gone, it's move smooth. But as I enable the grid here just like this, then what happens is that it snaps onto the grids here, just like this. That is what you have right here. Usually, it's a good idea to go ahead and have the grids on so that you have a more balanced diagram. So as we learn about the basic diagram elements now and we learn how to format the Ps, connect the Ps, now it's time to go ahead and apply whatever we have learned so far into a proper diagram. And for this diagram, we're going to go ahead and utilize online shopping as an example. And now we're going to move forward with building a proper a proper process diagram. 4. Building the Process Diagram: So now that we know how we can go ahead and bring in shapes and connect them, let's just go ahead and start making the diagram itself. So to do that, let me just go ahead and delete this. And over here, first of all, I'm going to go ahead and bring in a text. Let's just go around over here and then drag the box across right here and pull this out right here. So once I go ahead and do this, I'm going to go ahead and double click. And let's say, for example, I'm going to go ahead and see online shopping process right here, just like this. So this is what I have as you can see, and then I can go ahead and click it and then add in a background color as I wish. I can go ahead right here and let's say, for example, go to online shopping, and then I'm going to go ahead and type in 24, let's say, for example, to make and make the um, text bigger. Let's just go ahead and bowl this by pressing Control V as well. So this is what you have, and you can add ingredients as you want, as well, or make it look like a sketch as you can see, but I'm going to go ahead and leave it as it is. So now let's just go ahead and start making out the shapes. So to do that, I'm going to go ahead and utilize around a rectangle. I have my grids ten on right here, just like this. So let's just go around over here onto the center itself, right here, just like this. And then what I'm going to do is go ahead here. And then, let's say, for example, go ahead and take some space. Let's say, for example, for a grid space rot here, just like this to make the shape rat here over here. So you can see that this is what you have right here, four shapes right here. So now I'm going to go ahead here and let's just go ahead onto the center, and this is what you have. I can go ahead and resize this out as well. So now if I were to go onto the middle, this is what I have now. Now I'm going to simply add in the process. So the next process is browse product. So this is the starting rot here like this for online sopping. Let's just click on the arrow rot here like this and select this shape. And then this is what you have, as you can see, rot here. So now over here, I'm going to say add to CTR here just like this. So once you browse the product, next is add to CT. Go around over here and take another shape. Let's say, for example, t here. So I'm just going to go ahead and make sure that I leave around one box of spacing here for each um time, so I'm just going to go ahead and bring this in. And the next is check out right here, just like this. So let me just go ahead and then go ahead and then add in another shape around over here as well, just like this. And then apart from that, I'm going to add in after. Check out right here. I'm going to check is product. In stock right here, just like this. So this is what you have. So if product is in stock right here, then it actually goes ahead right here, just like this onto the next spot. So I'm just going to go round, and let's say, for example, go round over here. And if it is yes, then it goes to the payment right here. So if product is in stock, then if it is yes, it goes to the payment. Otherwise, it goes right here. Let's say, for example, I'm just going to go ahead and then click and drag this out. If it is a no, let's say, for example, I'm going to go round over here onto the no part. Then it actually goes ahead and say, for example, it says, inform user that product is out of stock here just like this. So if in case it is a no right here, this is what you have. So let's just go round over here. And then if I were to go round over here and double click, then I can press No here. So once I go ahead and do that, you can go round over here. So it goes back on to the browse product part rot here, I can go ahead and pull this up rot here, just like this as well. So this is what you have. You go back to the Bowe product rout here or you can go back to the cat Ato card as well. So this is what you have. And then as it is, yes. So now I'm going to go ahead onto payment. And for this, I'm going to go around over here and drag out, let's say, for example, two Cs from payment as well. So let's just go around over here, just like this and then click and drag this out, and then I'm going to go ahead and click and drag this out. And over here, let's just see that, um, I wonder not a confirmation. Let me just go ahead and change the shape for this as well. Just like this, or maybe I just want another shape for this. So this isn't working out, so let's just go ahead and then copy out this text, delete it, bring in another shape. Let's say, around a rectangle itself, right here, just like this and track this in. So I'm going to go ahead and paste this out right here, just like this. But you can see that this is what you have if I were to go around over here on text. This is what you have. You've got a bit of a space right here on the top and bottom. Let's just go ahead and delete it right here. So now, apart from that, if I were to go around over here onto payment. So on the payment, let's say, for example, my payment is there. Maybe I don't want the two arrows right here. Let's just go ahead and delete it. Add in another safe route here. And let's say, for example, wants to use it as the payment is payment successful. So this is what I want successful right here. And then if it is a yes, so let's just go around over here onto this. So let's just go ahead and drag out this one and then drag in this one as well. This is what you have. So now around over here, I'm going to go ahead and bring in, let's say, for example, this one. So order confirmed. If it is a yes, right here, just slide this. So let's just go ahead and resize this out. And if it is not, so let's just go ahead and then copy and paste this out right here. If it is not confirmed, then retry payment right here, just like this. So this is what you have, and I'm going to go ahead and push this out the pot a bit right here, s this as well. And now I'm going to go ahead and let's say, for example, connect it out onto the SAP so that even if I were to move the SAP, it stays connected. So now, if it is, let's say, for example, not successful, then it loops back out onto, let's say, for example, onto the payment section. So here I'm going to go ahead and type in, and here I'm going to type here. So now, once this is done, I'm going to go ahead and redirect it back to payment and drag this out right here, this slide this. So let's just go around over here. And then, let's say, for example, drag this out right here and then drag this out over here as well. And then I'm going to go around over here onto payment. So this is what you have retry payment, and it goes back to the payment section. If it is done, then it goes on to or confirm, and then you have the delivery process. I'm just going to go ahead and resize this out here. Just like this. I'm just going to go ahead and utilize this same shape rot here. So let's just go around over here onto confirmed. Then if it is confirmed right here, just like this, then what happens is that it goes to deliber right here, just like this. So let's just go ahead and drag this down right here. And apart from that, I'm going to go around over here and then go to the next process as well. So the next process here is feed. Back and review. So let's just go around onto feedback and review. And then finally, it goes to the end of the process. So let's just go around and use is this one right here. So let's just go ahead and drag this down. And then I'm going to go ahead and say end process, right here, just like this. So this is what you have. This is the overall structure as you can see here. So now if I were to go ahead and click and drag everything right here, then I can go ahead and then move it out wherever I want, as well. But let's just go around over here onto Style section for a moment here and select out all of the shapes right here and assign a style to it. So let's just go around over here, assign this style. And for, let's say, for example, these shapes, I'm going to go ahead and choose another style here just like this. So you can see that this is the text and you got the background color. Let's just go ahead and disable that out as well. So this is what you have, and let's just go ahead and press control V so that these shapes are bolded, as well. Apart from that, you can also go ahead over here onto line right here. So let's just go around over here, and then select out the lines right here. So these are the lines. Let's just go ahead and click it, click it, click it right here and just go ahead and select it. Control. Click it right here. So let's not mistakely click out other things. Let's just go ahead and click out the lines right here, just like this. Let's just go ahead right here, and then click this one, click the line yeah, just like this. Let's just go ahead and select out the lines carefully, and then go ahead and make changes to it. So let's just go around over here onto this line as well. So now, over here, you can see that there's the property and so forth for this, you can go ahead and change around, let's say, for example, different things, you can go ahead and make it comic and so forth, right here, just like this as well. But let me just go around over here, keep it as it is. And this is what you have. So let's say what I actually want to do is add in a background as well. So let's just go ahead and add in a rectangle and click and drag the rectangle around over here, just like this. Click and drag everything around over here and send it back. And then I'm going to go ahead and add in a background color to this as well. So you can go ahead and add color right here as you need as well, just like this. Less go around over here, just like this. And then you can add an ingredient to it as well to make it interesting here. So this is what you have, as you can see, but let me just go around and choose a lighter color right here, just like this less add in gradient. And then you can go ahead and choose a lighter color here, just like this as well if you want to. Let me just go around over here on blue type of color and apart from that, you also can go ahead and select out another color. Here's a slide this supply, and this is what you have. So this is the overall outlook, as you can see here, and we have actually went ahead and made the shaped here's a slide this. So now, as we go along, we're going to focus on how we can actually go ahead and house the design and make it look even more interesting, right here. 5. Enhancing the Diagram: So now that we have our basic diagram ready, let's just go ahead and make it more interesting visually. So to do that, let me just go ahead and change around the effect of the shapes shot here. Let's just go ahead and hold control and select all of these sapo here, just like this. And now let's say what I want to do is I want to add in a glass effect to it. You can immediately see that it is interesting, and let's add in shadow to it, as well. So it gives it more of a three D look in that way. Similarly, I can go around and select these. Let's add in a glass, shadow and a sketch effect to these rat here. So you can see that they look a bit different right here. So you can see these texts around over here as well, like yes, no, and so forth. Let's just select them and make them out bold as well. You can even change the background color if you want rat here, but I'm going to keep it as it is. So now I'm going to go around over here, bowl this out right here and bowl this out as well. So this is what you have, and immediately, you can see that it actually changes. Yeah. So now, what I'm going to do is there is, let's say, for example, multiple links here. Let me just go ahead and change the color of those as well. So that is what you have, as you can see here. So you can go ahead and let's say for example, go around over here, change the color of it as well. So that is what you have. And if there's multiple link, let's say, I want it to be green here. This one, as well, there's multiple links that is going to be green, and this is going to be green rat here. So if you come back to it, then it is green. But here, as you can see rate so this is what you have, and then end process will be green as well. Let's say, for example, and then immediately, you can see that everything is now colorful. You can even go ahead right here and change the style of the text right here. Like, for example, you can make it comic sense right here or go ahead and change the heading size as well. But let me just go ahead right here. Keep it to help Tika itself. Yeah. So now, as this is done, let's just go ahead and add in more visual elements, for example. So to do that, you can actually go around over here onto file and then go round onto Import from let me just go ahead and choose device in my case, let's say, for example, and select this out. So you can go ahead and resize it and place it wherever you want, just like this. So this is what you have, as you can see, and that is how you can actually go ahead and add in more graphical elements and make like ans the outlook altogether as well. So for this one, let's just go ahead and select out the safe rot here as well. And then you can go ahead and add in more colors. But let me just go around over here and choose, let's say, for example, a softer color here, make a bit of a change t here, and that is what you have, as you can see right here. For the online shopping process, you can go ahead and add in a gradient frat here, and maybe you may want to add a glass look as well. Even the shadow, you can add in sketch as well just like this to make it interesting. So you can also go ahead and make it rounded around over here as well. But that looks informal. So let's just go ahead and go around for this. So this is what you have, over here on the bottom, let's say, I want more of a dark orange type of a color right here just like this, and that is what you have. But the previous one seems to be okay, so let me just press Control jet right here. So this is what you have, as you can see. So this is how you can go ahead and enhance out the diagram. You got these lines as well as you can see, so let's go ahead and use the dotted arrows right just like this. You can even go ahead and enable the flow animation here, just like this, as you can see, as the dotted lines are involved. So let's just go ahead right here and do the same for others as well. So let's just go ahead add in a flow animation to it. You can even go ahead and make it sketch like as you can see right here. If you want add in shadows to it as well, just like this. So let's just go around onto this arrow, this arrow, this arrow. Let's do the same. So let's add in flow animation. Add in shadow to it right here, just like this. So now for the nose right here, for regular process, I guess this animation is okay. For the no part right here, for the reverse thing right here, let's just go ahead and use smaller lines and then add in shadow and flow animation to it. So is fine. So this is fine right here. Let's just go around over here. This and this, let's just go ahead and add in flow animation to this as well, and add in a shadow. For this one, let's just go ahead and choose smaller lines right here, flow animation and shadow here. So apart from that, you simply have the flow animation around over here again. So let's just go ahead and select this, select this and select this and add in a flow animation and shadow to it just like this. So this is what you have. You even have the animation now, as you can see, just like that. So you can even go ahead and change the size of the flow lines itself, as well. So let's just go ahead and change that. But I want the regular size itself. So you can see that immediately you have the immediately, you have, um, like, let's say, for example, the Enhanced diagram right here, just like this. And that is how you can create a visual impact. And then apart from that, you can even go ahead and change the entire style by one go if you want, as well. Change everything into a sketch or maybe this one or this one right here, just like this, as you can see. And then there's many different options around over here as well that you can immediately go ahead and click and the theme will be applied. You can turn it into a sketch, maybe change it rounded and so forth. But let me just press Control J itself, right here, just like this because I want the original design. I'm just going to go around over here. Like this, maybe I want to go ahead and turn it rounded and so forth. Then I can do that right there as well. So let's just go ahead on to rounded here, click and drag this out, and then you can see that it has been visually enhanced now. And this is how you can actually go ahead and enhance the diagram as you wish to make it even look more visually appealing in diagram. And then now moving on forward, we're going to focus on how to finalize the project and then export it out in different formats as needed. 6. Finalizing the Project: So we have our diagram ready now. So let's say what I want to do is I want to go ahead and add a final background to it as well, which is going to be a rectangular shape. Let's say, for example, so I'm just going to go around over here and then click and drag the rectangle across here, just like this, here. And then I'm just going to go ahead and pull this out and drag this out right here. So let's just go ahead and drag this up right here. Let's just go ahead and drag this out. And over here, what I'm going to do is remove this as a sketch. So let's just go around over here and drag it till the bottom here, just like this. So let's just go ahead right here, add in a gradient to this as well. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to right click and send this backward here, just like this, or send this right to back right here so that it goes to the moost area. So over here, now what I'm going to do is, let's say, for example, go around and choose a color of the background here, just like this. And this is what you have, as you can see. So this is the final touch I've made, and let's say the browse product is going to be a bit larger, so you can go ahead and make changes according to that, as well. And the end process, let's just go around and make it much more rounder rot here, just like this. So this is what you have, as you can see, and then you can go ahead, make it much more rounder just like this, as well. This is what you have, and now what I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and export this. So this is already saved onto my Google Drive because we actually set it to save by default in Google Drive. So now I can simply go around over here onto FL and then I can go to Export As, and over here, you can see that there's many different options like this PN Z, Z, PZ, web P, SBZRa here. So let's just go ahead onto P NZ, which is actually a good format, lightweight format R here. And let's say I want light here. And let's say you want to include the shadows and then click on Export, right here, just like this. So I can go ahead and save it onto my device and it gets downloaded right here, just like this. And the image is here. So just like this, you can see that this is the image that has been downloaded here, just like this. That seems to be a bit of a gap right here. So let's just go ahead and correct it out right here, just like this, right here, let's just go ahead and then pull this out right here, just like this. Uh, so that I get less of a gap here. So now, I'm just going to go round over here, export this out as a PN Z file right here, just like this. So I want the shadow, so let's go ahead and export it, export it out. And then this is what you have, as you can see a here. So now, this has been exported. And apart from that, you can also go ahead and export it as a ZPZ format rat here. Just like this and then so that you can go ahead and share it out as you like, as well. So let's just go ahead and open it out and you can see that this is in JPZ format now, as you can see, which is actually good for pictures, but if you want a low size file that you want to share, then you can utilize this file tab as well. Apart from that, you can also export it as an SVZ file here. So let me just go ahead and export it, export out the full content. And then what happens is that you simply even the lines, the animations as you can see rat here, which has been exported out as a SVG file here. And the thing about the SVG file is no matter how much you zoom in, you still preserve out the quality ra here. So this is what you have. You can export it out as scalable vector graphics, apart from that, you can also export it out as a PDF file, as you can see rate that you can share out with others. And then what happens is that it'll get exported as well. So now as you open it, you'll be able to see the file right here in PDF format as well, just like this. So apart from that, you can also go ahead and export this out as a pure SDML or a URL as well, and so forth. Let's just go ahead over here onto SDMLEport it here, just like this, and then you simply have the SDML file for it along with the animations as well as you can see a here. So apart from it, you can also go around over here and export it as a URL as well, just like this. So if I were to go ahead and create a copy, it actually creates a link to that file right here that you can copy out to the clipboard that you can go ahead and paste, and viewers will be able to go ahead and access the file right here for this particular diagram here just like this. So you can see that you can export it out in many different formats as you wish so that you can share it with other people. And this is how you can simply go ahead and make a full diagram from start to finish inside of diagrams.net. And we have come to the end of the course, and now it's your turn to create your own diagram and submit it. And in the next video, we're going to discuss on the same on what you have to create now. 7. Project Description: So now that we have learned everything we need to know in order to create a process diagram, it's time to put your skills into practice with the class project. So now your task is to design a complete process diagram just like this using diagrams.net. And you can follow the example we built together as we moved along the course. That is the online shopping workflow. Or you can choose any process that interests you. It can be any work process such as a study plan or a system workflow or even a personal routine that you have. So while making the diagram, make sure your diagram includes the essential items that is processes symbol, like start and ending process here like this. And then something that has dicison like, yes or no Ra here, that actually shows the connection between each steps and make sure you have the flows and lines as well. Yours don't need to be animated like mine right here. You can keep it still as well. So and apart from that, make sure to use formattings, alignments, and, of course, groupings as well, and make sure everything is clear and organized. Make sure to add in labels, yes or no, as well, and then text as it is needed. And even you can go ahead and add in notes or icons, if you want, as well to make your diagram more informative. I feel free to add in a graphics like this, as well. So then finish it off with a theme or style adjustment as you need to give it a professional look. And when you're done, make sure to export your diagram in any format as you wish, preferably PNG, JPZ or PDF format, and make sure to share it out with me. This way, you can showcase your work, get feedback, and see how others have approached their diagrams as well. So by completing this project, you'll not only reinforce what you lend, but you'll also create a police process diagram that you can use as a reference for real world tasks. So all the best for it.