How to draw shapes in a browser

The eight shapes in the shape menu

Press U and the Shape tool opens a row of eight sub-tools: Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Line, Arrow, Star, Heart and Spiral. The Polygon option draws the six-sided hexagon, which is the shape most diagrams reach for when they need a service box or a distinct process step.

The row sits under the tool button, so the shapes are one click away and the choice stays active until you pick another. That matters when you are drawing a set: twenty rectangles in a row should not cost twenty trips back to the sub-tool row.

Two of the eight are the workhorses of any diagram. Rectangle holds a label, Line joins two points, and Arrow shows which way the flow runs. The rest are there for the moments when a diagram wants to be less rectangular.

• Rectangle and Ellipse for blocks and containers
• Line and Arrow for connections and direction
• Polygon draws the six-sided hexagon
• Star, Heart and Spiral for marks and decoration

Note: There are no connector objects that attach themselves to a shape and no automatic layout on the canvas, so an arrow is a shape you place and position yourself.

Drawing a shape the way you want it to appear

Drawing a shape is a drag. Press down where the shape should start, move to where it should end, and release. The shape takes the size and angle of that drag, so a rectangle comes out square only if you dragged it square.

The style that will be applied comes from the flyouts in the left toolbar: Fill Options, Stroke Options, Appearance and Typography. Set them before you drag, and every shape you draw afterwards arrives with that look already on it.

If a shape lands in the wrong place, it is still an ordinary element. Switch to Select (V), click it, and drag it somewhere better. A wrong shape is a thirty-second fix rather than a redraw, and the beginner drawing guide covers the tool switching in full.

• Drag from one corner to the other to size it
• Set the flyouts first, then draw
• V selects a shape so you can move it
• Nothing snaps to a grid, so place it by eye

Fill and stroke as two separate switches

Fill is the inside of a shape and stroke is its outline, and each has its own on/off switch. Enable Fill switches the interior color on, Enable Stroke switches the outline on. Fill off and stroke on gives an empty outline, which is how most diagram boxes are drawn.

Both flyouts carry a color picker with a hex readout, so a palette can be copied by eye. Fill on and stroke off gives a solid block of color, and the two together give a filled shape with a defined edge.

Turn a switch off and the shape keeps the other half of its styling, so you can strip a fill off a diagram and get an outline version without redrawing. The diagram guide uses this for a clean outline copy of a block layout.

• Enable Fill switches the interior color on and off
• Enable Stroke switches the outline on and off
• Fill off and stroke on gives an empty outline
• Each flyout has a color picker and hex value

Stroke width, dashed lines and the width slider

The Stroke Options flyout sets the width of the outline on a slider that runs from 1 to 100. A value of 1 or 2 gives a hairline that disappears in a screenshot, and 4, the default, is comfortable on a screen.

The Dashed switch next to the size slider turns the outline into a dashed line. Dash is the quickest way to say that a connection is optional, provisional or outside the main flow, and it costs one click per shape.

Width is set per shape rather than per drawing, so a heavy border on one box does not follow you to the next one. Set the width when you are styling that shape, and use the size slider on the floating selection toolbar to adjust several shapes together.

• Stroke width runs from 1 to 100
• Dashed outlines mark optional or secondary links
• 4 is the default line weight
• The selection toolbar carries a size slider too

Opacity and the six blend modes

The Appearance flyout holds two controls: an Opacity slider from 0 to 100 percent and a Blend Mode dropdown with six entries. Normal, the default, draws the shape on top of what is underneath, which is the plain source-over behavior.

The other five modes change how a shape combines with what is already there. Multiply darkens, Screen lightens, Overlay sharpens contrast, Darken keeps the darker of the two and Lighten keeps the lighter. Screen over a dark area reads as a glow, and Multiply over a light area reads as a shadow.

These are the controls a design tool gives you, and they make one shape sit behind another without moving it. Lower the opacity to 60 percent and a block of text stays readable on top of it, a standard trick for diagrams with a lot of labels.

• Opacity runs from 0 to 100 percent
• Normal is the default source-over behavior
• Multiply and Darken push a shape back
• Screen and Lighten pull a shape forward

Note: Blend modes apply to one shape at a time, because the canvas has no groups. Overlapping shapes are what you get, and the blend mode is how you control what happens where they meet.

Typography on shapes and text elements

The Typography flyout sets the font, the size, bold, italic and the alignment, and it applies to text inside a shape as well as to a text element. Ten fonts are available, from Inter for a plain label to Caveat or Dancing Script for something that should look written rather than set.

The size slider runs from 12 to 200. That range covers a poster headline and a caption, and because the control previews as you drag it, you can find the size that fits a long label by trying two or three values.

A shape that carries a label does the work of two elements, and the text moves with the shape when you drag it. Keep the label inside the shape, though, because text that overhangs the edge reads as an accident rather than a decision.

• Ten fonts, from Inter to Press Start 2P
• Size slider runs from 12 to 200
• Bold, italic and three alignment options
• Text inside a shape moves with the shape

Editing a shape after you have drawn it

Click a shape with the Select tool and the floating selection toolbar appears above it, carrying fill, stroke, size, duplicate, bring to front, send to back, lock and delete. It is the fastest way to restyle a shape without returning to the flyouts.

Shape geometry is edited like any other element. Four corner handles resize it and the aspect ratio stays locked, so a rectangle grows evenly. The handle above the box rotates it, turning a straight arrow into a diagonal one without redrawing.

Shift+click adds a second shape to the selection, and dragging empty space draws a marquee around everything it covers. That is how you change the fill of twenty boxes at once, or move a set of shapes as one piece. The shortcut list covers duplicate and delete.

• Select (V) and click a shape to raise the toolbar
• Four corner handles resize with the ratio locked
• The handle above the box rotates the shape
• Shift+click or a marquee selects several shapes

Note: Every change is reversible. Ctrl/Cmd+Z steps back through the restyles, and the shared history keeps 20 versions of the document.

A checklist you can reuse

• The shape was chosen from the eight in the Shape sub-tool row
• Fill and stroke were set deliberately, not left to the default
• Stroke width is heavy enough to survive a screenshot
• Dashed lines are used only where they mean something
• Opacity and blend mode were used to solve an overlap problem
• Labels sit inside their shapes and stay readable
• The whole set was checked with a fit to the view before export

Common mistakes to avoid

• Leaving the fill on every shape. A page of filled blocks is heavy to read and hides the lines that carry the meaning. Switch the fill off and let the outline work.
• Hairline strokes. A width of 1 disappears on a bright screen and vanishes entirely in a downscaled image. Keep 2 or more, and use 4 as the default.
• Fighting a shape that will not move. A shape that refuses to drag is usually still selected by the Shape tool. Press V first, then click and drag it.
• Text hanging outside its shape. A label that overhangs the edge looks like a mistake and hides the outline. Shorten the label or enlarge the shape.
• Using blend modes to hide a layout problem. Fading a shape until it does not clash is a patch. Move the shape, or reduce the overlaps, before reaching for the Appearance flyout.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my shape come out with no fill?

Fill and stroke are independent switches, and a shape inherits whatever the Fill Options flyout was set to when you drew it. Open Fill Options and switch Enable Fill on, or leave it off for an empty outline. The same holds for the stroke, so an outline-only diagram is one click away from a filled one.

Can a line attach itself to a shape and follow it around?

No. The canvas has no connector objects, so a Line or an Arrow is an ordinary shape that you place and position yourself. Move a box and the arrow stays where you put it, which means connectors need a small adjustment whenever a diagram changes shape.

Which blend mode should I use for a highlight?

Screen or Lighten over a dark area gives a glow, and Multiply or Darken over a light area gives a shadow. Most of the time opacity alone is enough: drop a shape to 40 percent and a label on top stays readable. Blend modes are for the places where shapes genuinely overlap.

How do I make a row of identical boxes quickly?

Draw one box, style it, then press Ctrl/Cmd+D to duplicate it and drag the copy into position. Every duplicate keeps the fill, the stroke, the width and the font. There is no alignment or distribution command on the canvas, so for a strict grid of screens the App Builder is the better tool.

This guide is part of the canvas and sketching collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.