The menu bar has the following entries: File, Edit, View, Layout, Tools, Grouping, Windows, Help.
The File Menu
New
Opens an editor to begin a new document from scratch.
Open…
Opens an existing document from disk. A new editor is used for the document. It is possible to open several
documents at once by means of a multi selection in the file chooser dialog.
See ‘File Formats’ for descriptions of supported file formats.
Open URL…
Opens an existing document from a remote address. A new editor is used for the document.
See ‘File Formats’ for descriptions of supported file formats.
Recent Documents
Contains a list of documents that recently have been loaded or saved.
Save
Saves the document from the current editor using the associated name.
See ‘File Formats’ for descriptions of supported file formats.
Save As…
Saves the document from the current editor. This lets you specify the file name and file format to be used.
See ‘File Formats’ for descriptions of supported file formats.
Export…
Exports the document from the current editor to a file. This lets you specify the file name and file format
to be used. yEd supports
different export file formats.
Note that graphs cannot be loaded from exported files. In order to save a graph in a format that can be
read, please use ‘Save As…’
instead.
Close
Closes the current editor.
Print…
Opens a dialog which enables the user to print either the whole graph or the visible contents of the current view only. The size of the output can be controlled by either specifying a scaling factor to be applied before printing the graph or by specifying on how many page rows and columns the output should fit. When choosing the latter option the scaling factor will be adjusted automatically so that the graph nicely fits on the poster.
Print Preview…
Opens up a print preview dialog window which enables the user to preview the print results. Within the preview panel it is also possible to change all relevant print settings and immediately see their effects.
Preferences…
Opens a dialog which lets you specify the behavior and display of the editor. See The Preferences Dialog for more details.
Select Language
Choose from one of the available languages.
Quit
Saves the current editor settings and quits yEd. Upon a restart the saved settings will be initially applied to the application. Note that the settings will be stored within a sub-directory in the user’s home directory.
The Edit Menu
Undo
Undoes the last modification to the document.
Redo
Redoes the last undo step.
Cut
Copies the current node selection and all induced edges to the clipboard and removes it from the document.
Copy
Copies the current node selection and all induced edges to the clipboard.
Copy to System Clipboard
Copies the whole document or in the presence of a node-only selection an axis parallel rectangle containing the selected nodes to the system clipboard.
Paste
Pastes the contents of the clipboard.
Paste Into Selected Group
If exactly one open group node is selected in the current editor, this action lets you paste the contents of the clipboard into that selected node.
Duplicate
If one or more nodes are selected, this action duplicates the selected nodes.
Add Child
If one or more nodes are selected, this action adds a new node to the diagram that is connected to all selected nodes.
Delete
Removes the current selection from the document.
Convert to Label
If one or more nodes are selected, this action converts them to labels.
Convert to Node
If one or more labels are selected, this action converts them to nodes.
Align Nodes
The actions in this submenu let you align the selected nodes. They are also available using the keyboard shortcuts displayed in the menu.
Select All
Selects all nodes contained in the document.
Deselect All
Clears the current selection.
Raise Selection
Moves the current selection to the front.
Lower Selection
Moves the current selection to the back.
Find…
Opens a dialog which lets you find elements in the graph structure. See The Find Dialog for more details.
Find Next
Highlights the next element that matches the criteria which were specified during the last call to Find.
Find Previous
Highlights the previous element that matches the criteria which were specified during the last call to Find.
Manage Palette…
Opens a dialog that allows to manage the palette and its sections.
Manage Custom Properties…
Opens a dialog that allows to edit custom properties.
Properties Mapper…
Opens a dialog that allows to map custom properties to visual properties.
Edit Label
Opens an editor to edit the label text.
Properties…
Displays the properties of the selected graph element(s).
The View Menu
Zoom In
Zooms into the current view one step.
Zoom Out
Zooms out of the current view one step.
Reset Zoom
Resets the zoom level to 100%.
Area Zoom
Zooms into the part of a graph that is specified by dragging a rectangle on the view.
Local Zoom
Enables a magnifying glass which can be used to zoom into the part of the graph that is around the mouse cursor.
Fit Content
Zooms and moves the viewport, so that the whole graph gets visible.
Center Selection
Displays the currently selected elements in the center of the view without changing the zoom level.
Go to URL
Opens the URL associated with a selected graph element.
Mode
This submenu can be used to switch to different modes. See The different view modes for a more detailed description of the different modes.
- Edit Mode
- This is the standard mode. It is used primarily for modifying the contents of the document.
- Navigation Mode
- This mode can be used to navigate more easily through the document. It is primarily used for browsing.
Snap Lines
Toggles the Snap Lines feature. Snap Lines help you to create a graph with an appealing layout interactively.
Grid
Enables/disables the grid in the view.
Orthogonal Edges
Toggles the Orthogonal Edges feature. The Orthogonal Edges feature lets you easily create and update orthogonal edges interactively.
Full Screen
Switches to full-screen mode which allows convenient navigation in the current document. (You can leave this mode again by pressing ESC.)
The Layout Menu
The layout menu provides access to the powerful layout algorithms that are part of the yFiles API. Layout Algorithms contains a more detailed description of the different options.
The Tools Menu
The tools menu provides access to a wealth of useful tools that can be used to gain information about, the currently edited document, modify the document visually and structurally and to create all new documents from scratch. Tools offers a more detailed description of the available tools.
The Grouping Menu
This menu provides access to the node hierarchy features that are available in yEd. These are described in more detail in Grouped and Nested Graph Hierarchy.
The Windows Menu
This menu is only available in the version of yEd that supports dockable windows. Dockable windows and their benefits are explained in the section “Dockable Windows”.
Overview
Displays the ‘Overview’ tool window.
Structure View
Displays the ‘Structure’ tool window.
Properties View
Displays the tool window that presents the properties of selected nodes or edges.
Palette
Displays the ‘Palette’ tool window.
Reset Window Layout
Resets the arrangement of all default tool windows to their factory positions.
Editors
Holds the list of currently open editors.
The Help Menu
Help
Opens the yEd help window.
First Steps
Opens a tutorial that explains the yEd graph editor’s essential usage concepts and possibilities.
Visit yEd Knowledge Base…
Opens a collection of tips and small tutorials for yEd in the web browser.
Example Graphs
Makes available a set of example graphs.
Welcome Screen
Displays the Welcome screen that is presented at application startup.
Send Feedback…
Opens a dialog for sending a message to yWorks. You can use this tool to send bug reports and feature requests to the yEd team at yWorks.
Check for Update…
Checks whether a newer version of yEd is available at the yWorks web site.
About
Displays version and legal information.