How to move BPMN labels

Question

Is there a trick to moving labels in a BPMN diagram? They always appear half a mile from message flows or over the top of nodes so I always need to move them. When I click the label, it shows a box but I cannot use it to move the label (like the old version of yed allowed me to). Most of the time my only solution is to add returns and spaces into the text itself.

(yEd on Ubuntu 12.04)

Comments

Could you please upload a GraphML that contains a label that cannot be moved? (See How to upload files to yEd Q&A? for instructions on how to do that.)

Aside from that, what version of yEd are you using?

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It's not that the labels cant be moved, just that the AI forces me to put them on a grid of its own choosing so it jumps about randomly instead of moving to where I drag it.

Koalabi has actually answered the question: this is as-designed and you cant change the behaviour, only fix it manually and individually for each label. Ah well, I shall take comfort that at least it's not Visio.

Also your instructions for uploading files must be out of date. This page does not have any icons for link etc.

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It's not that the labels cant be moved, just that the AI forces me to put them on a grid of its own choosing so it jumps about randomly instead of moving to where I drag it.

By default, yEd uses "SmartFree" label placement for nodes and edges. There is no grid for "SmartFree". Actually, there is no grid for any other label placement option either. Maybe you mean SmartFree's snap lines?

 

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Koalabi has actually answered the question: this is as-designed and you cant change the behaviour, only fix it manually and individually for each label.

What is "as-designed"? And which behavior cannot be changed? And how is fixing it for each label not changing? That sentence makes no sense at all. Anyways, it is possible to change the placement option for all node labels at once and for all edge labels at once. Moreover, it is also possible to have all labels placed automatically.

 

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Also your instructions for uploading files must be out of date. This page does not have any icons for link etc.

No, these instructions are not out-of-date. They are spot on. However, they apply to posting a new question or answering a question (as mentioned in the very first sentence), they do not apply to commenting!

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Answer 1

Hello,

Maybe a silly question but have you tried clicking on the poorly placed label and playing with the "Placement" attribute ?

I use it quite extensively when the automatic placement is unsatisfactory (which is not often) and I'm very pleased of the results (thumbs up for the dev team!)  Of course, you lose the automation, then ...

Hope this helps ...

Regards

Comments

Thanks, koalabi, I was worried that might be the answer but appreciate the confirmation.

Also good news that you like where it places the labels, personally I prefer them to be readable so will have to turn off the automation for every single label and then move them individually :( Such a shame the Dev team don't understand the principle of configuration over AI.

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Also good news that you like where it places the labels, personally I prefer them to be readable so will have to turn off the automation for every single label and then move them individually :(
Such a shame the Dev team don't understand the principle of configuration over AI.

Ah, thank you very much for insulting both a yEd user who tried to help you and the yEd development team.

How about you start describing your problem in a way that makes actually sense instead of throwing around insults? You know, that might actually lead to somebody explaining how to achieve the desired result. And no, "I prefer labels to be readable" is not an adequate description of your problem. Upload a sample graph and describe in detail what you would like to have changed.

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Answer 2

It's easy. Just edit one element and place the labels in the correct way, then add this element to a palette. Select all the elements in the drawing you want to fis and right-click the one in the palette window. click on apply and al elements in the drawing are the same as the one you put in the palette.