How to add layers to your whiteboard in draw.io

draw.io and versatility

draw.io and versatility go hand-in-hand, enabling you and your teams to visualize everything, from UML and process diagrams, to mind maps and org charts.

Anyone who purchases draw.io for their company provides all teams with immediate and unlimited access to the draw.io diagram and board (i.e. our whiteboard-style) editor. This is perfect for teams with different requirements and a wide range of use cases. This might be engineers building flowcharts and sequence diagrams, or HR creating an org chart in line with their corporate style, or running an Agile check-in.

In this blogpost, we’ll take a look at one specific feature that is available in both the diagram and board editor: layers. Specifically, we’ll look at how using layers in your draw.io boards will take them to the next level, along with guidance on how to build these in draw.io, and templates for you to download and use with your teams.

Why add layers to your draw.io boards?

Layers add a dynamic element to your visualizations. As the name suggests, it allows you to build up your diagram in layers, enabling you to group, show, or hide specific elements within your diagram.

You can even lock layers to prevent other users from making further changes to specific section(s). While others can technically unlock these layers themselves again, this is a great failsafe for reducing the risk of someone editing part of the diagram by accident.

As always, your draw.io diagrams in Confluence are fully secure, mirroring the access permissions of the Confluence page they are created in.

Let’s take a look at two examples:

1. Create a custom org chart

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

This org chart provides an overview of a sales team, using a custom library containing employee pictures. (See how to create custom libraries in this video).

Each layer in the org chart corresponds to a department: leadership, sales leads, and the regional sales teams.

To rename a layer, simply double-click on the layer, enter the name you wish to use, and click Rename.

To add a new layer, click on the plus (+) icon at the bottom of the layer dialog.

Once you’ve created the new layer this will be selected by default, meaning any changes you now make to the diagram will be applicable to that specific layer you have chosen.

If you wish to make changes to another layer, you will first need to select that layer from the list, before making any edits.

To lock one or more layers, click on a given layer and select the padlock icon.

Locked layers will turn red and show a locked padlock symbol. This prevents others from editing one or more layers of the org chart. If someone wants to add more members to the MEA Sales Team for example, you can lock all the other layers except the MEA one, before sharing the diagram.

To show or hide layers of your diagram, click on the eye icon next to the layer.

This is particularly useful for large organizations with many different members and departments. A new starter might want to see the departments they will be working with while hiding the rest of the org chart details, so they only focus on what they need to know during their onboarding.

2. Agile team retrospective

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

Agile retrospectives provide teams the space to reflect on past work and see where improvements can be made, e.g. after a two-week sprint, or at the end of a project.

It is a great idea to customize your team retrospective boards, to store them as a working template to use time and time again. For more information on how to create a custom template from a diagram, see Leverage your draw.io user experience with custom templates.

In this example, the team will go through each stage of the diagram in order:

• Begin with an icebreaker to warm up;
• Look at what went well and what can be improved after the sprint/project end;
• Look at concrete next steps to implement next time;
• End with a check-out activity.

When you’re ready to run the retro and the team joins the online meeting, you’ll want some sections of the diagram to remain editable, (e.g. the sticky notes), while others should stay locked, (e.g. the Teammate boxes for the check-in and check-out. Users will then choose a color and drag sticky notes to their respective box, to add their ideas to the board.

Show or hide sections of the diagram individually to guide the team through each stage of the retro, or hide certain sections that you don’t want to draw attention to until you introduce them later. This is great for introducing surprise elements and running an interactive retro that encourages your teammates to remain actively engaged and participate at each stage.

At the end of the retro, to keep the diagram decluttered and only show key information for stakeholders viewing the retro diagram in the Confluence page it’s attached to, you could hide the Sticky notes layer, rather than needing to select the shapes and delete them.

For clean documentation, hide the Sticky notes layer, or other layer(s) after the retro is done

Time to layer up

Here are just two examples of ways you can use the layers feature in draw.io boards to ensure these are dynamic, intuitive, and allow users to choose their level of detail when accessing them.

For more information on working with layers in draw.io, see:

• Interactive diagrams with custom links and actions
• draw.io Training – Exercise 7: Create a diagram with layers and images

Want to dive deeper into the world of draw.io? Access our linktr.ee page to follow us on social media and learn how others use draw.io, as well as pick up some helpful tips and tricks.