How to use tags in draw.io

What are tags?

Tags in draw.io help you organize and filter elements in your diagrams. Adding tags to shapes and connectors allows you to categorize them quickly and easily – they essentially function like keywords. Tags are dynamic, allowing you to select, hide, and show related parts of your diagram, ideal for complex or multi-step diagrams.

Tags enable you to create categories that make sense for your specific diagram and needs. For example, you might define criteria like:

• Department: Tag shapes as “Sales,” “Marketing,” “Engineering”, then filter only the elements related to “Marketing.”
• Status: Tag tasks as “To Do,” “In Progress,” “Completed”, then filter only the “In Progress” tasks.
• Priority: Tag issues as “High,” “Medium,” “Low”, then filter only the “High” priority items.
• Component type: Tag elements in a network diagram as “Server,” “Router,” “Firewall”, then filter only the “Servers.”

How to enable tags

Head to the View panel in the top menu and select Tags.

Add a new tag

To add a new tag:

1. Select the relevant shapes and connectors you wish to apply the tag to;
2. In the Tags dialog, click Add; alternatively, use the shortcut Ctrl / Cmd + K
3. Enter the name of your tag without spaces (you can use underscores or dashes to separate words), then click Add.

Show/hide tags

Use the eye icon to the left of a tag to show or hide a specific tag in the editor.

Click on the name of a tag to show only that tag, and hide all the other tags.

Note: If you are collaborating on a diagram in real time in Confluence Cloud, showing or hiding tags only affects your diagram preview, others viewing the diagram will not see this.

Remove a tag

First, left-click on a blank space to ensure nothing is selected on the canvas. Then, in the Tags dialog, simply click on the trashcan icon next to a tag to delete it.

Assign tags

Note: You can assign multiple tags to a single element.

If you want to assign shapes/connectors to an existing tag:

1. Select the shape(s) or connector(s). Use Ctrl/Cmd + left-click, or left-click and drag across the canvas to select multiple shapes and/or connectors;
2. In the Tags dialog, check the box to the right of the tag you wish to assign to those shapes.

Search for tags

You can search for specific tags in draw.io. This is incredibly helpful, for instance, when mapping extensive server infrastructures with numerous servers running different applications (e.g., Microsoft, Mac OS). Tagging servers by application type allows you to quickly identify which applications reside on which servers.

To search for tags:

1. In the top menu, head to Edit > Find/Replace, or use the shortcut Ctrl / Cmd + F

2. Type the name of the tag, this will highlight the relevant section in the diagram.

Tags vs. layers: What’s the difference?

In draw.io, both layers and tags help organize and manage complex diagrams, but they function in fundamentally different ways:

Layers: The primary function of layers is to control the visibility of grouped elements. They act like transparent overlays where you place different sets of shapes, and can arrange their stacking order. Each element belongs to a single layer.

Tags: The main purpose of tags is to enable flexible filtering and selection of elements based on categories, regardless of their position or stacking order on the diagram. They essentially function like keywords assigned to shapes and connectors. Elements can belong to multiple tag categories simultaneously.

In a nutshell:

• Use layers when you need to organize your diagram into distinct visual groups that you might want to show, hide, or lock as a unit.
• Use tags when you need to categorize individual elements based on their attributes or roles, allowing for flexible filtering and selection across the entire diagram.

For more information on layers, see:

• draw.io Training: Create a diagram with layers and images
• How to add layers to your whiteboard in draw.io

Save time with tags

Tags are an incredibly powerful and efficient feature in draw.io, allowing you to easily categorize and control visibility of certain sections of your diagram. They allow you to filter, select, and manipulate groups of elements based on shared attributes or roles.

So, next time you’re working on a complex diagram, give tags a try, and see how much clearer everything becomes!

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