Frames allow you to move a group of shapes, even a complex visual, around your workspace more easily. You can add a frame to any grouping of shapes using the right-click menu. Select all the shapes or the diagram you want to include and choose Add Frame from the right-click menu. When blueprints are added to your workspace, they will also appear inside a frame. You can move the diagram around by moving its frame around.
You can modify most frame properties using the right-click menu.
Change Frame Color
By default, frames will be gray, but you can select the frame and change the color to any color, including white. To change the color of a frame, right-click on it and select a color from the Fill Frame menu.
Change Labels and Titles
When frames are added with blueprints, they are labeled in the upper left corner by default. You can double-click the text to change this label to anything you want. You can also select the text and delete it.
You can turn off the label and add a title row instead to any frame using the right-click menu. Under Frame Options, select Show a Title.
Once you have a title row, you can change the color of it independently from the rest of the frame using the Fill Title command in the right-click menu.
Change How the Frame Resizes
By default, frames resize as the diagram inside them resizes. A frame will automatically expand to make room for new shapes you add and collapse if you remove shapes. If you want to have manual control over the size of your frame, right-click on the frame and under Frame Options, select Resize Manually.
Once you set frames to size manually, you can create extra space as needed.
Behave as a Group
You can set frames to behave like a group. Obviously, frames already serve the purpose of moving shapes around as a group when they're moved. This is true whether you have set Behave as a Group or not.
What checking Behave as a Group under Frame Options does:
- Allow you to duplicate both the frame and its content as a group
- Delete the content of the frame if a frame is deleted
- Allow you to Send to Front or Send to Back both the frame and its content using the Home tab
Add a Frame to Another Frame
If you check Behave as a Shape in Other Frames under Frame Options, you can add frames to other frames on your page and nest them.
In the example below, we nested a decision tree with a frame inside a mind map frame.