Using the app
The graph
Press Graph at the top right and the View opens in place of your documents. The View is your graph spread out to look at, and it opens in 3D with each topic branching out in date order. This page goes through that layout, the other viewpoints, the view card and narrowing to a topic.
Opening the graph
The Graph button switches between documents and the graph. It stays pressed while you are in the graph, and pressing it again takes you back to the document home. Show in graph on the document home, a node in the search results and a node link also lead here, and so does the number key 2.
- Graph Pressed. Press it again to go back to your documents.
- View card The button that names the current viewpoint. Press it to open the four viewpoints, the options and the legend.
- View Drag to turn or move it, and press a node to bring up its card.
- Status line For the graph as drawn: node count, the share that is linked, how many are not linked, and the most recent date. It moves aside, to the left of a side panel, when one opens.
While the graph is read and laid out, the loading motion shows one topic on the left growing branches. If laying it out takes a while, a Partial overview shows first and gives way to the full View once it is ready.
3D time branches
The layout it opens with is time branches, as in the 3D screen above.
- One arm per topic. The topic node stands at the left end of its own piece, and the topic's items grow out to the right.
- Dates run left to right. Earlier items sit further left. Items linked to each other gather on the same branch, and the branches stand in lanes up and down and in depth. Items with no date come after the dated ones.
- The main topic on the time axis. The topic with the most subtopics stands on the time axis, and the other topics fill the space around it in rings from the inside out. Each topic starts one step further right than the one before, so the older a topic, the further left it sits.
- Which date counts is picked in the Time section of the view card. Covered on Time settings.
Lines that cross between branches run on right-angled paths and keep their direction, dates and evidence. In 2D the topic boxes stack top to bottom in columns that open to the right, so the top left is earliest and the bottom right latest.
Time branches take a moment to lay out on a large graph. Until they are ready, or if a graph cannot be laid out that way, the View shows it by centre and says so.
The other viewpoints
Open the view card to pick 3D, 2D, Timeline or Weave. The buttons under the screen above show each one.
| Viewpoint | What you see | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 3D | Each topic reaches out as an arm, and a node's shape shows its kind. | To see the shape of the whole graph at once. Hold Shift and drag to pick an area and share it. |
| 2D | The same layout spread flat, with link counts on the hub nodes. | To follow calmly what connects to what. Drag a node and it stays put; double-click to let it go. |
| Timeline | Stacked in a column per date. | To see when things came in. Period narrows to the last 7, 30 or 90 days, this year, or a range you pick. |
| Weave | Every item sits on a ring, and only linked ones are woven through the middle. | To see how tangled topics are with each other. In the options, bundle the lines by topic, kind or item. |
The by centre layout
In 3D and 2D, Layout in the Nodes section of the view card switches between time branches and by centre. By centre spreads everything out from the middle, and inside a topic the best connected node sits nearest the middle. In 3D the Density option applies to this layout only. A layout saved under an older name still opens: by order and relation branches open as time branches, and the rest open by centre.
The view card's options and legend
Press the view card and the viewpoint buttons spread across it, with the options and legend panel opening below. The options differ by viewpoint, so use the buttons under the picture to see the panel in each one.
- Viewpoint Pick 3D, 2D, Timeline or Weave.
- Options Changes how the current viewpoint looks. Under Nodes you pick size, layout and node scale; under Lines, when links show, their weight and the spread. The sections change with the viewpoint.
- Legend Says which shape is which kind and what each step of fading means. Line entries are switches: press one to hide that relation, or Only to keep just that one.
- Show explanations Adds a short note under each option saying what it changes. Hovering a value also shows its note at the bottom of the panel.
- Nodes section Options come in Nodes, Lines, Other and Time sections. Time is covered in Time settings.
- Period Timeline stacks nodes by date, so its options start with Period. Pick all, the last 7, 30 or 90 days, this year, or a range of your own to narrow the dates shown.
- Bundling Weave puts every item on a ring and weaves only the linked ones through the middle. Pick whether the lines bundle by topic, kind or item.
Shapes and the focus colour cannot be changed. They carry meaning, and a shared pack has to look the same wherever it is opened. A node's kind is told by its shape, and the legend names each shape.
Narrow to a topic
Press the filter button at the end of a topic row in the sidebar and only that topic stays in the View. Below, the View is narrowed to the design topic.
- Current scope Says how many topics you are looking at.
- Show all Clears the scope and brings every topic back.
- Only this topic The button at the end of a topic row. Hold
Ctrl/Cmdand press another topic's button to add that topic too. - Faded nodes Nodes outside the scope are not removed; only their outline stays, to show where they are.
While in the graph, Home in the top row clears the scope and shows everything again. Agent narrows the View to the topics where Agent roles live.
Nodes and panels
Press a node and a small card appears; open the detail from the card and a side panel opens. Covered on A node up close. What you pick in the sidebar opens in the wide panel. The window shows the two sizes side by side.