Elements and their properties

Elements are the building blocks of user flow diagrams in Overflow and include Screens, Text, Shapes, Images, and Connectors.

 

Screens

In Overflow, Screens are formed from artboards that have been synced from Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, or from images. They are the core elements of user flow diagrams. 

You can use the insert menu (see image below) or the keyboard shortcuts. 

 

Their layers are identifiable in Overflow and enable you to create Connectors from each of their four sides. You can edit their name by double-clicking on them.

 

Screen properties:

• Name

• Scale

• Opacity

• Hidden/visible

• Locked/unlocked

• Device settings

• Device

• Orientation

• Skin on/off

• Skin fill color

• Skin border color

• Mask content to device on/off

• Style:

  • Basic screen properties

    • Border Line Style

    • Border Color

    • Border Weight

    • Border radius

  • Text label properties

    • Font family

    • Font variant

    • Font size

    • Text color

    • Leading

    • Padding

    • Underline

    • Justification

    • Position above/below

 

Connectors

Connectors are directed lines that connect two elements. They are created by picking a magnet and dragging the mouse and dropping it onto another element or its magnet. Another way to add them is through the 'C' key. Pressing the 'C' key creates a connector starting from the nearest magnet (magnets appear on hover over elements) and you only need to drop it onto its target. They make the starting element/layer interactive (i.e. a hotspot) in Presentation, taking you to the target element when clicked. Connectors are also clickable in Presentation.

You can double-click to add a label to a connector, which can then be repositioned by dragging or by choosing a position from the relevant callout. Connector labels can be styled independently from the actual line of the connector.

Connector properties:

• Opacity
• Style:
• Basic connector properties 
  • Line color
  • Line weight
  • Start point tip
  • End point tip
  • Line Style
•  Connector label properties
  • Font family
  • Font variant
  • Font size
  • Text color
  • Leading
  • Padding
  • Underline
  • Justification
  • Border radius
  • Fill color
  • Border Color
  • Border line weight
  • Border line style
  • Label position
    • Above start point
    • On start point
    • Below start point
    • Above middle
    • Middle
    • Below middle
    • Above end point
    • On end point
    • Below end point
  • Label distance

 

Text

Text (keyboard shortcut 'T') is a normal text element that you can add and style in your user flow. Text elements don't have magnets.

 

Text Properties:

• Scale
• Opacity
• Hidden/visible
• Locked/Unlocked
• Style:
• Font family
• Font variant
• Font size
• Text color
• Leading
• Padding
• Underline
• Justification
• Vertical Alignment (top, center, bottom)

 

Shape

Shapes can be rectangles (keyboard shortcut 'R'), ovals (keyboard shortcut 'O'), diamonds  (keyboard shortcut 'D'), capsules, or parallelograms. They can be styled and they can be focal points in the user flow to also help you build earlier stage user flows.
In some cases, shapes might need to be set "Inactive" using the context menu, so that they are skipped when navigating the flow in Presentation. 

 

 

Shape properties:

• Scale
• Opacity
• Hidden/visible
• Locked/unlocked
• Style:
  • Basic shape properties
    • Shape color
    • Border color
    • Border weight
    • Border line style
    • Border radius
  • Text label properties
    • Font family
    • Font variant
    • Font size
    • Text color
    • Leading
    • Padding
    • Underline
    • Justification
    • Vertical Alignment (top, center, bottom)
    • label position
      • Top out of the shape
      • Top within the shape
      • Middle
      • Bottom within the shape
      • Bottom out of the shape

 

Image

Images can be inserted from the Insert menu (Keyboard shortcut 'I') or by drag-and-drop. They have styles and can have a name.

If you want to treat images as screen elements, i.e. to have access to Device Settings allowing you to show device skin, etc. to build user flows from images, then you can convert them to Screens through the context menu (on right-click).

Image properties:

• Scale
• Opacity
• Hidden/visible
• Locked/unlocked
• Style:
• Basic Image properties 
  • Border color
  • Border weight
  • Border line style
  • Border radius
• Text label properties
  
  • Font family
  • Font variant
  • Font size
  • Text color
  • Leading
  • Padding
  • Underline
  • Justification
  • Position above/below