Appearance Menu Section

Lock Element

Lock the element so it can't be edited; to unlock the element, select Lock Element again.

This does not apply in the Corporate, Business and Software Engineering, Systems Engineering and Ultimate editions when security is enabled; in that situation, use the Lock option for model elements.

Lock model elements

Selectable

Toggle whether the element is selectable or not

This option has no effect on double-click operations on the element, such as displaying child diagrams or Properties dialogs.

An element on a locked diagram is also unselectable - if you click on it, the element outline displays in red.

In a diagram, you can filter the display to show selectable or non-selectable elements only.

Diagram Filters

Dockable

Align and join two elements either vertically or horizontally, on the current diagram only.

Both elements must have the Dockable option selected, and must have the joining edges parallel.

As the distance between the elements narrows, the moving element snaps to the edge of the other element.

For Activity Partitions, the option is selected by default.

Deselecting the Dockable option does not separate the elements; if necessary, you can simply move the elements apart again.

Partition

Appearance

Display the Appearance submenu; see the table below.

Z-Order

Set the Z-Order of the element.

Z-Order Elements

Default Appearance

Override the global default appearance of all elements (which you set on the Options dialog, Standard Colors page and Diagram Appearance page) with a different default for just the selected element on all diagrams in which it is found.

To change the appearance of the selected element on the current diagram only, use the Format toolbar.

F4

Standard Colors

Appearance

Set an Element's Default Appearance

Format toolbar

Apply Image From Clipboard

Paste the image held on the clipboard onto the selected element, as an alternative image.

This image is added to the Image Library under an automatically-assigned name. The image can be accessed from and renamed in the Image Manager.

Using the Image Manager

Select Alternate Image

Select an alternative image using the Image Manager.

Ctrl + Shift + W

Using the Image Manager

Hide/Show Name Under Image

Hide or redisplay the name label under an element with an alternative image.

Set Font

Change the font type, size, color and effects for the text in an element.

Set Element Font

Show Labels

Reveal any hidden labels on the element.

Copy Appearance to Painter

Copy the default element appearance (set using the Default Appearance option, above) to the painter.

You then paste the default appearance using the Paste Appearance option on the Diagram toolbar.

Diagram toolbar

Copy Image to Clipboard

Copy the element image to the clipboard.