Measures, tags and connection types

Measures, tags and connection types are defined once in a map and reused across it. Each map has its own set (see Core concepts).

• Tags and measures are managed from the Tags and Measures cards in Elements, the editor’s sidebar.
• Connection types are managed from its Connections card.

These lists define what exists. To put a tag or a measure’s value on a particular node, use that node’s Details panel.

Tags and measures

The Tags and Measures cards each list everything the map defines, with the number of nodes that use it. A tag or measure no node uses yet is drawn with a dashed outline. Tags are listed by tag group. Measures with a category are listed under a heading.

On maps with more than 25 nodes, both cards start collapsed.

• Create: click New tag or New measure, type a name, and press Enter. A name is all either needs.
• Rename: click the pencil on a row.
• Delete: click the bin on a row. If nodes use it, you’re asked to confirm. Deleting removes it from every node on the map.

You can’t set a measure’s category in the app. Categories come from imports and the API.

Tag groups

A tag group holds tags a node can have only one of, like Type: Person or Organisation. Each group’s heading in Tags says one per node.

• New group: click New group, type a name and press Enter.
• Add a tag to a group: click + on the group’s heading to make a new one, or use the folder button on a tag’s row and choose the group. No group takes it out.
• If some nodes already have another of the group’s tags, the move is refused and the nodes are named. Take one of the tags off those nodes first.
• Rename or delete a group from its heading. Deleting a group keeps its tags and the nodes that have them. They’re no longer in a group, so a node can then have several.

A map made from scratch starts with a Type group holding Person and Organisation. It’s an ordinary group.

Icons and colours

Click the coloured dot beside a tag to choose its icon and colour. They show wherever nodes are grouped or coloured by the tag’s group: on the canvas, in the Nodes list, in legends and in Visualise. A tag gets a colour when it joins a group, the first one the group isn’t using, and keeps it. Auto picks an icon that suits the tag’s name if there is one. Everyone on the map sees the same.

Connection types

The Connections card lists what the connections on this map mean, and how many connections have each meaning. Connection types and notes share one list:

• A connection type’s row shows its name, what it records and its direction, such as “records Amount (GBP) · directed”.
• Notes are in italics with a speech-bubble icon. Connections with the same note text share one row.
• A connection type nothing uses yet is drawn with a dashed outline and a count of 0.
• Connections with neither a type nor a note are listed under Undefined connections. The tab’s icon shows an amber badge with how many there are.

The Sort buttons above the list order it by Name (A to Z to start) or by Most used (most connections first). Click the pressed button again to reverse the order. Sorting only changes the list, not the colours on the canvas.

Click a row to highlight those connections on the canvas and fade everything else. Click it again to clear the highlight.

Create or edit a connection type

Click New connection type, or choose Edit connection type… from a row’s ··· menu. A connection type has:

• Name, such as “funds”.
• Direction: Undirected, Directed or Mutual. A directed type shows a preview, such as “[Node A] funds [Node B]”.
• Inverse name (optional), for directed types only: how the connection reads the other way round, such as “funded by”.
• Records a value: tick it to let each connection of this type carry one number. Then give the value a Value name (such as “Amount”) and a Unit (such as “GBP”). A currency code is shown as money. Any other unit is shown after the number.

The value is optional on each connection. A type can record a value and also be directed: “funds”, with an amount.

Unticking Records a value removes the value from every connection of that type. If any have one, you’re asked to confirm (Stop recording a value?). The connections themselves stay.

Row actions

Each row’s ··· menu (or right-click) has:

• Hide connections on map / Show connections on map: hide or show these connections on the canvas. Hidden rows are faded.
• Remove N connections from map: deletes those connections. You’re asked to confirm. The connection type stays.
• Edit connection type… and Delete connection type…: change or delete the type. Deleting it leaves its connections in place, but undefined.

The first two appear only when at least one connection is affected.

Turn a note into a type

A note’s ··· menu has Make “…” a connection type. It creates the type, or reuses one with that name, and moves every connection with that note onto it.

Canvas labels

Connection	Label on the canvas
Undefined	Undefined
A note	The note text
A type that doesn’t record a value	The type’s name
A type that records a value	Nothing until you hover over or select it, then name and value, such as “funds · £56K”

Hovering over or selecting a connection with dates adds its year, such as “funds · 2023”. Undefined connections never show a year.