Create a diagram

Start a new diagram in your library, blank, from the sample, from a template or from a description to the Assistant. Every diagram holds one model of your system and the views drawn from it; it saves on its own as you work.

Before you start

• An iyedy account, signed in at app.iyedy.com.
• Room on your plan. On Free you keep 5 diagrams you can edit; a copy of the sample that you keep does not count. Paid plans have room for many more, see Plan limits.
• In an organisation, you need edit rights in the workspace. A Viewer or a Commenter sees You can view this library but not change it.

Create the diagram

1. Open the Library

   Press Ctrl K, type library and run Open library. The Library lists the diagrams you can open.

2. Start a blank diagram

   Select New diagram. iyedy creates Untitled diagram in the library and opens it in the editor, which says The model is empty and offers Add a view.

   To start another way, open the arrow next to it, Other ways to create a diagram:

   Entry	What you get
   From sample	a copy of the sample, an omnichannel retail system with several views, a scenario and a BPMN process
   From a template…	the template gallery: open standards and your organisation's patterns
   Describe to the assistant	a new diagram with the Assistant open: say what your system does and it proposes a first model
   Import file…	a new diagram made from a draw.io, Visio, Mermaid, SVG or PNG file, see Import a diagram

3. Name it

   Double-click the diagram's name in the bar above the canvas, or select it and press F2. Type Claims Platform and press Enter. iyedy confirms with Renamed to "Claims Platform" and offers Undo.

4. Add a first element

   Press N for Quick add, or pick a shape on the left of the canvas. The element appears on the sheet. The next steps are in Add elements and relationships.

Ways to start, compared

• Blank is the fastest when you know what to draw. Nothing costs credits.
• The sample is the best way to explore views, checks and the review before you draw your own. Keep it as long as you want: a kept copy does not count against the 5 diagrams of Free.
• A description to the Assistant gives you a first model in a few minutes. It uses credits: the Assistant shows the estimate before you send, and nothing lands in the diagram before you apply its proposal. A diagram started this way takes its name from the system the first proposal adds; Undo on that toast puts Untitled diagram back. See Design with the Assistant.
• An import keeps what another tool drew, with a report of what was mapped and what was left out.

Limits

• On Free, once you have 5 diagrams you can edit, New diagram says Free keeps 5 diagrams you can edit. with Upgrade to Pro. Moving a diagram to the trash frees its place at once.
• Read-only libraries: a guest, a Viewer or a Commenter cannot create a diagram there.
• On a phone you can read diagrams; create and import them on a screen at least 768 px wide.

If it doesn't work

More symptoms in Diagram troubleshooting.