Updated custom links now with an action animation editor
By Steven Van ·
Custom links in draw.io gain an action editor with more animation actions, and each page of a multi-page diagram can now have its own animations.
draw.io custom links now have an action editor with a larger set of animation actions. The change is described in the announcement.
How action sequences work
Animation actions wait for the previous step to finish by default, with a configurable delay duration. An action can also be set to play immediately with the previous one. To build a sequence, pick an action from the Add list at the bottom of the dialog. It applies automatically to the cell (shape or connector) that was selected. To target other cells, choose Use selected cells from the action's Cells list. Select layers and Select tags apply an action to shapes by layer or tag.
Page animations
The same editor works at page level. In a multi-page diagram, each page can have its own set of page animation actions, which play when that page is opened in the lightbox or presentation mode.
Opening the editor
- Custom link action: right-click a shape or connector and choose Edit Link (or press Alt+Shift+L), select the Action radio button and click Insert.
- Page animations: choose File, then Page Setup, expand the Advanced section and click Edit in the Animation section.
The dialog can be dragged and resized, and it lets you select cells on the canvas while editing actions. Custom links are stored as a JSON string in the shape data, which can also be edited directly or through the editor's Edit Text checkbox.
Suggested uses
draw.io lists several uses: animated diagram "slides" for presentations, links that jump between pages of multi-page UML or infrastructure diagrams, interactive mockups and wireframes, animated training and educational diagrams, highlights on dependency graphs and PERT charts, and showing or hiding layers on floor plans.