Use an Excel timeline template to chart your work plan or try a PowerPoint timeline template to track key dates. A vertical template of a timeline works well to show the history of an era, country or project. If you’re managing a team, try a template of a timeline that assigns tasks. Add visual interest to your schedules with a sticky note. Instantly Download Timelines Templates, Samples & Examples in Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word (DOC), Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT), Apple (MAC) Pages, Keynote. Available in A4 & US, Quickly Customize. Easily Editable & Printable. This is nice and free timeline template, which is just great if you need some professional timeline element added to your MAC presentation.All shapes and elements inside this template are vector based, so you can easily change and modify timeline color, resize separate elements and so on.

When you open a new OmniGraffle document, it calls upon a template that defines the canvas, the units of measurement, and more. For example, the default template, Blank, has a plain white canvas with the units set to pixels. The Blank template is simple, and it’s a good starting point for users new to OmniGraffle.

• #EFEFFF This is nice and free timeline template, which is just great if you need some professional timeline element added to your MAC presentation. All shapes and elements inside this template are vector based, so you can easily change and modify timeline color, resize separate elements and so on.
• Timeline Template Omni Graffle Pro Create Flowcharts, Floor Plans, and Other Diagrams. Rarely have I seen such an impact with the deployment of software to end users.

Conversely, a diagram style is more of a snapshot of the styles used in an OmniGraffle template that you can apply to your projects. Diagram styles allow you, for example, to quickly prototype something without having to worry about applying styles as you go, and to then sweep in at the end, apply the diagram style, and be done with your work.

The really cool part, though, is that a Diagram Style is nothing more than an OmniGraffle template file (.gtemplate) that contains styled objects. When you apply a Diagram Style to a project, OmniGraffle references the objects in the template and applies matching styles to the current document.

This chapter introduces you to Templates and Diagram Styles, showing you how to quickly apply styles from an existing template to help speed up your workflow.

Using Templates

In OmniGraffle, a template is used to define the base properties of a project. When you create a new document—by either choosing File ▸ New or pressing Command-N—OmniGraffle loads the default template into the window, supplying you with a single canvas and its base layer.

As noted earlier, the default template for OmniGraffle 7 is the Blank template. It’s pretty sparse, which is great when you’re just getting started. To choose a different template, rather than choosing File ▸ New to create a new document, choose File ▸ Resource Browser instead. The Resource Browser is kind of like an OmniGraffle-specific Finder, that gives you access to your OmniGraffle files, templates, and stencils.

After opening the Resource Browser, you can either click the Templates heading in the sidebar to view all of the available templates, or select one of the folders for something more specific to the project you plan to work on.

To learn more about a particular template, first click to select a template from one of the folders, and then click in the Resource Browser’s upper-right corner. This button opens an Info pane along the right side of the Resource Browser that displays additional information about the selected template.

The Info pane displays a preview of the template, along with additional information about the template’s settings, including whether auto-layout is on or off, the dimensions of the canvas, the units of measurement, and whether snap to grid is on or off.

After opening the Resource Browser’s Info pane, that pane remains available until you close it again by clicking .

To open a new OmniGraffle project using the selected template, click New Document. Or, if you’d like to change the default template to something else, click Set as Default.

When you change the default template, the area beneath the template preview lets you decide what happens when you choose File ▸ New (or press Command-N) when creating a new document:

You can choose from:

• Open the Resource Browser, which opens the Resource Browser window so you can choose a file, another template, or stencil to work on; or,
• Use the Default Template, which applies the default template to your OmniGraffle project when you click New Document in the Resource Browser’s window.

You can also set the default template in the Resource Browser by right-clicking on a template and choosing Set as Default from the contextual menu, or in OmniGraffle’s General preferences by clicking the Choose button in the New Documents section.

If you ever need to edit a template—say, to change turn on snap to grid, add ruler guides to the canvas, or to add a background color—OmniGraffle makes it easy:

1. Choose File ▸ Resource Browser.

2. Control-/Right-click the template that you want to edit, and then choose Edit if you want to edit and save the template file, or choose Edit a Copy from the menu:

   • If you choose Edit, the template file opens for you to work on. Once the template is open in OmniGraffle, you can work on it just like you would with any other project. When you have finished making your changes, saving the file overwrites the original file in the Templates folder.

   • If you choose Edit a Copy, the contents of the template file are placed in a new, Untitled template file. When you’ve finished making your changes, be sure to give this template file a different name than its predecessor so you don’t overwrite the original.

Creating a New Template

To create a new template, choose File ▸ New Resource ▸ New Template, and then use the inspectors to set the properties for the template. For example, you can:

• Place Ruler Guides on the canvas so you don’t have to recreate these for every project that uses the template
• Turn on Auto layout in the Diagram Layout and Style inspector
• Choose a default line type in the Line inspector
• Specify an Infinite Canvas in the Canvas Size inspector
• Set a background color or an image to use on the canvas in the Canvas Fill or Background Image inspectors
• Choose how projects that use this template are saved in the Format inspector
• Enter information about the project file in the Document Data inspector
• and more!

When you save the template, OmniGraffle places the file inside the app container’s Templates folder, or you can select one of the subfolders (or create a new one) in which to store your templates.

To view your template, choose File ▸ Resource Browser (Shift-Command-N), and choose the folder in which you saved your template. If you didn’t select a subfolder within the Templates folder, select the Miscellaneous folder in the Resource Browser’s sidebar, and then select your template.

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If you want to set your newly-created template as the default, click Set as Default, and then choose one of the two options for what happens when you choose File ▸ New, as shown earlier.

To make the process of exporting an OmniGraffle file as a Template or Diagram Style a little easier, you’ll need to create a shortcut to the Templates folder in the Finder’s sidebar.

The Templates folder lives deep within OmniGraffle’s container, but there’s a quick way to get to the Stencils folder from within OmniGraffle. Follow along...

1. Choose File ▸ Resource Browser, or use the Shift-Command-N keyboard shortcut to open the Resource Browser.

2. In the Resource Browser, select any template, then click the Gear menu and choose Show in Finder:

   This opens a Finder window with that particular template selected:

3. With the Finder window selected, choose View ▸ as Columns (Command-3).

4. Scroll the Finder view backward until you see the Templates folder; click to select the Templates folder:

5. With the Templates folder selected, choose File ▸ Add to Sidebar (Control-Command-T). This adds a shortcut to the Templates folder in the Favorites section of the Finder’s sidebar.

Now when you need to export an OmniGraffle file to use as a Template or Diagram Style, you can choose the Templates folder in the Favorites list on the left side of the save sheet.

The other benefit of knowing where the Templates folder is on your Mac is so you can quickly add subfolders to organize your Templates and Diagram Styles, as well as rename or delete templates, too.

Using Diagram Styles

Diagram Styles, which you can apply to a diagram using the Diagram Layout and Style inspector, are nothing more than an OmniGraffle Template file (.gtemplate) with styled objects on the canvas. The difference between a template and a diagram style, however, is that templates are used as the basis for a new OmniGraffle project, while a diagram style is applied to an OmniGraffle project that you are already working on.

Still confused? Don’t be. Let’s explore this further...

1. Choose File ▸ Resource Browser (Shift-Command-N)
2. In the sidebar under Templates, select Diagrams and then select the Hierarchical Lines template:

Do not click New Document quite yet. Keep following to learn more about Diagram Styles...

As you can see by looking at the Hierarchical Lines template’s preview in the Resource Browser, this particular template has a black background and a tree of colored lines with labels to denote a diagram’s hierarchy. If you click New Document, OmniGraffle opens a new Untitled document window using the contents of the Hierarchical Lines template, including the diagram that is part of the template.

Now, you might be thinking, 'Why would I want to open a project with stuff already on the canvas?'. You probably wouldn’t want to, and there’s nothing that’s stopping you from selecting everything that’s on the canvas, pressing Delete and starting with a clean slate. But...

...there may be times when you actually want the stuff that’s already on the canvas. But more importantly, when you create a new document that uses one of the templates in the Diagrams folder, what you are essentially getting is a pre-styled diagram. However, now you have to change all of the labels, and that kind of work can be tedious.

Instead, what you really want is to apply the styles from one of the templates in the Diagrams folder to a diagram that you are already working on. Here’s how you do that:

1. Choose File ▸ New from the menu bar.

2. Use the Outline tab in the Sidebar to create the structure for your diagram.

   The diagram in its current state doesn’t really look like much; certainly not something that would impress your boss or friends. At this point, you have two options:

3. Style objects individually (see Diagramming Basics), which could take a little while; or,

4. Apply a Diagram Style to the diagram.

   Let’s go with Option 2.

5. Switch to the Canvas Inspector pane and navigate to the Diagram Layout and Style inspector. Click Choose... next to Style in the inspector. This opens a sheet displaying the available Templates in the left sidebar.

6. Select the Diagrams folder in the left sidebar, and then click to select the Hierarchical Lines template.

7. Click Apply to apply the styles from the Hierarchical Lines template to the objects in the diagram:

When you apply a diagram style, the items of the diagram are styled to match the template’s styles for shapes, connection lines, text objects, and automatic layout settings. If your diagram has more levels than in the template you have applied, the deeper items use the styles of the deepest level of the template’s style.

Customizing an Existing Template’s Diagram Styles

Now that you know how to apply a diagram style to your projects, the final step in this journey is to customize an existing template’s diagram styles to create one that’s more your style.

1. Start by opening the Resource Browser (Shift-Command-N), and choose Diagrams in the Templates section of the sidebar:

2. Control-/Right-click on the template that you would like to customize, and choose Edit a Copy from the contextual menu that appears:

   This opens a copy of the template file so you can change things up and then save it as a different file name.

3. Change the styles. For example, with the Hierarchical Lines template, you could change the background color, the font and text styles used for the object labels, balance out the object styles so everything at the same hierarchical level has the same style properties, and more.

4. When you have finished, save the template as a different filename. Templates are saved by default to the Templates folder; however, you can click the Where pop-up menu to select a subfolder within the Templates folder (such as the Diagrams folder), if you’d like.

You can double-check your work by going back to the Resource Browser and selecting the folder in which you saved the template, or you can put it to use by applying the template’s diagram styles to an existing project.

Stencils are reusable shapes that can be as simple as a square or triangle, or as complex as a multilayered and meticulously designed illustration of your cat. Once you create the thing and export a version as an OmniGraffle stencil file, you’ll never have to redraw that thing again. All you’ll need to do is locate the stencil in the Stencils Library and drag it to the Canvas.

This chapter shows you how to use the new Stencils menu and window to your advantage, how to create a new stencil and save that to your Mac, and how to properly set up your stencil in OmniGraffle.

Using the Stencils Menu and Window

To open the Stencils menu, click in the toolbar, or choose Window ▸ Stencils.

You can also choose to have the Stencils menu appear as a floating window, by either clicking in the upper-right corner of the Stencils popover, or by choosing OmniGraffle ▸ Preferences ▸ General ▸ Use floating stencil window.

To add a stencil shape to your project, select the object you’d like to use, and then drag that object to the canvas.

Once on the canvas, you can interact with the shape just as you would with any other object you draw. For example, you can rotate the object, edit the path with the Point Editor tool (requires OmniGraffle Pro), or use the shape to rapidly prototype a new web design.

Searching for Stencils

At the top of the Stencils window is a search field that you can use to search through the existing stencils in OmniGraffle and—as an added bonus—Omni’s own online user-supported stencil repository, Stenciltown.

Stencils that already exist in OmniGraffle appear at the top of the search results, followed by anything new that’s been posted to Stenciltown.

How you use a stencil you’ve searched for depends on how it pops up in the results. Let’s say that you’re working on a techy diagram and you need some Boolean Gates. You click in the search field and start entering Boolean. As you type, OmniGraffle starts pruning what you see below. You’ll notice there are two categories of results:

• Search Results displays stencils already available to you on your Mac. To use one of the stencils, click and drag it to the canvas.

• Stenciltown displays applicably-named stencils which you can download from Stenciltown to your Mac. Start by clicking the Download button.

  This downloads the stencil from Stenciltown and makes it available with all of the other OmniGraffle stencils on your Mac. Once downloaded, drag the stencil to the canvas.

OmniGraffle only searches for stencils on Stenciltown if your Mac is connected to the Internet.

If you can’t find the stencil you’re looking for, either in OmniGraffle or on Stenciltown, you could always draw your own stencil set in OmniGraffle. And, if you’re inclined, you could share that with other OmniGraffle users on Stenciltown.

If you ever need to edit a stencil—say, to change an object’s color or size—OmniGraffle makes it easy:

1. In the toolbar, click to open the Stencils window.
2. Locate the stencil that you want to edit.

3. Click the Gear menu next to the stencil name, and then choose Edit Stencil if you want to edit and save the stencil file, or choose Edit a Copy from the menu:

   • If you chose Edit Stencil, the stencil file opens for you to work on. When you have finished making your changes, saving the file overwrites the original file in the Stencils folder.

   • If you chose Edit a Copy, the contents of the stencil file are placed in a new, Untitled stencil file. When you've finished making your changes, be sure to give this stencil file a different name than its predecessor so you don't overwrite the original.

Once the stencil is open in OmniGraffle, you can work on it just like you would with any other project.

Creating Stencils

Now that you know how to find and use a stencil, it’s time to learn how to create one. After all, part of the reason why you’re using OmniGraffle is to draw things, and there’s a good chance that you’ll want to reuse that thing again later. That’s where stencils come in!

What goes into making a great stencil, however, goes far beyond the artistic quality of the thing you create. There are some things you can do in OmniGraffle—from how you name the stencil file, naming canvases and objects, even adding descriptions for individual stencils—to help make your stencil usable and accessible to everyone who uses OmniGraffle.

The remainder of this chapter is devoted to showing you the ins and outs of creating a really great stencil file. So, let’s start at the beginning—creating the stencil file.

Creating a New Stencil from Scratch

To create a new stencil, choose File ▸ New Resource ▸ New Stencil. An OmniGraffle stencil file looks just like any other OmniGraffle file. You have the same canvas. The same inspectors. Even the same toolbar. Under the hood, though, OmniGraffle specifies and recognizes this file as a reusable stencil.

However, when you save the stencil file, OmniGraffle's save sheet opens to the Stencils folder on your Mac:

Using the Where menu, you can choose to save your stencil in the Stencils folder, or to any subfolder within that directory. After you click Save, your stencil is immediately available for use from the Stencils window.

Creating a Shortcut to the Stencils Folder

To make the process of Exporting an OmniGraffle Document as a Stencil to the Stencils folder a little easier, you'll need to create a shortcut to the stencils folder in the Finder's sidebar.

The Stencils folder lives deep within OmniGraffle's container, but there's a quick way to get to the Stencils folder from within OmniGraffle. Follow along...

1. In the toolbar, click to open the Stencils window. If the Stencils window appears as a popover menu, click .

2. In the Stencils window, select any stencil in the listing along the left, and then click its Gear menu and choose Show in Finder:

   This opens a Finder window with that particular stencil selected:

3. With the Finder window selected, choose View ▸ as Columns (Command-3).

4. Scroll the Finder view backward until you see the Stencils folder; click to select the Stencils folder:

5. With the Stencils folder selected, choose File ▸ Add to Sidebar (Control-Command-T). This adds a shortcut to the Stencils folder in the Favorites section of the Finder's sidebar.

Now when you need to add a stencil to the Stencils folder, you can use the Finder or choose the Stencils folder in the Favorites list on the left side of the save sheet.

The other benefit of adding the Stencils folder as a favorite to the Finder's sidebar, is that you quickly add subfolders to organize your stencils, as well as rename or delete stencils, too.

If you need to access the Stencils folder from a script you are writing, the Unix path to use is:

• Non-Mac App Store purchases:
  ~/Library/Containers/com.omnigroup.
OmniGraffle7/Data/Library/
Application Support/The OmniGroup/
OmniGraffle/Stencils

• Mac App Store purchases:
  ~/Library/Containers/com.omnigroup.
OmniGraffle7.MacAppStore/Data/Library/
Application Support/The OmniGroup/
OmniGraffle/Stencils

If you have an existing design in OmniGraffle that you would like to also use as a stencil, do the following:

1. Open your OmniGraffle file. If the file contains multiple objects, each object on the canvas is recognized as an individual stencil:

2. Choose File ▸ Export (Option-Command-E).

3. In the Export sheet:

   • Choose OmniGraffle in the row at the top of the Export panel.
   • In the Format popup menu, choose OmniGraffle Stencil (.gstencil).
   • In the next pop-up menu, choose whether to save the stencil file as a Package File, a Flat File, or Automatic.
   • Select any of the following options, depending on your needs:
     • Compress on disk
     • Copy linked images into document
     • Make documents read-only

4. Click Export; this opens a Save sheet on top of the Export panel:

   If you added the Stencils folder to the sidebar (see Creating a Shortcut to the Stencils Folder), choose the Stencils folder and then choose a folder in which to save the stencil file.

5. Click Save.

The stencils are ready and waiting for you in the Stencils window after exporting.

For more information on how to export files from OmniGraffle, see Exporting Image and Graphics Files from OmniGraffle, later in this guide.

Tips for Creating a Great Stencil

Beyond the design aspect of creating a great stencil, there is plenty more that you can do to your stencils to make them more useful for other users, particularly if you intend to share them on Stenciltown. For example, how you name the actual stencil file can make a huge difference in how users see your stencil in the Stencil Library.

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Here you’ll find a series of tips for things you can do with your stencils in OmniGraffle to help make them stand out in the Stencil Library. To get started, though, let’s look at The Anatomy of a Stencil...

The Anatomy of a Stencil

A Stencil is a single object (or a single thing consisting of a group of objects), whereas a Stencil Set consists of two or more stencils of similar meaning. For example, a Stencil Set could contain all of the icons for your website, or the ingredients you need for various baking projects you’re trying to illustrate.

When you look at a stencil in OmniGraffle for Mac’s Stencil Library, you can see all kinds of information about that stencil, such as its name, size, whether it’s part of a Stencil Set—even whether a particular stencil is on its own canvas in the original stencil file. If you’re creating stencils, here’s where all of that information comes from:

1. Stencil Filename: The name of your stencil comes directly from the filename you’ve chosen when you save or export the stencil file. Don’t use underscores or hyphens in the filename, and if you intend to share your stencil on Stenciltown, please don’t be cryptic when naming your stencil file. While a cryptic filename might work for your own use, that sort of thing doesn’t translate very well for the potential thousands of OmniGraffle users who are trying to find your stencil.

2. Stencil Ordering: If you create a Stencil Set, the order in which your stencils appear on the canvas matters. Use the Contents pane in the Sidebar to see how the objects are ordered on the canvas.

3. Stencil Name: If you have a Stencil Set, you can assign names to the individual stencils in that collection by placing them on separate canvases and then naming each canvas accordingly.

   If you have OmniGraffle Pro, you can name stencils in the Note inspector’s Name field. For more information about the Note inspector, see Adding Data to Objects with the Note Inspector (PRO), earlier in this guide.

4. Description: Also in the Note inspector (requires OmniGraffle Pro), use the big open text field to enter a short description for the thing you’ve created.

5. Dimensions: A stencil’s dimensions are based on your settings in the Units inspector. You can get to the Units inspector by choosing Inspectors ▸ Canvas, and then scroll through the inspectors to open up the Units inspector.

There is no restriction on the number of objects you can have on the canvas. Every object, or group of objects, is its own stencil. For example, if you have three objects on the canvas—two standalone objects and a group of multiple objects—then your stencil file contains three different stencils.

Let’s say that you’re creating a bunch of stencils for standard kitchen utensils, such as whisks, spatulas, slotted spoons, and so on. Each thing you draw probably consists of multiple objects. If you don’t group together all of the objects for a particular item (for example, that whisk), each of those objects are exported as separate stencils.

As you can see, rather than being a single stencil of a whisk, the stencil contains five objects: one for the handle, and four wire loops that make up the flat head of the whisk. However, if you group the objects together, you’ll get a single stencil object of the whisk:

Even if your OmniGraffle document only has one canvas, don’t just leave it named “Canvas 1”. Instead, enter a short name to the stencil, such as “Espresso Machine” or “Website Prototype”. This is particularly essential when you have a stencil file with items spread across multiple canvases.

The way to identify a stencil that’s on a separate canvas is to look at the Stencil Filename. If the filename is followed by a colon (:) and another name, that second name is the Canvas Name. In the following example, the Stencil Name was added using OmniGraffle Pro’s Note inspector.

Another way you can better present the stencils in a Stencil Set is to organize them in the Sidebar. To reorder the objects in the Sidebar, click and drag them up or down in the list:

This sets the order in which your stencils appear in the Stencils Library; for example:

There is no right or wrong way to organize your stencils; just use your best judgment.

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To Scale or Not to Scale?

One of the great things about stencils, is that you can take whatever the shape or thing might be, and resize it to the size you need. To aid in this behavior, use the Geometry inspector and turn on the Maintain Aspect Ratio option.

Once Maintain Aspect Ratio has been enabled, you can also choose to scale the stencil’s contents, including the stroke and text. And, if the person using your stencil decides they want to resize it without scaling, they can always turn off Maintain Aspect Ratio.

Sharing Stencils on Stenciltown

Stenciltown is an online community for sharing OmniGraffle stencils. When you use the Stencils window to search for new stencils, OmniGraffle also reaches out to Stenciltown and displays any results that match your search criteria. And, if you are working on a stencils file, you can also choose File ▸ Submit to Stenciltown to upload your stencils to Stenciltown, directly from within OmniGraffle.

To get started, you’ll need to create an account on Stenciltown. Your Omni ID consists of a username, your email address, and a password. That’s all of the information we require; just make sure that your password is a mixture of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and then toss in the occasional symbol. We don’t need your mailing address, names of your children or pets, or anything like that. Your Omni ID is, at the moment, your way of signing into and sharing stencils on Stenciltown.

How to Properly Name a Stencil File to be Shared on Stenciltown

Don’t be cryptic when naming your stencil file. Use something that aids in findability. For example, you could use something like F1 Circuits 2016 for a stencil set that contains outlines of the circuits for the upcoming Formula One season.

Omnigraffle 6

Don’t use underscores or hyphens in filenames. If you have a stencil, such as F1 Circuits 2016 that normally has spaces in it, don’t resort to using hyphens or underscores in the filename if that’s normally how you roll. Leave the spaces in there; they make the stencil name easier to read.

Finally, don’t use an emoji as the filename of your stencil. Since the point of sharing stencils on Stenciltown is to help other OmniGraffle users find the things they need, using an emoji as the filename hinders that process.

Once you have created your Omni ID for Stenciltown, you can log into Stenciltown directly from OmniGraffle on your Mac. Just follow these steps:

1. With a stencils file open in OmniGraffle, choose File ▸ Submit to Stenciltown.

2. In the sheet that appears, enter your Username and Password, and then click Log In:

3. Enter a Name and Description for the stencil (OmniGraffle automatically uses the first canvas in the file for the preview image).

4. Click Submit.

After you click Submit, OmniGraffle submits the stencil to Stenciltown and links it to your account.

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If you want to make changes to the stencil name or description, or to remove the stencil from Stenciltown:

1. Log in on the Stenciltown website.
2. Click the icon next to your Omni ID in the upper-right.
3. Click Stencils to see the stencils you have submitted to Stenciltown, and then choose the stencil you would like to update or delete.

For more information about Stenciltown, or to create your account, see the Stenciltown FAQ.