Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks make it possible to link any figure in your diagram to another diagram, a document of a different application, or to a web page. They work a lot like hypertext links on the internet except that it is the figure that contains the link rather than the text.

With hyperlinks you can enhance your diagrams in these ways:

• Link a figure to another diagram. When you double click on the figure, the linked diagram opens in another window much like how an internet browser works. This is especially useful for expanding the detail of a figure (such as a process) into an entirely separate diagram.
• Link a figure to a document. For example, you can link a figure to a spreadsheet that contains data relating to that figure. When you double-click on the figure, the document opens in its proper application (Microsoft Excel for example).
• Link a figure to a web page (URL). When you double click on the figure, your browser is launched at the appropriate web page.

Hyperlinks are an extension of this tool and are not part of most standard diagramming specifications. In fact some such specifications advise against using such features because they make diagrams dependent on specific tools and therefore less portable. We recommend that you use hyperlinks to create shortcuts and to supplement your diagrams rather than creating a dependency upon them. With this in mind, you can quite easily develop diagrams that stand on their own without any hyperlinks, and still make full use of hyperlinks to add shortcuts for navigation between diagrams, to organize related documents, and to reference web pages and internet resources.

The following features permit you to set hyperlinks for figures, open hyperlinks to navigate between diagrams and documents, and maintain a rudimentary history of diagram links for backtracking.

Setting a Hyperlink

Setting a Hyperlink to a Web Page

Opening a Hyperlink to a Diagram or Document

Returning to the Parent of a Diagram

Moving Back and Forward Among Previous Diagrams