Getting Around

What you’ll learn

• What every menu, button, and indicator in the toolbar does
• How the graph name, save status, and lock status are surfaced
• How to switch between graphs in the same population
• How to find a node anywhere on the canvas
• How the right panel’s Inspector and Styles tabs work

The toolbar

The toolbar is split into two rows: a status row (graph name, undo/redo, save, lock) and a menu row (Build, Layout, Associations, Graph, plus quick actions on the right).

Status row

• Graph name — click to rename (only available once the graph has been saved at least once). An “(unsaved)” tag appears next to the name until the first save. A small edit icon next to the name reminds you it’s clickable.
• Undo (Ctrl/Cmd+Z) and Redo (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z) — the toolbar icons are equivalent to the keyboard shortcuts.
• Save (Ctrl/Cmd+S) — manual save. Disabled in read-only mode.
• Save state indicator — a cloud icon to the right of Save:
  • cloud_done (saved) — all changes are saved.
  • cloud_queue (pending) — unsaved changes; autosave will run shortly.
  • cloud_off (error) — last save failed; tooltip describes why.
  • sync_problem (conflict) — version conflict, the graph was modified elsewhere; refresh.
• Lock indicator — appears once the graph has been saved:
  • lock_open (you have the lock) — you can edit.
  • lock (someone else has the lock) — clicking it asks the server to take the lock from them. The graph is read-only until you do.
• Read-only badge — visible when you don’t hold the lock.
• A small spinner appears whenever a save is in flight.

See Saving, Locks & Collaboration for the full lock model.

Menu row

Menu	Items
Build	Add individual · Add graph link · Load profile images… · Clear images · Connect nodes (E) · Start edge from selection (Shift+E) · Cancel edge (Esc)
Layout	Organise A–Z · Organise circle · Fit all · Fit largest (L) · Focus deceased (D) · Group selection to new graph
Associations	Auto-associate & split
Graph	New graph · Clone graph · Delete graph

The right side of the menu row holds quick actions:

• Switch graph (Ctrl/Cmd+K) — opens the graph quick-switcher.
• Category (label icon) — assign or remove a category for the current graph, or create a new one inline.
• Export — PNG / SVG, each with a transparent-background variant. See Styling, Layout & Export.
• Zoom out (-), Zoom in (+), Fit all (O).
• Toggle right panel — show/hide the Inspector & Styles sidenav.

When you enter edge-draw mode, an Edge Drawing Mode sub-bar appears underneath the menu row with a Start from selection button, an Esc to cancel hint, and a Cancel button. See Relationships & Edges.

The canvas

The canvas is a cytoscape graph that fills the main area. Standard interactions:

• Click a node or edge to select it (the right panel’s Inspector tab populates).
• Click-and-drag a node to move it.
• Click-and-drag the empty canvas to pan.
• Scroll to zoom.
• Right-click an empty area for the canvas context menu.
• Right-click a node for the node context menu.

Canvas context menu (right-click empty area)

• Add individual — opens the picker.
• Enter / Exit edge draw — toggles edge-draw mode.
• Organise A → Z — grid layout sorted by identifier.
• Organise circle — circular layout.
• Fit overview — frame all nodes.
• Fit largest component — frame only the largest connected component.
• Clear selection.
• Export PNG / Export SVG.

Node context menu (right-click a node)

• Copy node ID — the internal node id (the canvas-local identifier).
• Copy identifier — the catalog identifier you see on the node label.
• Zoom to node.
• Start edge from here — begins drawing an edge with this node as the source.
• Lock position / Unlock position — pins the node so layout commands won’t move it.
• Toggle deceased — flips the deceased flag (see Adding & Editing Individuals).
• Open sub-graph — visible only on graph-link nodes; navigates to the linked graph.

Switching between graphs

A population can have many graphs. There are two ways to switch:

• Graph quick-switcher (Ctrl/Cmd+K, or the swap_horiz icon in the toolbar) — opens a search dialog that lists every graph in the population, filterable by graph name or by node identifier (so you can find “the graph that contains T049”). The active graph is highlighted; node counts are shown on each row. Click a result to switch.
• Graph menu → New graph / Clone graph / Delete graph — for graph lifecycle, not switching.

If the current graph has unsaved changes, the persistence layer runs an autosave before switching.

Finding a node on the canvas

Press Ctrl/Cmd+F or / to open the Find overlay. Type any of the following, and matching nodes are highlighted live (the search box debounces by ~120 ms):

• Identifier (e.g. T049A2)
• Display label (e.g. a nickname, if you’ve stored one as the identifier)
• Any alternate ID stored on the node

The canvas zooms to the matched nodes. Press Esc or click the close button to exit.

The right panel: Inspector and Styles

The right panel is a tabbed sidenav. Press the toolbar’s tune / chevron_right icon, or Esc while the panel has focus, to toggle it.

Inspector tab

Shows controls for the currently selected item:

• Nothing selected — a hint: “Select a node or edge to edit its details.”
• Node selected — see Adding & Editing Individuals.
• Edge selected — see Relationships & Edges.

Both forms have Cancel and Apply buttons. Changes are not committed until you press Apply.

Styles tab

Per-graph appearance controls (canvas background, node geometry, deceased styling, edge curve and colours). See Styling, Layout & Export for the full list.

There’s an Apply to all graphs button that copies the current style block to every graph in the population, and a Reset button that returns to finwave defaults.