Edit menu

Undo

OmniGraffle remembers a list of changes you make to a document. Select this command to move one step backwards in the list, as if you hadn't done the last thing in the list. Keep selecting it to keep stepping backwards in time.

Redo

If the last thing you did was to Undo something, you can step forward and do it again, effectively Undoing the Undo.

Cut

Remove the current selection and put it on the clipboard, so you can paste it somewhere else.

Copy

Copy the current selection to the clipboard.

Copy As

PDF — Put a PDF copy of the current selection on the clipboard, for pasting into any application that understands PDF.

TIFF — Put a TIFF copy of the current selection on the clipboard, for pasting into any application that understands TIFF.

Vector PICT — Put a Vector PICT copy of the current selection on the clipboard, for pasting into any application that understands Vector PICT.

AppleScript — Put on the clipboard an AppleScript representation of the selected objects. You can paste the result into Script Editor or into the Action inspector of another object to make a script that recreates the objects. The output is also useful just for studying how OmniGraffle's AppleScript support works.

Paste

Place the contents of the clipboard on the canvas, at the last place you clicked with the Selection tool. (or insert text from the clipboard if you are editing an object's text). If there is an image or some text in the clipboard, a new shape object containing the image or text is created.

Duplicate

Make a copy of the current selection and place it on the canvas, without using the clipboard.

This command has a special feature:

Select something on the canvas and Duplicate it.

Use the Selection tool to move the copy; OmniGraffle learns the distance and direction of the copy in relation to the original.

Duplicate again as many times as you like; each new copy is the same distance and direction from the previous copy.

Delete

Obliterate the current selection, forever banishing it from this plane of existence (unless you Undo).

Select All

Select everything selectable on the canvas. Remember that objects on locked layers can't be selected. If you are editing the text of an object, this instead selects all of the object's text.

Select

Similar Objects — Select all of the objects on the canvas that have the same style attributes as the currently selected objects.

Connected Objects — Select all shapes that are directly or indirectly connected by lines to the currently selected objects, and all of the lines between.

Ancestor Objects — Select all of the ancestors of the currently selected objects, based on the hierarchy established by connection lines.

Descendant Objects — Select all of the descendants of the currently selected objects, based on the hierarchy established by connection lines.

Outlining

The commands in this sub-menu (and their keyboard shortcuts in particular) make it easier to work quickly in the outline view. They are only available when the outline view is open and you have an active selection in it.

Mouseless Editing

These commands are most useful when you invoke their keyboard shortcuts; you can do a whole lot without even touching the mouse.

Select Shape — These commands select a shape based on its position relative to the currently selected shape.

Create Shape — These commands make a new shape relative to the currently selected shape.

Canvases

New Canvas — Add a new canvas to the document.

Duplicate Canvas — Add a new canvas, identical to the current canvas, to the document.

Delete Canvas — Get rid of the current canvas completely.

Edit Master Canvas — When you are editing a normal canvas, switch to the master canvas it depends on.

Edit Dependent Canvas — When you are editing a master canvas, switch to the first normal canvas that depends on it.

Edit Next Canvas — Switch to the canvas or master canvas after the one you are currently editing.

Edit Previous Canvas — Switch to the canvas or master canvas before the one you are currently editing.

Synchronize with Master Canvas — If the current canvas is dependent on a master canvas, select this command to make sure that the latest version of the master canvas is being reflected on the canvas.

Remove Master Dependency — Detach the applied master canvas from the current canvas.

Layers

New Layer — Add a new layer to the current canvas.

Duplicate Layer — Add a new layer, identical to the current layer, to the canvas.

Delete Layer — Get rid of the current layer completely.

Select All In Layer — Select all of the objects on the current layer.

Move Selection To Layer — Move all of the selected objects from their own layer to the current layer.

Tables

Insert Row — When you have one cell of a table selected, choose this command to add a new row of cells to the table. The new row appears immediately before the row containing the selected cell.

Insert Column — When you have one cell of a table selected, choose this command to add a new column of cells to the table. The new row appears immediately before the row containing the selected cell.

Select Row — When you have one cell of a table selected, choose this command to select the entire row that contains the cell.

Select Column — When you have one cell of a table selected, choose this command to select the entire column that contains the cell.

Magnets

Copy Magnets — Put the magnet arrangement of the currently selected object on the clipboard.

Paste Magnets — If there is a magnet arrangement on the clipboard, apply it to the selected object. Any existing magnets are replaced by the new ones.

Delete Magnets — Get rid of all the magnets on the selected objects.

Shapes

Subtract Shapes — Take the selected shapes and use the front shapes to punch a hole in the back-most shape. You can reorder shapes with the Bring/Send commands in the Arrange menu.

Union Shapes — Make a new shape from the two or more selected shapes, eliminating internal lines to make a single solid shape.

Intersect Shapes — Make a new shape from the overlapping areas of the selected shapes.

Find

Find... — This summons OmniGraffle's Find panel. You can search for a specific string of text, or you can use a regular expression to match a whole class of strings. When searching for a specific string, select Ignore Case to match letters regardless of whether they are uppercase or lowercase; select Whole Word to avoid matching portions of a word. If you use groups in a regular expression, you might want to select (or replace) the whole expression, or just one of the groups; use the pop-up menu to indicate which. For the purposes of Previous and Next, OmniGraffle considers objects in left-to-right, top-to-bottom order.

Find Next — Select this to find the next occurrence of the string you last entered in the Find panel, as if you had just clicked its Next button.

Find Previous — Select this to find the previous occurrence of the string you last entered in the Find panel, as if you had just clicked its Previous button.

Enter Selection — Select some text in an object, then choose this command to put the selected text into the Find panel, replacing whatever was there before. Then you can use the Find Next and Find Previous commands to search for other occurrences of the text.

Scroll to Selection — Move the view so that the selected objects are visible.

Spelling

This submenu contains Mac OS X's standard spelling utilities. For the purposes of Previous and Next, OmniGraffle considers objects in left-to-right, top-to-bottom order.

Insert Variable

While you are editing a shape object's text, select one of these commands to insert a special tag. When you finish editing the text, the tag changes to represent some aspect of the object itself, the canvas, the page, or the document. If you change the thing the tag refers to, the tag automatically updates itself.

Canvas Name — the name of the canvas the object inhabits.

Document Name — the name of the document the object inhabits.

Current Date — the date right this very minute; this is nice for knowing when a document was printed.

Document Creation Date — the date that the document was originally created, according to Mac OS X's file system.

Document Modification Date — the date that the document was last saved, according to Mac OS X's file system.

Creator — the name of the user who created the file, according to Mac OS X's file system.

Modifier — the name of the user who last saved the file, according to Mac OS X's file system.

Page Number — the number of the page that the object inhabits, according to the Canvas: Size inspector and the Page Setup panel.

Total Pages — the number of pages in the whole document. Use this with the Page Number tag to get results like "Page 2 of 5".

X Position — the object's horizontal distance from the origin, just like in the Properties: Geometry inspector.

Y Position — the object's vertical distance from the origin, just like in the Properties: Geometry inspector.

Width — the object's horizontal size, just like in the Properties: Geometry inspector.

Height — the object's vertical size, just like in the Properties: Geometry inspector.

Line Length — This tag is somewhat unique. When the shape object containing the tag is attached to a line as a label, it shows the line's length. It's not useful if the shape object is not a line label.

Edit LinkBack item

If you have pasted LinkBack content from another application, select the object and use this command to open the content in the original application.

Special Characters...

Summon the standard Mac OS X Character Palette.