Add and format swim lanes in Lucidchart

Introduction to swim lanes

Swim lanes are container shapes that organize objects in a process flowchart. A swim lane diagram consists of one or more swim lanes, including the contents of the lanes. Some examples of common swim lane use cases are to sort people based on responsibilities or to separate a process into phases.

Review these common terms to learn more about swim lanes: 

• Swim lane: an individual swim lane container shape. 
• Pool: consists of one or more swim lanes combined as a single grouped shape.
• Header: the area of the diagram that contains the label.
• Label: the text in the swim lane’s header. 
• Base lane: the furthest left lane (for vertical lanes) or top lane (for horizontal lanes) in a pool.
• Base side: the furthest left border (for vertical lanes) or top border (for horizontal lanes) in a pool.

Create a swim lane diagram

Start with one of our swim lane templates or create a swim lane diagram from scratch. To learn how, read the following sections. 

Use a template

There are many swim lane templates available to organize your ideas into an existing structure. To customize a swim lane template, follow these steps: 

1. Navigate to the Lucid Home Page.
2. Click Templates from the navigation menu at the bottom-left of the screen.
3. Search “swim lanes”.
4. Select a template.
5. Click Use template.

Build your own swim lane diagram

Start a swim lane diagram from scratch with a single lane or begin with a three-lane pool. You can find the single lane shape in the “Containers” shape library, and the three-lane pool shape in the “Flowchart” shape library. 

To add swim lanes to the Shapes menu, follow these steps:

1. Click More shapes in the lower-left corner of the document.  
2. Type “swim lanes” into the search bar.
3. Check the box next to “Flowchart Shapes”. 
4. Click Use selected shapes. 

Now that you’ve added these shapes to the Shapes menu, you can drag swim lane shapes onto the canvas.

Modify swim lanes

Double-click the header or border of an individual lane. Use the Contextual Panel that opens from the upper-right side of the workspace to modify the lane. 

From the “Layout” tab of the Contextual Panel, you can use:

• Order to arrange objects in front of or behind swim lanes.
• Grid layout to organize content into an adjustable grid pattern and automatically expand swim lane space as content is added. 
   
• The up and down arrows next to “Lanes” to add or delete lanes from the base lane.
  • Lanes will be added to or deleted from the opposite side of the pool’s base side (right side of a vertical pool or bottom of a horizontal pool).
• The Orientation option to rotate your swim lane(s) and switch between vertical columns and horizontal rows.
• Text Orientation options to adjust the label.
• The color swatch icons to modify the header and lane color.

Format labels

Personalize labels to categorize your swim lanes. To change swim lane labels:

1. Double-click anywhere inside the header to highlight the text.

2. Type a new label.

   
    

Change label orientation

1. Double-click the header or border to select the swim lane.
2. Navigate to “Advanced Options” in the Contextual Panel.

3. Select the vertical or horizontal option under “Text Orientation”.

   
    

Add color

To modify the lane color of a swim lane, follow these steps:

1. Select a swim lane.
2. Navigate to the Contextual Panel.
3. Under “Advanced Options” select the Lane color swatch. 
4. Select a color.

To adjust the header color of a swim lane, follow these steps:

1. Select a swim lane.
2. Navigate to the Contextual Panel.
3. Under “Advanced Options” select the Header color swatch.

4. Select a color.

   

Modify pools

To create a pool, add more swim lanes to your diagram or drag the three-lane pool from the Shapes menu. Click once on a swim lane's header or border to select the whole pool and use the Contextual Panel that opens from the upper-right in the formatting bar to make edits. Read the following sections for instructions to resize, move, magnetize, and reformat pools.

Resize

1. Hover your cursor over the border of the pool. Your cursor will display as a double-headed arrow perpendicular to the border.
2. Click and drag the border to resize the swim lane or pool.

Move

1. Hover your cursor over the header of your swim lane. Your cursor will display as a four-pronged arrow.

2. Click and drag the swim lane shape to another area of the canvas.

   

Magnetize

Magnetize objects to a swim lane shape so they remain connected when you move it. To magnetize a swim lane, follow these steps:

1. Select the header or border of a swim lane.
2. Click the Magnetize icon in the formatting bar.
3. Drag the swim lane to a different location.
   
    

Reformat

Change the order of swim lanes or remove a swim lane entirely. Right-click the header of a swim lane or pool to see formatting options. From the right-click menu, you can select:

• Move Lane to Left or Move Lane to Right for vertical swim lanes.
• Move Lane Up or Move Lane Down for horizontal swim lanes.
• Remove Lane to remove the swim lane and its contents from the pool.
• Delete to delete the swim lane shape but retain its contents on the canvas. 

UML swim lanes

Create multidimensional swim lanes with the UML shape library. To access UML swim lanes, follow these steps:

1. Click More shapes in the lower-left corner of the document.
2. Search “UML” and expand the UML Shapes library.
3. Check the box next to “UML State/Activity”.
4. Click Use selected shapes.
5. Navigate to the “UML State/Activity” section of the Shapes menu and choose a multidimensional swim lane diagram.
   
6. Drag a shape onto the canvas.

FAQ

How do I highlight and edit a swim lane?

Swim lanes are container shapes, so you must select the header or border to highlight the entire shape. To select an individual swim lane, double-click its header or anywhere along the swim lane’s border. Click once on its header or border to select the entire pool.

Can I combine individual swim lanes together into a single shape?

Yes. To combine individual swim lanes into a pool, use the Group feature. Learn more in our Add and customize shapes in Lucidchart article.

If I delete a swim lane from my diagram, will its contents also be erased?

No. When you delete a swim lane, its contents will remain on the canvas. To do this, right-click the swim lane header and select Delete (or select the swim lane and press Delete on your keyboard).  If you want to erase both the swim lane and its contents, click Remove Lane in the right-click menu.

Resources

To learn more about this feature, explore the additional resources below. These resources are available in English only.

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