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 document tools, follow these steps:

1. Click the search icon in the upper-left side of the workspace.
2. Select Shapes from the search panel.
3. Click Browse all shapes at the bottom of the panel.  
4. Check the box next to “Flowchart Shapes”. 
   • You can search “flowchart” to find it more quickly.
5. Click Use selected shapes. 

Now that you’ve added these shapes to the Document tools in the left panel, you can drag swim lane shapes onto the canvas.

For full instructions to add swim lanes to the shapes menu in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

Modify swim lanes

Double-click the header or border of an individual lane. Click  the right panel icon in the upper-right side of the workspace to modify the lane. 

From the "Properties" tab of the right panel, you can use:

• Grid layout: Organize content into an adjustable grid pattern and automatically expand swim lane space as content is added. 
• Magnetize: Move your content and container together.
• Nudging: Move nearby shapes when resizing.
• Lanes (up/down arrows): Add or remove lanes relative to the base lane. 
  • Lanes are 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).
• Orientation: Rotate swim lanes to switch between vertical columns and horizontal rows.
• Text orientation: Adjust the label text alignment and direction.
• Color swatches: Change the header and lane background colors.
• Text options: Format font, size, weight, and style.
• Arrange objects: Send swim lanes backward or bring them forward relative to canvas objects.

For full instructions to modify swim lanes in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

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. Click the right panel icon in the upper-right corner of the workspace.
3. Navigate to “Text” in the right panel.
4. Under “Text Orientation”, select the vertical or horizontal option.
   

For full instructions to change label orientation in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

Add color

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

1. Select a swim lane.
2. Click the right panel icon in the upper-right of the workspace.
3. Under “Advanced options” in the right panel, select the Lane color swatch. 
4. Select a color.
    

For full instructions to add color in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

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

1. Select a swim lane.
2. Click the right panel icon in the upper-right of the workspace.
3. Under “Advanced options” select the color swatch to the right of “Header”.
4. Select a color.

For full instructions to adjust the header color of a swim lane in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

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 click the right panel icon in the upper-right corner of the workspace to make edits. Read the following sections for instructions to resize, move, magnetize, and reformat pools.

For information on modifying pools in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

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 right panel icon in the upper-right corner of the workspace.
3. Toggle on “Magnetize”.
4. Drag the swim lane to a different location.

For full instructions to magnetize objects in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

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 the search icon from the upper-left of the workspace.
2. Select Shapes.
3. Click Browse all shapes at the bottom of the left panel.
4. Click the UML shape library to expand additional options.
5. Check the box next to “UML State/Activity”.
6. Click Use selected shapes.
7. Navigate to the “UML State/Activity” in the left panel and choose a multidimensional swim lane diagram.
   
   
8. Drag a shape onto the canvas.

For full instructions to access UML swim lanes in the classic Lucidchart editor, expand the dropdown below.

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Resources

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

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