Miro for mapping & diagramming

You can use Miro as an all-in-one solution that provides necessary tools at every stage of the mapping or diagramming process. Start diagramming in Miro from scratch using intuitive tools and frameworks or choose a pre-made template from the extended Miro library. Share with your teammates and enjoy the ease of collaboration in Miro - discuss and refine right on the board. Once your diagram is ready, easily export and present your work.

💡 Take the Miro Academy course on mapping and diagramming.

Create your first diagram

To start mapping & diagramming with Miro, choose a tool that will best suit your needs and take advantage of smart diagramming capabilities. Discover your opportunities below.

To open the shape library, choose the shape tool on the toolbar and click All shapes. The Diagramming panel will open for you on the left-hand side. 

Diagramming shapes on the left-side panel

To create a shape on your board, simply click it or drag it onto the board. 

You can add new shapes to your library:

1. Click Manage shapes.
2. Check the box next to the needed shape pack. Basic shapes, Flowchart, Connectors are available for everyone. Other shape packs (BPMN, Data flow, AWS, etc.) are only available for Business, Consultant, Enterprise, and Education plans.
3. Scroll down to see and use the new shapes.

When hovering over a shape on the panel, you can see its meaning (for example, Predefined Process).

Adding new shape packs to the Diagramming panel

Available shape packs

• Basic shapes
• Flowchart
• Connectors
• Callouts

Smart Diagramming options

• BPMN
• DFD
• AWS
• Azure
• Cisco
• Google Cloud
• Kubernetes
• VMware
• UML
• ERD
• Value Stream Map (VSM)

Diagram Themes

To create eye-catching diagrams, choose between several diagram Themes before you start building. 

You can find diagram Themes under Shapes > All shapes. Just above your shape pack, you can select one of the six diagram Themes. Choose one before you start building your diagram to reduce time spent on styling.

✏️ Diagram Themes are currently available for Basic shapes and Flowchart shapes.

Diagram Themes

Swimlanes

Dividing diagrams into logical areas helps to visualize complex information and design for clarity and accountability. Often used in the creation of Flowcharts, BPMN and UML diagrams, Swimlanes show interdependencies, connections, and handoffs between lanes. Adding Swimlanes to your diagram can improve the efficiency of your processes and help you identify waste and inefficiencies.

Swimlanes are part of the Flowchart, BPMN, and UML shape packs. You can add Swimlanes by going to Shapes > All Shapes > search for Flowchart, BPMN, or UML shape pack. Simply drag and drop onto the board to start creating. 

There are vertical and horizontal Swimlanes, and with Pools, you can group multiple lanes together. 

Hover over the Swimlanes to find control points. These let you add lanes and move them.

⚠️ Content within swimlanes can't be locked, aligned, and grouped.

Miro swimlanes

Callouts

Annotate diagrams with Callouts to draw attention to important information, without clutter. To add Callouts, go to Shapes > All Shapes > search for Callouts. Once selected, you can drag and drop Callouts onto your board. 

Adding Callouts

Callouts have three different shapes: callout, speech bubble, and brackets. Connecting the tail of the Callout to an object will lock it; moving the object or the Callout will keep the tail connected.

Callouts on the board

Entity relationship diagramming

Available for: Business, Consultant, Enterprise, and Education plans

With Miro's entity relationship modeling tool you can visualize high-level data models using three basic concepts: entities, attributes, and relationships.

When creating entity relationship diagrams you can:

• Apply alternating colors to the attributes within the entities
• Entities have single, double or triple columns
• Add rows via the + sign or in the floating panel above the entity or below the entity
  Adding and modifying entities
  
  
• Connect cardinalities to entities (shapes) or attributes (rows within the shape)
• Connectors automatically use cardinalities when working with entities
  Connecting entities

Quick diagram creation

Easily create or transform shapes, and connect them to other objects on the board with our quick diagram creation tools.

✏️ Basic shapes are available for everyone. Shape packs are only available for Business, Consultant, Enterprise and Education plans.

Create and connect shapes

Go to the left-hand toolbar and click on the shape icon. Select any shape and add it to your board.

To duplicate a shape, click on the shape and then press enter. You can also hover over the blue dot near the shape to see where a new shape or a connection line will be created. Then click the dot to create the line or new shape. 

If you’d like to connect a shape to another shape or an object that wasn’t suggested, drag the dot and draw the connection line as usual.

One-click creation and connection in Miro

Insert a shape 

Forgot a step or need to add more information to a flow? Just click the connection line between two shapes, click the Insert shape icon in the object toolbar, and choose the object you'd like to insert.

Remember there needs to be enough space between two connected objects to be able to use the insert shape option.

Inserting an object between two shapes

Switch shapes 

Change the shapes in your diagram in a flash with the switch type feature. It allows you to instantly transform one object into another, whether it’s a sticky note, a text box, a card or a shape. 

You can also search for new shapes directly in the switch type dropdown - making it even easier to find and transform shapes.

Click the object on the board that you'd like to transform, click the switch type icon on the object menu, then select or search for a new object from the dropdown.

Switch type is available for basic shapes and diagramming shape packs.

Object dimensions

Object dimensions help you deliver professional diagrams faster and easier. Use object dimensions to create the same size objects across your board with precision.

Object dimensions work with all objects except for lines.

How to enable Object dimensions:  

1. Click the Main menu hamburger icon > View > Object dimensions
2. Toggle on Object dimensionsEnabling dimensions in board settings

How to use Object dimensions  

When you create new objects or resize existing objects, you’ll see a blue rectangle with the object’s width and height. 

Blue guidelines appear for other objects on your board when the dimensions match. Working with dimensions 

Background grid view

Change the grid view on your board to create content on the board with more precision. Click the Main menu hamburger icon > View > Grid

Background grid in boards settings

You can choose between three options: None, Line grid, Dot grid. Line grid enables easier navigation around the board with the help of small squares. If you choose Dot grid, you can also enable snapping objects to the grid.

Background grid views

Snap to grid

Enable snapping to the dot grid in the board settings (see above). When you add a shape or any other object to the board, it will automatically snap to the dots showing the most accurate way to align it according to the grid.

Snapping to the grid

Smart guides

You can enable smart guides in the Main menu > Preferences > Align objects.

Enabling smart guides

When you place an object on a board or move it, smart guides will give you suggestions on how to align it with other objects on the board vertically or horizontally and will show equal spacing between objects. You will see the blue guidelines as you move the object.

Smart guides in Miro

Changing your diagram

You can change shape's color, opacity, text formatting and configure connection line's type, color, and text labels. Feel free to use cards and sticky notes as well - easily convert objects while keeping their style. You can select several items to filter and customize them: How to select and move multiple objects.

Changing a flowchart in Miro

💡 For the best experience in the Tablet app, use smart drawing which automatically converts your drawings into Miro shapes.

Mind map

Express your ideas, map out flows, and organize the brainstorming process with Miro mind map. Start with one concept and create branches and child nodes using a vertical or horizontal layout.

Miro mind map

You can change the position of child nodes and align them in one click, change the colour and style of your mind map, reassign nodes and link dependencies. Learn more about mind map.

User story mapping

The interactive User story map framework by Miro is a good way to quickly add and organize user stories. Start with three cards and develop your USM using intuitive controls and shortcuts. Learn more about Miro User story map.

Miro User story mapping

Templates

Discover Miro Template Library where you will find multiple custom-crafted templates for customer journey maps, wireframes, organizational charts, and more. Access the library from your board, dashboard, or on this page. You can use a pre-filled template or start with blank. 

Miro templates for mapping and diagramming

Apps

Explore Miro integrations with other services bringing even more opportunities to mapping & diagramming in Miro. Open Miro Marketplace and switch to the use case on the left.

Miro apps for mapping and diagramming

Feel free to install the apps that will enrich your diagramming experience.

• Icon databases (Iconfinder, Unsplash). Visualize your technical diagrams without the need to switch between Miro and icon sets. Note that other icon packages are also available in the Shape library.
• Clusterizer by Refractive Strategy. The app clusters your tagged sticky notes and cards by automatically building diagrams. Select a group of tagged stickies or cards, open Clusterizer, and click Build. The app will build replicas of your tagged items connected with lines. Learn more.
• Wireframes. Miro Wireframe library includes about 60 UI elements and a variety of interactive icons. Easily change the style and type of elements and link them to other objects.
• Jira Cards, Asana Cards, Azure Cards. If your diagrams include cards, you may benefit from Miro integrations with Jira, Asana, and Azure - keep your workflow in Miro by importing tasks and issues to boards as interactive cards.
• Diagramming. This will lead you to the diagramming library.
• Smart Diagrams by Appgami. Discover the library of pre-made customizable templates. Learn more.

Collaborate and refine

Seamlessly share your Miro boards via email, publicly, or with team or project members to start collaborating online or asynchronously.

Another simple way to share your board is to embed it into Confluence, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Trello, or any other website that supports iframe and allow unregistered users to comment or edit on your boards within the apps.  

Use comments and stickies to leave notes and initiate discussions. Set up integration with Slack and Microsoft Teams to get notifications via different channels.

Miro comments

Export and present

Present your diagram at a meeting. Hover over your avatar and bring collaborators to your screen to let them see what you are working on. Learn more.
Miro attention management

Export the board and send your work results to colleagues or clients to present your diagram outside Miro. You can choose between different formats: image, PDF, CSV or an .RTB file. 

Board export options