Confluence - Gliffy Flowchart - Linking Multiple Flowcharts

[brandon_torvick]

Greetings,

If this isn't the correct forum to post this question, please let me know... I am extremely new to both Confluence and Gliffy. Thanks in advance!

Issue: I am am creating a workflow diagram in Confluence using Gliffy. What I am trying to figure out, is how do I take an object in this diagram and have it link to another diagram?

Outcome: What I would like to see happen, is that the users reviewing the Confluence document can click on an object in a workflow and have it open another workflow. I don't want branches of workflows in one document.

Any suggestions on where I am going wrong?

Thanks --

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

Great news, @brandon_torvick , you're in the perfect place to ask this sort of question.

All Gliffy diagrams are stored as attachments on the page, so you can link from one object/shape/text in your diagram to another diagram by clicking link button in the navigation up top while a shape is selected or text is highlighted:

From there, you can either search for your diagram by name in the "Search" panel or select "Attachments" and chose from diagrams in the same space. 

Let me know if you need more direction! 

Samie

[brandon_torvick]

Thank for the guidance, Samie. 

As convenient as it sounds, I tried to do this yesterday by linking another Gliffy diagram to an object in my "primary" diagram, but I'm not noting what I think should be the anticipated results.

After I insert a document, I have the option to Go | Edit | Unlink, which looks promising.

However, when I click the Go link, it opens up the Attachments page and there's a black box that says "We can't preview this file. You'll have to download the file to view it."

I click the download link and it gives me a file with no association type for me to review or do anything with it.

It's obviously user error on my part, I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around how Gliffy works!

Thanks.

-Brandon

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

Thanks so much for all the detail, @brandon_torvick !! That's definitely not the ideal experience, but I am getting things to work on my side of things, so let me be a bit more specific.

I quickly created a diagram on a different page and called it "flowchart example" (original, I know). In order to have the link launch into the diagram viewer, you'll want to find the attachment option that includes the little Gliffy arrow icon. In this case that's the bottom one.

Using that option, when I click on the shape linked in my diagram, it launches me into the Gliffy viewer, a fullscreen version of the Flowchart Example diagram with /gliffy-confluence-fullscreen-viewer-launcher? as part of the URL. 

If this still doesn't work for you, would you mind emailing our support team at support@gliffy.com so they can get some more details and help you trouble-shoot further?

I also have a workaround for you. Instead of trying to search for the diagram you want to link to, open that diagram in the Gliffy viewer. You can do that by clicking the "fullscreen" button on the upper right of the diagram on your Confluence page: 

This should launch the viewer, again with something like /gliffy-confluence-fullscreen-viewer in the URL. You can copy that entire link and use that in the "web link" option of the link modal:

Please let me know how it goes!!!

[brandon_torvick]

Thanks for working with me, Samie! The additional writeup has been very helpful. 

I was trying to append the diagram using the attachments section. On my setup, I did not have any icons (arrow icon, for example) in my attachments. As a result of your input, I used the search option and there it was! I could attach and view the diagram in a viewer!

Here's my follow-up to this... I am now wondering if I have been asking for help on something that I have done a poor job of communicating on what I am ultimately trying to do.

My *hope* was to have my attached diagram(s) function as an interactive workflow. Meaning users can click an object in the primary workflow sheet, which opens another diagram, that they can then click on an object to open a resource (such as Confluence web page).

Is this possible?

Thank you.

-Brandon

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

So happy to help, it's great to learn more about what you're trying to do with Gliffy, @brandon_torvick !

Links allows you to add a link to any online material, so you could absolutely add a shape or on-text link to any other web page (including Confluence pages) from one of your diagrams. So if you have a step in your business process that says "complete X form," you could use the Web Link option from above to link to an online version of that form. That way, your user could more easily work through the process without having to dig around for that form. 

I'm part of Gliffy's marketing team, so as an example I have a email cadence/workflow for our free trial users diagrammed. I have links built to the copy for every email so that I can easily see the content of that email in the context of the workflow if I need to. It just saves me time. :) Here's a sneak peek:

Does that answer your question?

[brandon_torvick]

Thank you, this is absolutely adding into what I am trying to do! Awesome. 

After doing a bit of trial-and-error, I think what I am after is layers, in conjunction with your last comments on imbedding web-links.

Is my approach detailed below how this is normally done?

1. My primary workflow sheet has an object called "Restore."

2. I added a second layer and linked it to the object "Restore."

3. When clicking the "Restore" object, it opens up another diagram with other miscellaneous object, and one of those objects has a link to Confluence web page.

How do I preview and verify my diagram functionality from Start > Finish without publishing? Within the editor, there is a ribbon on the bottom page that says "This page can be converted to the new editor," along with a Preview Page button. I clicked Preview Page and it all worked but my web-link (which might be normal until it's published?). 

Should I convert this page to the new editor?

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

Ah, understood! Yes, you can show multiple paths/extra detail to your viewers with our interactive layers feature. We have a longer tutorial video about that here, but it sounds like you've got a handle on it!

I think you will need to publish your diagram and Confluence page to fully check your work. If you're concerned about people accessing your page/experience before you're ready, you can modify the page permissions by clicking the lock icon in the upper right. Sometimes I work on a page with the permissions set to "only me" and then share it with my team when I know everything is buttoned up.

Re: converting your page to the new editor, that's a Confluence setting and shouldn't affect Gliffy's functionality on your page. I made the switch over to the new editor a while ago and definitely prefer it! @brandon_torvick 

The new editor also has an option to assign your page with a status, so you could also flag the page/experience as a "draft" if you want it to be clearer to your team that it's a work in progress!

[brandon_torvick]

Thanks for the help the last few days, I appreciate it! I believe a product is only as good as the support around it, and you knocked it out of the park.

Oddly enough, when I converted the page to the new editor, both the publish and preview button seem to have disappeared! I tried it Chrome and Edge, close and reopen, full screen or minimized, and going through the interface buttons one-by-one. Not sure what to think of that.

I went to page history and reverted to the legacy editor and all was 'normal.'

/shrug/

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

Thank you for the compliment, @brandon_torvick ! :)

Unfortunately, I think this is where my product knowledge is only going to get us so far. Re: your issues converting the page to the new editor, I am officially in over my head! Can you please email our technical support team so they can get more details? That'll be support@gliffy.com. I'll let them know to look out for you!

Wasn't aware of that issue and want to make sure we're appropriately addressing it for all our customers, especially as the "old" editor appears for many folks post-migration.

Thank you so much for your help!