Quick Start

Let's create your first diagram. This should take about five minutes.

Create a New Document

1. Launch DocuShark — Open the application. You'll land on the Documents home: your library, with preview cards of what you worked on recently once you have a few documents.

2. Create a new document — Click the gold New button in the top-right. The document opens immediately.

3. Name your document — Click its name (“Untitled Document”) in the toolbar and type a new one.

Your document opens with an infinite canvas ready for drawing. To get back to your library at any time, click Documents in the top-left.

Add Your First Shapes

1. Select the Rectangle tool — Press R or click Rectangle in the toolbar.

2. Draw a rectangle — Click and drag on the canvas. Release to finish.

3. Add more shapes — Try an Ellipse (O) and a Text box (T).

TIP

Hold Shift while drawing to constrain proportions — you'll get a perfect square or circle.

Connect Your Shapes

1. Select the Connector tool — Press C or click the connector icon in the toolbar.

2. Connect two shapes — Hover over a shape to see its connection points (small circles on the edges). Click one, then click a connection point on another shape.

3. Watch the auto-routing — Connectors automatically find the best path between shapes and update when you move things around.

Edit and Style

• Double-click a shape to edit its text
• Click a shape to select it, then use the Property Panel on the right to change colors, borders, and fonts
• Shift+Click to select multiple shapes
• Press Delete to remove selected shapes

Navigate the Canvas

Action	How
Pan	Middle-click + drag, or hold Space + drag
Zoom	Scroll wheel (zooms toward your cursor), or E / Q
Reset zoom / fit	Use the % and Fit buttons in the status bar
WASD navigation	W/A/S/D keys pan like a game

Save and Export

DocuShark auto-saves your work, so you won't lose anything. You can also:

• Press Ctrl+S to save immediately
• Use Export to save as PNG, SVG, PDF, or JSON
• Click the document name in the toolbar to rename it

Essential Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Select tool	V
Rectangle	R
Ellipse	O
Line	L
Connector	C
Text	T
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Shift+Z
Delete	Delete
Select all	Ctrl+A
Copy / Paste	Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V

See the full list in Keyboard Shortcuts.

Next Steps

Now that you've created your first diagram:

• Interface Tour — Learn what every part of the screen does
• Canvas & Navigation — Master panning, zooming, and WASD controls
• Drawing Tools — Deep dive into all the tools
• Shape Libraries — Use flowchart, UML, ERD, and cloud architecture shapes