Formatting & Appearance

In this tutorial, you’ll style your Farquind diagram for presentation: overriding colours for light and dark mode, adjusting borders, copying a format to other nodes, toggling stereotypes, and using the related elements filter to focus on specific elements.

Prerequisites: You’ve completed Editing Diagrams and have a diagram open with several elements and relationships.

What you’ll build: A presentation-ready diagram with custom styling.

1. Default Appearance

Every element on the Canvas gets its look from the M2 notation: the metamodel defines the default shape, colours and icon for each element type. An ArchiMate Application Component has one colour and shape; a Business Process has another.

Each colour has a Light and a Dark value, so a diagram reads well in both themes. Switch the app to dark mode (View > Settings…, or Ctrl+Shift+D / Cmd+Shift+D) and back to see this. To switch only one diagram, use the theme button in the diagram toolbar.

You can override the defaults on a single diagram when you want it to communicate something specific, such as highlighting systems under review.

2. Change a Node’s Fill Colour

1. Select an element on the Canvas. Try FQ Vessels.
2. In the Properties panel, find the Appearance section, marked (this diagram only), below the name and the property values. Click its heading to open it. You can also right-click the node and choose Appearance > Edit…, which opens it for you. Once open, the section stays open as you select other nodes, until you close it.
3. The Fill row shows what the node inherits, for example Default #AFCFD8 · M2. Click its Light swatch.
4. Pick a colour from the popover.

The node updates straight away. Because the row’s two swatches are linked (=), the new colour applies in both light and dark mode. The row now has a blue ●, and a Custom appearance chip appears next to the element’s name.

The override applies only to this element on this diagram. It doesn’t affect other diagrams where the same element appears, and it doesn’t change the metamodel.

3. Give Dark Mode Its Own Colour

1. On the Fill row, click = between the swatches. It becomes ≠, meaning each theme can differ.
2. Click the Dark swatch and pick a different colour.
3. Switch the diagram’s theme with the diagram toolbar’s theme button to compare the two.

If a ⚠ appears next to a swatch, that colour is hard to read in that theme, for example text on a fill that’s too similar. It’s a warning, not a block.

4. Change the Border, Text and Shadow

In the same Appearance section:

1. Set a Border colour, and a Border Width of 1–4px.
2. Set Border Style to Dashed to mark something provisional.
3. Set a Text colour if the default doesn’t suit your fill.
4. Turn Shadow off or on, and adjust Text H-Align and Text V-Align.

These overrides help draw attention: for example, give every “at risk” system a red dashed border.

5. Change an Edge

1. Click an edge (relationship) on the Canvas to select it.
2. In the Appearance section, set the Line colour, the Label colour (the text on the edge), the Line Width and the Line Pattern (solid, dashed or dotted).

6. Copy an Appearance to Other Nodes

1. Right-click FQ Vessels and choose Appearance > Copy Appearance (Ctrl+Alt+C / Cmd+Option+C).
2. Select two or three other nodes.
3. Right-click one of them and choose Appearance > Paste Appearance (Ctrl+Alt+V / Cmd+Option+V).

All the selected nodes take the same overrides in a single step. With several nodes selected, the Appearance section edits them all at once, and a row where they differ shows Mixed.

7. Revert to Default

To remove an override and return to the metamodel’s look:

• Click ↺ at the end of a row to reset just that row, or
• Click Revert Appearance to Default at the bottom of the Appearance section, or right-click and choose Revert Appearance to Default, to reset every row.

Appearance changes are diagram edits: Ctrl+Z / Cmd+Z undoes them, and Ctrl+S / Cmd+S saves them with the diagram.

8. Toggle Stereotypes

Stereotypes are labels that appear on elements showing their M2 type — for example, an Application Component might show a <<Application Component>> label.

To toggle stereotype visibility for the entire diagram:

1. Look at the diagram toolbar (above the Canvas)
2. Find the stereotypes toggle button
3. Click it to show or hide stereotypes

This is a diagram-level setting — it affects all elements on the current diagram. Hiding stereotypes gives a cleaner look when the element shapes and colours already make the types clear.

9. Related Elements Filter

When you’re working on a complex diagram with many elements, the related elements filter helps you focus.

1. Select an element on the Canvas — for example, FQ Orders
2. In the diagram toolbar, click the Related elements filter toggle
3. All elements that are not directly connected to your selection are dimmed

This makes it easy to see which elements have relationships with the selected one and which don’t. It’s especially useful on large diagrams where relationship lines cross and overlap.

Click the toggle again (or deselect) to restore full visibility.

What You’ve Learned

• That every colour has a Light and a Dark value, inherited from the metamodel
• How to override a node’s fill, border, text, shadow and alignment on one diagram, and give dark mode its own colour
• How to format an edge’s line and label colours, width and pattern
• How to copy a format to other nodes, and edit several at once
• How to revert formatting to the metamodel default
• How to toggle stereotype visibility on a diagram
• How to use the related elements filter to focus on connected elements

Next Steps

• How to change a node’s or edge’s appearance on one diagram: The full reference for the Appearance section
• How colours work in light and dark mode: Why each colour has two values, and what Auto means
• How to import a .farki package — Bring in metamodels and models from external files
• How to create a new project — Set up projects from scratch, from files, or from the Farketplace