Most elements sit upright, but sometimes a shape, label, or image reads better at an angle: a tilted callout, a diagonal banner, a label following a sloped arrow. The Rotation controls turn an element to the angle you want.
Snap to a preset angle
Right-click an element (or press the ⋯ button on its selection toolbar) and open the Rotation category. It offers eight preset angles, every 45° around the circle: 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, and 315°. Each tile shows the orientation, and with a mouse, hovering a tile previews it on the element before you click. Choosing one snaps the element to that exact angle, which keeps a row of tilted elements perfectly consistent. Picking 0° sets it back upright. Angles are measured clockwise.
Select several elements and the multi-selection menu has the same Rotation category, turning every one of them that can rotate to the angle you pick.
Rotate from the search palette
With a single element selected, open the search palette (Cmd+K or Cmd+., Ctrl on Windows and Linux) and type rotate for quick Rotate 90°, Rotate 180°, Rotate 270°, and Reset Rotation actions: the keyboard-only route to the same result, without opening the menu. They set the angle rather than add to it, so Rotate 90° twice still leaves the element at 90°.
Rotation uses these fixed 45° steps rather than a free-drag handle, so tilted elements stay consistent with one another and any angle is easy to reproduce. Each change is one undo step.
Good to know
- Rotation turns an element about its centre, and is a per-element property, so different elements on the same tab can sit at different angles. Copy, paste and duplicate keep the angle.
- Shapes, text, sticky notes, images, freehand strokes, tables and link cards can all be rotated. Arrows have no Rotation category: move their ends instead.
- A rotated element keeps its resize handles, turned with it. Dragging one grows the element along its own tilted sides while the opposite corner or edge stays put. It doesn't snap to other elements while it is tilted.
- Arrows attached to a rotated element stay on its outline as it turns.
- Annotation markers don't rotate: they are round numbered pins, so they have no Rotation category or Rotate actions, and a multi-selection's Rotation leaves them upright.
- Pointer notes don't rotate either: their line is pinned to a point, and turning the note would swing it away. They stay upright in the same way.
- Notes on an event storming board have no Rotation category: their tilt is part of the notation.
- The Bounce and Wobble animations compose with an element's rotation, so a tilted shape still bobs or wiggles around its angle.
Use a preset angle when you want several elements to share the exact same tilt; reach for the search palette's Rotate actions when your hands are already on the keyboard.
Was this article helpful?