Frequently asked questions

Yes, completely free. There's no sign-up, no watermark on your downloads and no limit on how many diagrams you make.

No. Open the editor and start drawing. There's nothing to register or install.

Your current diagram saves automatically in your own browser (local storage) on your device. It isn't uploaded to any server. To keep a permanent copy or move it to another computer, click Save to download a .dfd.json file, and use Import to load it again. Import also opens draw.io (.drawio / .xml) files.

Yes. Clearing site data or using a private/incognito window removes the auto-saved copy. Click Save to keep a file on your computer for anything important.

Click Export and choose PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, PDF or HTML. PNG, WebP and SVG can have a transparent background, and XML opens in draw.io. You can also right-click selected shapes and choose Copy as Image.

Yes. Select a shape and drag the round handle above it to rotate (hold Shift for 15° steps) or press R for 90°. Press B or tap the pencil for freehand drawing. Use the tabs at the top-left of the canvas to add, rename and reorder pages. You can also group shapes (Ctrl+G), add images (upload, paste or drop), set opacity, shadow and dashed borders, copy and paste styles, share a link to your diagram and print it.

Yes. The shape panel has General, Basic, Arrows, Flowchart, Entity Relation and UML libraries (150+ shapes) with a search box. For ER and UML lines, select a line and choose Start / End of line for crow’s-foot ends, inheritance triangles and aggregation or composition diamonds.

Yes. Click Import or drag a .drawio / .xml file onto the canvas. Compressed draw.io files work too. Rectangles become external entities, circles become processes and open-ended boxes become data stores.

Hover over a shape to see its blue dots, then drag from a dot onto another shape. Type the data name, like “Order details”, and press Enter.

Yes. Choose straight, curved, S-curve or elbow lines for the whole diagram from the toolbar, or for a single flow by right-clicking it. Drag the round handle on a selected line to bend it, or use Flip curve.

Yes, every feature works on phones and tablets. Use the bar at the bottom: Shapes opens the shape library, Style opens colours and text settings, and More has notation, line style and the DFD rule checker. Tap a shape to select it, drag one of its dots to draw a flow, double-tap to rename, long-press for more options and pinch to zoom.

Yes. Choose the Black & white (print) colour theme in the style panel, then download a PNG or SVG and print it.

A DFD is a diagram that shows how data moves through a system: where it comes from (external entities), what changes it (processes), where it's stored (data stores) and how it travels (data flows). See DFD symbols explained.

A context diagram shows the entire system as one process (numbered 0) with all its external entities. A Level 1 DFD opens that process into its main sub-processes (1.0, 2.0, 3.0…) and adds data stores. See DFD levels explained.

Use whichever your syllabus, teacher or company uses. Yourdon–DeMarco draws processes as circles, and Gane–Sarson uses rounded rectangles with a number strip. DFD Maker switches between them in one click.

A black hole is a process that has inputs but no outputs. A miracle is a process that has outputs but no inputs. Both are errors, and DFD Maker's Check DFD rules button finds them.

No. Data must go through a process before it's stored or read. The same goes for entity-to-entity and store-to-store flows.

A flowchart shows the order of steps and decisions (control flow). A DFD shows how data moves between processes, stores and external entities, with no decisions, loops or timing.

Usually between 3 and 7. If you have many more, group related work into fewer processes and show the details in Level 2 diagrams.