# Flowchart symbols

Flowchart shapes are a small vocabulary that most people half-remember. Using them correctly costs nothing and saves your reader from guessing whether a box is a step or a subprocess.

Every shape below is available in all three editors. In Mermaid the shape is chosen by the bracket you use, which is why the source stays short.

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## When to reach for one

* Before you standardise diagrams across a team, so everyone draws the same shape for the same thing.
* When reviewing a diagram that looks fine but reads oddly.
* When converting a hand-drawn sketch into something official.

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## How to draw it in Capable

| **Route** | **Use when**                                                  |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Mermaid   | Bracket syntax picks the shape, so it stays readable as text. |
| draw.io   | The shape palette has the full set, including the rarer ones. |

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## A worked example

The five shapes that cover almost everything:

![Flowchart symbols](https://help.gocapable.com/images/att1418199043.svg)

The source, which you can paste into a new diagram and edit:

```
flowchart TD
  A([Terminator: start or end]) --> B[Process: a step you take]
  B --> C{Decision: a question}
  C -- Yes --> D[(Data store)]
  C -- No --> E[/Input or output/]
  D --> F([End])
  E --> F
```

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## A few things that catch people out

* A diamond with one exit is not a decision, it is a step. Redraw it as one.
* Subprocess shapes are worth using once a step has its own diagram; link the two.
* Colour is not part of the vocabulary. Use it for emphasis, never as the only signal.

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## Related

[Swimlane diagramWho does what, laid out in lanes.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/swimlane-diagram.html)

[Business process diagramReal BPMN 2.0, not boxes that look official.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/business-process-diagram.html)

[ExamplesWorking diagrams you can copy.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/examples.html)

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_Draw the unhappy path too._