The Subway View

Customize Content

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Choose Which Items to Show as Tracks

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Tracks define the main lines shown in the view.

1. Open the Content panel in the view header.
2. Under Tracks, choose:
   
   • Item types to show all items of that type as tracks, or
   • Individual items using the dropdowns next to each item type, if you want to focus on specific items only.
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Choose Which Item Types Appear as Nodes

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Nodes are the events or items that appear along the tracks.

1. Open the Content panel.
2. Under Nodes, check or uncheck the item types you want to show or hide.

This lets you focus on just the kinds of events that matter for the story or process you’re working on.

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Note for narrative views: If you’re using a subway view set to show the narrative (shown by the Narrative label in the view header), the nodes will always be based on your narrative structure and can’t be customized per view. Learn more about the narrative →

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Choose Whether Tracks Run Straight or Intersect

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You can choose whether tracks appear as independent lines, or connect at shared events.

1. Open the Content panel.
2. Open the Layout section and choose between:
   
   • Subway: tracks intersect when they’re both related to the same event or item node.
   • Separate: tracks run as independent, parallel lines.

Straight tracks are often clearer for comparison, while intersecting tracks highlight interaction and overlap.

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Add Events and Items

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Add Items as Tracks

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Tracks are individual items that appear as horizontal lines in the Subway view.

To add a new track:

1. Click the + button in the sidebar and create a new item of the same kind as your existing tracks.
2. If that item type is enabled under Tracks in the Content panel, the new item will appear automatically as its own track.
3. If it doesn’t appear, open the Content panel and enable it.
   
   

Add Events and Items as Nodes on Tracks

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Nodes are the events or items that appear along each track.

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Create an Item at the End of a Track

• At the right-hand end of any track, click the + button to add a new event or item to that track.

Create an Item Before or After Another

1. Click an event or item’s pencil icon to open its Edit menu.
   
   • On Mac or Windows, hover over the item’s label cell to show the icon.
   • On iOS, tap the item’s gutter cell once to show the icon.
2. Choose Create item before or Create item after.
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Move Events Between Tracks

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You can drag events from one track to another. 

• Dragging an event or item onto another track adds a new relationship to the track item.
• The item is added to the new track but not removed from the original track.

A single event or item can be connected to multiple tracks at the same time. For example, if an event involves more than one character, you can drag it onto another character’s track to add that character.