# Connectors

> Arrows between shapes, with labels and styles, and what they can become.

![Cards and stickies joined by connectors: curved, elbow and straight, one labelled blocks, one dashed, one in orange labelled see, and one with a loose end.](https://tack.social/_astro/connectors-light.BDyStc3C_fPTkA.webp)

## Drawing connectors

- Press `X`, then drag from anything (a shape, or empty board) to anything else.
- Or, with the select tool, hover a shape: dots appear on its sides. Drag one out to connect from that side.

An end dropped near a shape’s outline pins to that point. An end dropped on a shape without pinning floats around its outline, always aiming at the other end. Either end can sit loose on the board.

To re-attach an end, select the connector and drag the handle at that end onto another shape, or onto empty board.

When a shape is deleted, its connectors keep a loose end where it was. A connector whose shapes are both deleted goes too.

## Labels and style

Select a connector and press `Enter`, or double-click the line, to label it. The label sits at the middle.

The toolbar above a selected connector has:

- the route: **Curved**, **Elbow** or **Straight**
- **Arrowheads**: at the end, at both ends, or none
- **Dashed**
- colours: ink, red, orange, green, blue and purple
- **Label** and **Delete**

New connectors use the last style you picked.

## Blocked-by

A connector between two issues can become a GitHub dependency. Select it and choose **Blocked by** (`⌥` `B`): the arrow points from the blocker to what it blocks. See [Built-in actions](https://tack.social/writing-back/actions.md#blocked-by).

Connectors Tack draws itself (from [Expand related](https://tack.social/boards/cards.md#expand-related), a [dependency map](https://tack.social/widgets/dependency-map.md) or a pushed parent issue) are ordinary connectors you can restyle or delete.