How to Draw a Line From and To the same Workflow Activity

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I’m okay with this sounding dumb. But drawing a line that points back to the same activity where it came from isn’t an easy thing to do in K2 Studio.

… unless you know the trick.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Draw an activity on the K2 Studio canvas. We’ll call this the first activity.

  2. Draw a second activity on the canvas above the first.

    Image of two K2 blackpearl actiities on a canvas.
    Draw two activities on the canvas.

  3. Draw a line from the first activity up toward the second. The important thing here is to draw the line in an upward motion, because by default, the line will attach to the bottom of the first activity and to the top of the second activity.

    Image of two K2 blackpearl activities connected by a single line.
    Drag the line from The First Activity UPWARD toward The Second Activity.

  4. Grab the pointer of the line at the top of the second activity and drag it down to the top of the first activity. If the line appears to let go of the bottom of the first activity, keep dragging toward the middle of the activity until you see line both above and below the activity.

    An image of a K2 blackpearl activity with a line that starts from beneath it and ends on top of it.
    Drag the tip of the line on The Second Activity down to the top of The First Activity, so the line is visible both on top and below The First Activity.

  5. You may discard the second activity now.

  6. Grab the bottom of the line on the underside of the first activity, and slowly drag it toward the closer edge (see “1” in the figure below). You should see the line move around the corner. Keep slowly dragging the bottom of the line upwards (“2”), so the line resembles a square, then release the mouse button.

    An image of a K2 blackpearl activity with a single line showing both above and below the activity, and instructions on how to move the line to make it resemble a square.
    Slowly drag the bottom of the line toward the closer corner. With the horizontal movement (1), the line will jump the corner and resemble a rectangle; with the vertical movement (2), the line will more closely resemble a square. Release when mouse button when you’re done.
    An image of a K2 blackpearl activity with a line coming out of the left side and pointing back to the same activity at the top; the line resembles a square
    A completed line coming from and going back into the same activity.

  7. Look at what you just did!

Notice in Step 3 that I took care to draw the line close to the left end of the activity, and that the finished product was a line that bends around the left side. Where you choose to draw the line along that horizontal axis will affect your outcome. If you want your completed line to bend around the right side, consider drawing your line closer to the right end.

It’s very important at Step 6 to only grab the bottom of the line going forward. Grabbing the top will wreck it and you’ll have to basically start over.