Frequently Asked Questions
General
[FaqAttr] Where can I see a list of all the attributes that control dot or neato?
[FaqDiscuss] Where can I discuss Graphviz?
[FaqLarger] I'm trying to make a layout larger. How?
[FaqMerge] How can I join or merge certain edge routes in dot?
FaqPDF How can I generate graph layouts in PDF?
[FaqDupNode] How can I make duplicate nodes?
[FaqGraphLabel] How can I set a graph or cluster label without its propagating to all sub-clusters?
[FaqParEdge] How can I draw multiple parallel edges in neato?
[FaqBalanceTree] How can I symmetrize (balance) tree layouts?
Clusters
[FaqClusterEdge] How can I create edges between cluster boxes?
[FaqClusterHardToSee] Clusters are hard to see.
Output Features
[FaqQuality] How can I get high quality (antialiased) output?
[FaqPaperTooLarge] I can only get 11x17 output?
[FaqSymbols] How do I create special symbols and accents in labels?
[FaqNonAscii] More generally, how do I use non-ASCII character sets?
[FaqFontChanges] How do I get font and color changes in record labels or other labels?
[FaqPlainArrows] In plain format, splines do not touch the nodes (arrowheads are missing).
FaqRecordLR Record nodes are drawn differently in dot and neato when rankdir=LR.
[FaqMultiPage] How can I print a big graph on multiple pages?
[FaqJpgArtifacts] When I have a red edge it shows up as a solid red in PNG and GIF formats, but has a black border when rendered to JPEG.
[FaqCustomShape] How can I get custom shapes or images in my graph?
[FaqDottyNumlock] Sometimes in dotty, right mouse click shows the global menu but none of the items can be selected.
[FaqDottySyntaxError] Why does dotty report a syntax error on a legal dot file?
[FacDottyMissingFeature] How can I get some display feature (such as bold lines) in dotty?
[FaqNoEdgeHandles] How can I get rid of the little circles on edges ("edge handles") in dotty?
[FaqDotWithCoords] I already have all the coordinates for the nodes and edges of my graph and just want to use dot, neato, or dotty to render it. How?
[FaqDotWithNodeCoords] I already have all the coordinates for the nodes, and I want dot or neato to route the edges.
[FaqDottyWithCoords] I already have all the coordinates for the nodes and edges of my graph and just want to use dotty to render it. How?
[FaqDottyWithNodeCoords] Same as above, but I have only node coords, not edges.
[FaqClientSideMaps] How can I make client-side image maps?
[FaqServerSideMaps] Why aren't my server-side maps being recognized? I've checked the HTML!
[FaqApache] I've installed Debian Graphviz and it works just fine on the command line, but when I execute a Perl/CGI script through Apache, no output is generated.
Faq3D How can I get 3D output?
Problems
[FaqOverlapNode] How can I avoid node overlaps in neato?
[FaqOverlapEdge] How can I avoid node-edge overlaps in neato?
[FaqRuntimeNeato] Neato runs forever on a certain example.
[FaqEdgeLabelPlace] Edge label placement in neato is bad.
[FaqRuntimeDot] Dot runs forever on a certain example.
[FaqRuntimeTwopi] Twopi runs forever on a certain example.
[FaqNeatoEdgeCrossings] Neato has unnecessary edge crossings, or has missed an obvious chance to make a much nicer layout.
[FaqWebdot] Webdot doesn't work.
[FaqFontNotFound] I have "Font not found" errors, or text labels missing in webdot.
FaqBrowserSVG My browser doesn't recognize SVG.
[FaqLibExpat] libexpat is reported as containing a virus or as a security hole. Is this a real problem?
[FaqCoordTransformation] What is the coordinate transformation between the graph bb and a .png image?