Dealing With Large Graphs in yEd
Tips & TricksSummary
This article was written for an older version. It is only online as a reference for customers using this old version. The information it contains is probably out of date.
The latest information can be found in the yFiles documentation
Description
Dealing with large graphs (say, more than 10,000 nodes) often calls for a degradation in application response time. If you want to work with such data sets in yEd, and want to maintain your user experience even for the largest graphs, then be sure to have the following settings in your yEd preferences.
On the "General" tab:
- decrease the undo depth to 0 (zero)
- disable animated zooming
On the "Display" tab:
- disable anti-aliasing
- increase the value for details threshold (to a value of 2.0, for instance) [see explanations below]
On the "Modules" tab:
- disable layout morphing
Attached you will find a yEd settings file, that has the described options already set. To use it, simply move the file to the .yed3 directory in your home directory (on UNIX-like operating systems) and then start yEd.
Explanations
Increasing the value for details threshold to a value of 2.0, for instance, means that (among other things) node and edge labels are not drawn until the graph is displayed at zoom level 2.0 (a.k.a. 200%) or higher. This leads to lesser objects to be drawn and hence increases drawing speed.