# How to make this diagram clearer?
**URL:** https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800
**Category:** Help
**Created:** [August 31, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800 "2021-08-31T16:02:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Max\_TRNQ](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/Max_TRNQ)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800/1 "2021-08-31T16:02:28Z")
Hello everyone.
I recently discovered this program while looking for a tool to export Salesforce data model diagram into pdf. I have about 55 tables with associated joins between them. When I output the pdf, many lines get jumbled together and become hard to follow from one table to another. I use a salesforce app (ERDGenerator) to create the template and gv file, but I can modify them before outputting the pdf. Would you be able to give me any hints to format these lines in a better way? Thank you kindly.
gv file: [http://mlxsys.com/apollo/ApolloDiagram.gv](http://mlxsys.com/apollo/ApolloDiagram.gv)
output pdf: [http://mlxsys.com/apollo/ApolloDiagram.pdf](http://mlxsys.com/apollo/ApolloDiagram.pdf)
There is also a template (couldn’t attach file because new user in this forum allowed only 2 links):
========== MAIN
digraph G {
graph [rankdir=LR,nodesep=1.0];
node [shape=plaintext,fontsize=14];
edge [arrowhead=crow];
{{content}}
}
========== CLUSTER
subgraph cluster\_{{sequence}} { label = “{{name}}”;
style=“rounded, filled”;
fillcolor={{color}};
node [style=filled,color=white];
{{content}}
}
========== ENTITY
{{name}} [label=\<
{{fields}}
| {{name}} |
\>]
========== MD\_RELATIONSHIP
edge [style=solid]
{{from}} → {{to}}
========== LOOKUP\_RELATIONSHIP
edge [style=dashed]
{{from}} → {{to}}
========== FIELD
{{name}}{{fieldType}}
---
### Author:  [@Max\_TRNQ](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/Max_TRNQ)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800/2 "2021-08-31T16:31:23Z")
Maybe my solution is to simply increase width of the pdf page? How can I do that?
---
### Author:  [@jjlong](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/jjlong)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 11:01pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800/3 "2021-08-31T23:01:38Z")
Try changing lines 2 and 3 as follows:
```
graph [rankdir=TB nodesep=1.5 ranksep=1.5 splines="ortho"];
node [shape=plaintext,fontsize=14 fontname=helvetica];
```
- `rankdir=TB` will change the layout from “Left to Right” to “Top to Bottom”.
- `nodesep=1.5` and `ranksep=1.5` will increase the horizontal and vertical spacing between nodes to 1.5 inches.
- `splines="ortho"` will use orthogonal edge routing (i.e. 90 degree angles)
- `fontname=helvetica` I think is clearer 🙂
I can’t upload the PDF file I created with these settings, but here is a bitmap preview:
If you want to fine tune the horizontal and vertical spacing of the nodes using DOT:
- If `rankdir=TB` (or `BT`), change `ranksep` to vary the vertical spacing, and `nodesep` to vary the horizontal spacing.
- If `rankdir=LR` (or `RL`), change `nodesep` to vary the vertical spacing, and `ranksep` to vary the horizontal spacing.
Good luck,
Jeff
---
### Author:  [@Max\_TRNQ](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/Max_TRNQ)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800/4 "2021-08-31T23:24:21Z")
Thank you so much. This helped me a lot. Is there a way to make the corners round, where lines are bending?
---
### Author:  [@jjlong](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/jjlong)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/how-to-make-this-diagram-clearer/800/5 "2021-08-31T23:44:31Z")
There is no way to round the corners of ortho edges like you can do to a node. You can, however, set `splines="polyline"` to have the edges drawn using line segments instead of curves.