Improve connector lines in Lucidchart

This is Miro. No issue. 

This is Mural. No issue. 

This is Lucidchart. Issue. 

I went through Align Objects, Distribute Objects, Match Size and Auto Layout under the Arrange tab and the best it can do is align the objects/shapes but it doesn’t reposition/align the connector lines in the correct spot. 
 

Same results in Lucidspark whether I used sticky notes or a rectangle shape then pull the arrow out to create the connector lines manually by finger. 
I am looking to recreate the results from Mural or Miro in Lucidspark or Lucidchart. 

In Lucidspark the mindmap feature has the correct behaviour. The children and sibling topics are correctly aligned along with their branches every time you create a new one without failure. There is even a special plus button that will magically push the topic below further down the alignment to make room for another topic on the same level.
This behaviour for brainstorming on a mindmap should be applied to the shapes and sticky notes when diagramming for a magical and time-saving experience. 

What if the diagramming feature and the mindmapping feature were merged into one feature? The mindmapping feature has the correct behaviour and the diagramming feature has many of the missing/requested options that the mindmapping feature lacks but can be found in a dedicated mindmapping app like Xmind or MindNode. 
 

Thanks for the thorough bug report, ​@patrickpereira1988!  I’m the product manager with our canvas layout and lines teams - I agree this is undesirable default behavior. 

Two immediate workarounds for this include:

1. Moving the shapes farther out from the origin block:

Or

2. Selecting the line anchor points and moving them in-line with the main branch:

I realize, however, that the best option is not needing to do either of these.  I will bring this to the team to discuss further!

Thanks again,

Jimmy

Hello.
Thank you Jimmy for the solutions. I tried the first one. It only applies to the parent object/shape and the first level children objects/shapes. Everything is aligned properly as seen in the first image. However diagramming doesn’t stop there. The second image demonstrates what it looks like when you go a second and third level and push the preceding object back to align the connector lines and the objects/shapes of that level. 
If you play around with the mind mapping feature in Lucidspark you might start saying “if only diagrams can operate this smoothly”...
 

Thanks for your patience ​@patrickpereira1988  while I chatted with the team.

The TL;DR: this is working as designed, though not as expected.  We are actively looking at line routing behaviors in the product and are aware of this issue.  It’s on our backlog to fix, though I cannot estimate when that might be. 

If you’re interested in details…..

The behavior you’re seeing is a consequence of a product feature called Smart Lines. Quick diagramming lay blocks out with smart lines on by default, which is what causes this behavior.

But first lets back up and explain what smart lines do.

Regular vs. Smart Lines

A regular line connection between shapes connects  the line endpoints to a specific spot on a the shape.  You can think of them being anchored in position.  If you move the shape around, those endpoints stay put:

In contrast to this, smart lines re-compute their endpoint and move it around the shape perimeter to help minimize path length:

This really is a “blink-and-you-miss-it” interaction.  Smart lines are activated by pulling the line endpoint further into the shape, which activates a blue outline around its perimeter:

OK, so what does this mean for quick diagramming?

When you create new shapes via the quick diagramming feature, the shapes are automatically connected using these smart lines.  You might see where this is going:

The first three shapes you create are close enough to the source shape that the lines route as expected.

As you get further away from the source block, however, the smart line routing algorithm repositions the line’s endpoint away from the shape side, and to the top or bottom.  The algorithm interprets this as a more optimal solution for a shorter routing path. It doesn’t realize it’s overlapping adjacent shapes.

Again: this is a very long way of saying “this is working as designed”, even when that design is not expected.

We are currently roadmapping future projects and revamping smartlines is on the list.  we don’t yet know where that will fall in the priority order but I wanted to let you know we’re aware of it. 

Thank you for reaching out.  I hope this info can help you or others get a better sense of the product behavior.

Thank you Jimmy for giving me your time to provide that long explanation. 
Interesting…what is the difference between Smart Lines and mind map branches? Mind map branches don’t seem to have this issue.
This is what a logic chart looks like using Xmind. I keep pressing Return and similar looking lines are all aligned. 
This is what I am looking forward to with diagramming using Lucidchart and/or Lucidspark. 

What if the diagramming feature in Lucidspark and Lucidchart merged with the mind mapping feature and ran on its algorithm? That way they can benefit from each other- diagrams can benefit from a mind maps algorithm and mind maps can benefit from a diagrams extensive feature list. 
What if mind maps were removed from the Organizers tool and a new icon was introduced on the toolbar so mind maps and diagrams could be group together running on the same algorithm? 

What if the diagramming feature in Lucidspark and Lucidchart merged with the mind mapping feature and ran on its algorithm?

What if [...] maps and diagrams could be group together running on the same algorithm?

What you suggest gets at the crux of the issue, I believe.  Mind maps implement different layout logic and rules than the canvas line routing algorithm since they are a much more constrained feature. 

What I mean by that is there are fixed places on where mind map elements can live or get repositioned.  Regular canvas shapes, on the other hand, are freely positioned and rotated, leading to more complex line routing scenarios. 

Thank you again for taking the time to post and share your recommendations.  I’ll take this back to the team and figure out where this can live in our backlog.

What if in Lucidspark or Lucidchart when we add another shape in the same alignment (a fourth shape for example) there was a connector point at the curve of the smart line that we can pull from to connect to the shape? 
Instead of going back to the source shape we could continue the same alignment by going to the curve of the smart line leading into the third shape then pull from there to create the fourth shape. We would essentially continue where we left off instead of going back to the source shape (the beginning) to carry on. 
 

If this is a known bug in Lucidchart or known behaviour with the smart lines in Lucidchart that is in the backlog for future development then what if there were improvements made to the manual diagramming in Lucidspark as a short-term fast-tracked workaround? That way diagramming can have a smooth and fast and uninterrupted workflow manually in Lucidspark while we wait for improvements to the automatic diagramming in Lucidchart. 
Lucidspark doesn’t have the automatic diagramming like Mural or Miro because Lucidchart is the dedicated diagramming app out of the two. But it has undesired behaviour. So I can’t diagram like Miro or Mural allows in Lucidspark or Lucidchart. But one app or the other should make this possible in the short-term. So what if improvements could be fast-tracked to the manual diagramming in Lucidspark before improvements came to the automatic diagramming in Lucidchart? Which app could provide the path of least resistance when it comes to improving diagramming?

Miro, Mural along with Whimsical and Canva don’t have an issue with automatic diagramming. 
Only Lucidspark along with FigJam has an issue with automatic diagramming. 

Thank you for the additional feedback and insight ​@patrickpereira1988!