---
title: "Using the Connections Map"
date: 2026-11-12
updated: 2026-11-12
author: "Rafael Bennemann"
link: "https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview-pro/connected-views/using-the-connections-map/"
category: "GravityView Pro > Connected Views"
---

The Connections Map draws each connected View as a box and each link between two Views as an arrow. On it you can see where visitors start and who can open each View, and you can change a link without opening the View editor.

Connected Views is part of [GravityView Pro](https://www.gravitykit.com/products/gravityview-pro/).

To connect two Views, see [Getting started with Connected Views](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview-pro/connected-views/connecting-views-with-connected-views/).

This guide uses a property company's site as its example. Visitors start from a Clients View on a Client directory page and click through to each client's projects in a Projects View. Each project then lists its tasks from a Tasks View.

![The Connections Map with three boxes. Clients, marked Starts here, has a solid arrow to Projects, and Projects has a solid arrow to Tasks. A dashed arrow runs from Projects back to Clients.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-overview-scaled.png)

## Open the map

The **GravityKit** menu has no item for the map. You open it from a View or from a form.

### From the Views list

Go to **GravityKit**, then **All Views**, and click the icon after a connected View's title. The map opens with that View selected and its details showing.

![The Views list with Clients, Projects and Tasks. The icon after the title Clients is outlined in red.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-views-list-icon-scaled.png)
When the list nests connected Views under the View visitors start from, only that first View has the icon. Sort the list by **Title** to see the icon on every connected View

### From the form editor

Open a form in the form editor, hover over **Connected Views** in the toolbar, and click **See connections**. The map highlights the Views of that form, and a **Back to** button with the form's name returns you to the form.

![The form editor toolbar for the CV Clients form, with the Connected Views menu open. See connections is outlined in red, between Clients and Create a View.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-form-toolbar-see-connections.png)**See connections** is in the menu only when one of the form's Views is connected.

### From the Forms list

On the **Forms** list, hover over a form, then over **Connected Views** under its title, and click **See connections**. The map opens with the Views of that form highlighted, as it does from the form editor.

### From the View editor

In the View editor, click the **Connected Views** tab in the **Settings** box, then click **Open the Connections map**. The map opens in a new browser tab with that View selected.

![The Connected Views tab in the Settings box of the Projects View. The Open the Connections map button is outlined in red.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-view-editor-open-button.png)

## Read the map

The cards above the map count the **Views**, **Forms** and **Pages** on it and list them by name. Click a View to open it in the View editor, a form to open the form editor, or a page to see it on your site. When something needs your attention, a fourth card lists the Views to check, as [Fix a problem](#fix-a-problem) explains.

Each box is a View. When two or more Views on the map use the same form, that form gets its own box too, joined to each View by a dashed **Uses entries** line. A View's box shows:

- The View's own address, such as `/view/clients/`, when visitors can open it there.
- **Starts here** on the View visitors start from.
- The View's title, and under **Entries from**, the form its entries come from.
- Who can open it: **Public**, or **Public, but not by direct link** for a View that visitors can't open at its own address. It can also read **Password protected**, or, for a View most visitors can't reach, **Private**, **Not published** or **Not on a page**.
- **Shown on**, with the page the View is on, and **Opened from**, with the View that visitors click through from.

The lines are the connections, as the legend under the map shows:

- A solid arrow (**Opens entries**) opens the matching entries in another View, or shows them inside an entry.
- A dashed arrow (**Opens one entry**) is a field that opens one entry in another View, such as the Client column in Projects.
- A dashed line (**Uses entries**) joins a form's box to each View that shows its entries.

The buttons at the bottom left of the map change its size:

- **Zoom in** and **Zoom out** make the map larger or smaller.
- **Fit to view** fits the whole map in the frame, or the selected box when one is selected.
- **Full window** fills the browser window with the map. **Exit full window**, at the top right or the bottom left, takes you back.

To find a View or a form, click the magnifier at the top left and type its name. Choose a View to select its box. Choose a form to see how many entries it has and which Views use it.

## See a View's details

Click a box to open the View's details on the right of the map. Its arrows then show their labels.

![The selected Projects box next to its details. The details read Connected, Visitors reach this View by clicking through from Clients, and list Linked from and Links to, with a Change button next to each link and an Edit View button.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-projects-details-panel.png)
*The details start with who can open the View:*
- A Public View (its **Direct Access** setting is **Public**) reads **Direct link on**, with a line that says anyone with its URL can open it. The same line counts the pages it's on and the Views that link to it.
- A View with [Prevent Direct Access](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/view-settings/the-direct-access-setting/) (its **Direct Access** setting is **Embedded-Only**) reads **Direct link off**. If it is on no page and visitors only reach it by clicking through, it reads **Connected** and names that View instead. Either way, visitors who open its own URL get Page not found.
- A View that isn't published reads **Not published**.

The rest of the details is in these sections:

- **Shown on**: a Public View's own URL and the pages it's on, each page with **View** and **Edit** links.
- **Linked from**: the Views with links to this one. For a View visitors reach by clicking through, it shows the path, such as Clients › Projects, and **View** opens that path from its first page.
- **Links to**: each link in this View, what it does, and a **Change** button. The last View of a path reads "Nowhere. This is the end of the path."
- **Edit View**, which opens the View in the View editor.

If a View has [Enhanced Security](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/view-setup/enable-enhanced-security-the-secret-attribute-for-shortcodes/) turned on, the map doesn't count a page whose shortcode is missing the right `secret`. The View then reads as being on no page.

## Change a link

- Click the box of the View that has the link.
- Under **Links to**, click **Change** next to the link. The **Change link** panel opens.
- In **Opens**, choose the View the link opens.
- In **Link text**, type the words visitors click. If you leave it empty, visitors see the words shown in gray, such as the field's label. A link that shows the matching entries inside an entry has no **Link text**.
- Click **Save**.

![The selected Clients box next to the Change link panel for its Projects link. Opens, set to Projects, is outlined in red. Below it are Link text, Save, Cancel and All settings in the editor.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-change-link-panel-opens.png)
*The change is saved at once, and a message at the bottom of the map confirms what the link now does*
If there is no **Change** button, the details say "The map can’t change links here. Change them in the View’s editor." This happens when your WordPress doesn't have the Abilities API, or an administrator turned off GravityView's **Patch View Field** ability. Change the link in the View editor instead.

**Cancel** closes the panel without saving. If you changed something, it first asks "Discard your changes?", with **Discard** and **Keep editing**.

For the link's other settings, such as which entries it shows, click **All settings in the editor**. The View editor opens with that field's settings open.

## Remove a link

The map can remove a link to one entry, such as the Client column in Projects:

- Click **Change** next to the link.
- In **Opens**, choose **Nothing (remove the link)**. The panel says "This removes the link."
- Click **Save**.

![The selected Projects box next to the Change link panel for its Client link. Opens, set to Nothing (remove the link), is outlined in red, with the note This removes the link.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-change-link-remove-link.png)
The arrow leaves the map. The field stays in the View as plain text, and its **Link to** setting in the View editor reads **None (plain text)**
The map can't remove a link to the matching entries, or a list shown inside an entry: its **Opens** list has only Views. The link is a field in the View's layout, and **All settings in the editor** opens that field in the View editor.

## Fix a problem

When a connection needs attention, the map adds a **Problems** card (**Problem** when there is one) and marks each View it names with an orange outline and an exclamation mark.

- Click the card's title to list the problems under the cards.
- Click a View's name in the list. The map selects its box, and the details repeat the problem at the top.

![The cards above the map with a fourth card, Problem, whose title is outlined in red. The list under the cards reads: Clients: Visitors can also open Projects at its own URL, without going through this View.](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/connections-map-problems-scaled.png)
*The map says what is wrong. You fix it in the View editor:*

| What the map says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Visitors can also open Projects at its own URL, without going through this View. | The View the link opens is Public, so visitors can open it outside the path. Open that View and turn on [Prevent Direct Access](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/view-settings/the-direct-access-setting/): in the **Publish** box, click **Edit** next to **Direct Access**, choose **Embedded-Only**, click **OK** and then **Update**. |
| Opens a View that is not published. On that View: Visitors can't reach this View. | Publish the View the link opens. |

After the fix is saved, the map no longer lists the problem.

## Views and forms with no connections

A View with no connections has no icon in the Views list. Its **Open the Connections map** button still opens the map, with the note "This View has no connections, so it is not on the map."

A form whose Views have no connections has no **See connections** in the form editor's **Connected Views** menu. A form with no View shows only **Create a View** in place of that menu.