Is there a user?s manual for SourceTree?
Asked by J Hite:

I clicked the help tab but there is not much there. I see several different icons of various colors on the UI but I can find no reference to tell me what they mean.


Answers:
author: Ramiro Pointis
body: Hi, this is not exactly what you asked for but there are a couple of videos you can check:

[www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lBdlh3AGSc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lBdlh3AGSc)

Most of official documentation is for troubleshooting.

<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/SOURCETREEKB/SourceTree+Knowledge+Base+Home>


author: Seth
body: Nodes ARE commits, and the lines kind of represent branches. It might be more accurate to say that they show parent/child relationships between commits, but these relationships occur within branches. The labels are branches and tags. In the case of branches, the label shows up on the "HEAD" commit of that branch.

This one has been asked repeatedly ([1](https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/179335/sourcetree-what-do-colors-of-branches-and-tags-mean), [2](https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/258200/what-does-the-green-dots-in-the-graph-mean), [3](https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/271836/branching-problem-sourcetree)), which is why I suggested searching for yourself: The colors of the lines are a visual aid only. In a project like mine, which has 8 or more lines if you go back just a week, the color coding is essential to tracing the connections between commits.

The grey boxes with up or down arrows are telling you the number of commits different between your local branch and a tracked remote branch. An up arrow means you have commits you need to push, a down arrow means the remote has commits you need to pull. If a branch has both, you will need to pull first, then push. Run a Fetch to update those counters.

comments: author: J Hite
body: Not the line color of the boxes but the colors highlighting some of the entries on the lines to the right of the nodes. Those are the colors I am talking about.


author: Seth
body: I've got no idea what you are saying. Maybe attach a screenshot?


author: J Hite
body: Thanks for the responses but I have a few more questions as I have just started working on a project that is already well underway. Being such I am not at liberty to play and see what might seem intuitive.

In the window that has nodes and lines perhaps the nodes are representing commits and parallel lines might represent different branches. But then to the right there are multiple labels. Not sure what this tells me.

On some lines items are highlighted in different colors, so far I see grey, light blue, lavender, orange, and a pinkish color. What could one infer from these colors?

In the list of branches some have grey boxes next to them with up or down arrows. Does this number tell me how many differences there are between this branch and something else?

Thanks again,

jh


author: Seth
body: It is my understanding that the Mac version has more content in Help than the Windows version. Which are you using? Also search this site for specific questions, such as What do bookmark icons mean? (<https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/269451/what-do-bookmark-icons-mean>)