Managing diagram elements in a drawing becomes more challenging as the number of diagram elements increases. Placing a new diagram element in a drawing often requires manual movement of one or more other diagram elements within the drawing. Functionality can be implemented within a drawing application to automatically manage diagram elements in a drawing by applying layouts to sets of diagram elements. A drawing tool can associate a set of diagram elements and assigns them a exclusive area or region in the drawing space. Since a layout occupies an exclusive area, the drawing tool can manage the drawing space by automatically moving elements within a first layout when overlap with a second layout is detected. Managing drawing spaces with layouts reduces time spent adjusting diagram elements as a result of applying operations to other elements.