Hidden Lines
Use hidden lines as a work-around to give hints to PlantUML as to how to lay out the diagram
Example without Hidden Lines
@startuml
skinparam monochrome true
component [component 1] as myComponent
component [component 2] as myComponent2
component [component 3] as myComponent3
component [component 4] as myComponent4
myComponent - myComponent2
myComponent2 --> myComponent3
myComponent2 --> myComponent4
myComponent - myComponent4
@enduml
Example with Hidden Lines to align components 2 & 4
@startuml
skinparam monochrome true
component [component 1] as myComponent
component [component 2] as myComponent2
component [component 3] as myComponent3
component [component 4] as myComponent4
myComponent - myComponent2
myComponent2 --> myComponent3
myComponent2 --> myComponent4
myComponent - myComponent4
' Hidden line to help layout:
myComponent2 -[hidden]--> myComponent4
@enduml
Types of Hidden Line
TBD
Still stuck? Check out other layout tricks page.