diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 8ffc6db..50a5244 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name = "DiagonalArrays"
 uuid = "74fd4be6-21e2-4f6f-823a-4360d37c7a77"
 authors = ["ITensor developers <support@itensor.org> and contributors"]
-version = "0.3.5"
+version = "0.3.6"
 
 [deps]
 ArrayLayouts = "4c555306-a7a7-4459-81d9-ec55ddd5c99a"
diff --git a/src/diaginterface/diaginterface.jl b/src/diaginterface/diaginterface.jl
index 7baad7b..ab572c9 100644
--- a/src/diaginterface/diaginterface.jl
+++ b/src/diaginterface/diaginterface.jl
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ function diagview(a::AbstractArray)
   return @view a[diagindices(a)]
 end
 
+using LinearAlgebra: Diagonal
+diagview(a::Diagonal) = a.diag
+
 function getdiagindex(a::AbstractArray, i::Integer)
   return diagview(a)[i]
 end
@@ -110,7 +113,36 @@ end
     diagonal(v::AbstractVector) -> AbstractMatrix
 
 Return a diagonal matrix from a vector `v`.
-This is an extension of `LinearAlgebra.Diagonal`, designed to avoid the implication of the output type.
+This is an extension of `LinearAlgebra.Diagonal`, designed to avoid
+the implication of the output type.
 Defaults to `Diagonal(v)`.
 """
 diagonal(v::AbstractVector) = LinearAlgebra.Diagonal(v)
+
+"""
+    diagonal(m::AbstractMatrix) -> AbstractMatrix
+
+Return a diagonal matrix from a matrix `m` where the diagonal
+values are copied from the diagonal of `m`.
+This is an extension of `LinearAlgebra.Diagonal`, designed to avoid
+the implication of the output type.
+Defaults to `diagonal(copy(diagview(m)))`, which in general is
+equivalent to `Diagonal(m)`.
+"""
+diagonal(m::AbstractMatrix) = diagonal(copy(diagview(m)))
+
+"""
+    diagonaltype(::AbstractVector) -> Type{<:AbstractMatrix}
+    diagonaltype(::Type{<:AbstractVector}) -> Type{<:AbstractMatrix}
+    diagonaltype(::AbstractMatrix) -> Type{<:AbstractMatrix}
+    diagonaltype(::Type{<:AbstractMatrix}) -> Type{<:AbstractMatrix}
+
+Return the type of diagonal matrix that would be created from a vector or matrix
+using the [`diagonal`](@ref) function.
+"""
+diagonaltype
+
+diagonaltype(v::AbstractVector) = diagonaltype(typeof(v))
+diagonaltype(V::Type{<:AbstractVector}) = Base.promote_op(diagonal, V)
+diagonaltype(m::AbstractMatrix) = diagonaltype(typeof(m))
+diagonaltype(M::Type{<:AbstractMatrix}) = Base.promote_op(diagonal, M)
diff --git a/test/test_basics.jl b/test/test_basics.jl
index 922958b..3660f92 100644
--- a/test/test_basics.jl
+++ b/test/test_basics.jl
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ using DiagonalArrays:
   diagindices,
   diaglength,
   diagonal,
+  diagonaltype,
   diagview
 using FillArrays: Fill, Ones
 using SparseArraysBase: SparseArrayDOK, sparsezeros, storedlength
@@ -104,8 +105,17 @@ using LinearAlgebra: Diagonal
       @test a_dest isa SparseArrayDOK{elt,2}
     end
     @testset "diagonal" begin
-      @test @inferred(diagonal(rand(2))) isa AbstractMatrix
-      @test diagonal(zeros(Int, 2)) isa Diagonal
+      v = randn(2)
+      d = @inferred diagonal(v)
+      @test d isa Diagonal{eltype(v)}
+      @test diagview(d) === v
+      @test diagonaltype(v) === typeof(d)
+
+      a = randn(2, 2)
+      d = @inferred diagonal(a)
+      @test d isa Diagonal{eltype(v)}
+      @test diagview(d) == diagview(a)
+      @test diagonaltype(a) === typeof(d)
     end
     @testset "delta" begin
       for (a, elt′) in (