You don't need this manual for your first drafts, as the built-in tutorial explains the most important things step by step in a sensible order.
This manual is intended as a reference once you have completed the tutorial and for further study.
The drawing area has no boundaries. You can start your draft anywhere and expand in any direction.
However, if you want a border for orientation or to maintain a fixed size, you can place a frame.
You can also place multiple frames next to each other to divide the drawing area.
A frame is a rectangle that contains and delimits a draft or a part thereof.
You can draw a frame from lines yourself or use one from the examples.
When exporting or printing, the frame is invisible if Lines at margin is set to Hide.
When you zoom in, the grid is automatically refined in two steps: first 1/2 and then 1/8.
Different symbols indicate what is beneath the draw tool:
Additionally, horizontal and vertical lines indicate that the position is on the corresponding grid line.
3-Button mouse
Magic Mouse
Trackpad
3-Button mouse
Magic Mouse
Trackpad
Keyboard
3-Button mouse
Magic Mouse
Trackpad
Keyboard
3-Button mouse
Magic Mouse
Trackpad
Keyboard
Hold down the draw tool at the start point and drag a line to the end point.
Hint If the tool is not moved briefly while dragging, the length is displayed numerically.
Hint If the tool is not moved briefly while dragging, the radius is displayed numerically.
When drawing a line or a circle, if you move the pointer back to the starting point of the drawing action, an X symbol appears and the drawing is canceled.
To cancel a point, you must first move the pointer away from the starting point and then move it back.
Drawing can also be canceled with Esc.
Hint You can insert a line break with Shift + ⏎.
Hint Long-press the alignment and monospaced layout keys to lock them and reuse them the next time you create text.
Hint Press Shift + Space to deactivate the monospaced layout again.
Hint You can remove arrowheads step by step immediately after adding them by pressing Shift + V. You can also click on an arrowhead with the delete tool to remove it at any time.
Hint You can undo the fill levels step by step using Shift + F or the delete tool.
The last object drawn is automatically selected. All unconnected objects are deselected.
You can use the automatic selection to style the objects directly after drawing them.
Press Esc.
Hint You can select multiple objects individually.
Press Cmd|Ctrl + A.
Hint If you move a selected object, the entire selection will be moved.
Or press ← ↑ → ↓ to move the selection in grid steps.
Hint You can activate multiple objects. Press Esc when you no longer need the control points.
Hint Some objects are not immediately deleted with this function, but first weakened. For example, an opaque fill is first weakened into a translucent fill.
Press Del.
Press T to display the transform frame for a selection.
The frame has control points for free scaling and rotation.
When you paste objects from the clipboard, the frame is automatically displayed.
For some actions, for example, a length, an angle, or a factor is displayed as a number.
When this display is framed, number keys can be pressed, which automatically gives the display input focus. It can also be clicked with the text tool.
Pressing ⏎ confirms an entry, while pressing Esc cancels it.
Measuring is equivalent to drawing a line, however, the drawing is stopped after the distance is displayed.
Move objects so that their nodes overlap other nodes or strokes.
These locations are marked with a triangle symbol with the tip pointing down and are automatically connected as the process continues. Press Esc to connect them immediately.
Scaling determines the grid size or the font size of the view at a zoom level of 1.
Tip Click on the unit next to the input field to display the possible values and units.
Sets the volume of the auditory feedback.
A predefined color theme can be selected. Selecting a theme will override any custom color settings.
Light and dark modes each have their own color set. Only the color wheels for the current mode are shown.
Specifies whether the pointer is displayed Dark (default) or Light in the drawing area.
Determines which key and button bindings are displayed:
Tip Draw a frame to define the export size and make it invisible using Hide.
A margin expands the image by creating a surrounding free space.
Tip Click on the unit next to the input field to display the possible values and units.
The scaling determines the size of the image and can be set either via the grid size (default) or the font size.
Tip The setting via the font size is useful if the image is embedded in another document and the font sizes should be coordinated.
Tip Click on the unit next to the input field to display the possible values and units.
A predefined color theme can be selected. Selecting a theme will override any custom color settings.
The colors for export are independent of the colors of the drawing area and are set via color wheels or hexadecimal color codes.
Tip If the image is embedded in another document, you can enter hexadecimal color codes to precisely match the colors.
Tip Make a frame invisible with Hide.
Specifies which paper format and orientation is used for the preview and the default values of the print dialog.
The margin determines which area will not be printed.
Tip Click on the unit next to the input field to display the possible values and units.
The scaling determines the size of the draft on the printout and can be set either via the grid size (default) or the font size.
Hint The draft cannot be scaled larger than the paper minus the margin.
Tip Click on the unit next to the input field to display the possible values and units.
A predefined color theme can be selected. Selecting a theme will override any custom color settings.
The colors for printing are independent of the colors of the drawing area and are set via color wheels.
Nodes are referred as visible points but also invisible start and end points of lines, curves or arcs.
An outline consists of one or more strokes that form a closed composite. So the start and end coincide.
A circle or ellipse is the simplest outline, as it consists of only one stroke. A rectangle is an outline consisting of 4 strokes.
Used to select a color and has three controls:
The color space used does not represent physical values evenly, but is based on perceived colors.
The settings are provided with a text color code. For example, b+25r 40 70 means blue with 25% red, 40% saturation, and 70% lightness.
