Draw Guide 7.3

Preface
Drawing Vector Graphics in LibreOfficeCopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2022 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. This document maybe distributed and/or modified under the terms of either the GNU
General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative
Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this editionPeter Schofield

Kees KriekTo previous editions
Jean Hollis Weber

Peter SchofieldElzett Kotze

Rachel KartchFeedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s
mailing list: documentation@global.libreoffice.org

Note
Everything sent to a mailing list, including email addresses and any other personal
information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted.

Publication date and software version
Published May 2022. Based on LibreOffice 7.3 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2

Who is this user guide for?..............................................................................................4
What is in this user guide?...............................................................................................4
Minimum requirements for using LibreOffice................................................................4
How to get LibreOffice......................................................................................................4Installing LibreOffice.........................................................................................................4Setting up and customizing LibreOffice.........................................................................4
Extensions and add-ons...................................................................................................5
Where to get more help.....................................................................................................5Help system.............................................................................................................................. 5Other free online support.......................................................................................................... 6Paid support and training.......................................................................................................... 6

What you see may be different........................................................................................7Illustrations................................................................................................................................ 7Icons......................................................................................................................................... 7Using LibreOffice on macOS............................................................................................8
Who wrote this user guide?.............................................................................................9
Frequently asked questions.............................................................................................9
What is new in LibreOffice 7.3?.....................................................................................10

Preface | 3

Who is this user guide for?
Anyone who wants to quickly acquire knowledge on LibreOffice Draw and is new to drawing
software, or may be familiar with another office suite, will find this user guide very useful.
LibreOffice is an open-source office productivity software suite containing capabilities for word
processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and formula editing. LibreOffice
Draw is the vector graphics drawing application for LibreOffice where a wide variety of graphicalimages can be easily and quickly created.

What is in this user guide?
This user guide introduces the main features of LibreOffice Draw. Although Draw is a vector
graphics drawing tool, it can also perform some operations on raster graphics (pixels) such as
photographs.
A few examples of the drawing functions are: layer management, snap functions and grid-point
system, dimensions and measurement display, connectors for making organization charts, 3D
functions that enable small 3D drawings to be created (with texture and lighting effects), drawing
and page-style integration, and Bézier curves.

Minimum requirements for using LibreOffice
For a detailed list of requirements and operating systems supported, see the LibreOffice website,
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/system-requirements/.

How to get LibreOffice
Versions of LibreOffice for Windows, Linux, and macOS are freely available and can be
downloaded from https://www.libreoffice.org/download. Linux users will also find LibreOfficeincluded free in many of the latest distributions.
Portable and other versions of LibreOffice are listed on the download page. Linux, Vanilla, andother versions may differ in a few features from the descriptions in this user guide.

Installing LibreOfficeInformation on installing and setting up LibreOffice on the various supported operating systems isgiven here: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/install-howto/.

Setting up and customizing LibreOffice
To change the default settings (options) in LibreOffice to match the required preferences, go toTools > Options on the Menu bar (LibreOffice > Preferences in macOS).

Tip
Some settings are intended for power users and programmers. If it is difficult tounderstand what an option does, LibreOffice recommends leaving the option on its
default setting unless instructions in this user guide recommend changing thesetting.
Settings are described in LibreOffice Help and the Getting Started Guide. These two sources
provide information on how to customize menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts in LibreOffice
Draw, add new menus and toolbars, and assign macros to events.
4 | Preface

Extensions and add-ons
Functionality can be added to LibreOffice with extensions and add-ons. Several extensions are
installed with the program and other extensions from the official extensions repository,
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/ or from other sources. See the Getting Started Guide for more
information on installing extensions and add-ons.

Where to get more help
This user guide and other LibreOffice user guides, the built-in Help system, and user support
systems assume that users are familiar with computers and basic functions such as starting aprogram, opening and saving files.

Help system
LibreOffice comes with an extensive Help system and this can be used as the first line of support.
Windows and Linux users can choose to download and install the offline Help for use when notconnected to the Internet. Offline Help is installed with the MacOS version of LibreOffice.
To display the LibreOffice Help, press F1 or go to Help > LibreOffice Help on the Menu bar. If
the offline help is not installed on a computer, but connected to the Internet, a dialog opens giving
the option to Read Help Online. Select this option and the default web browser opens at theLibreOffice online help pages in the LibreOffice website.
The Help menu also includes links to other LibreOffice information and support facilities.
•What's This? – for quick tips when a toolbar is visible, place the cursor over any of thetool icons to see a small tooltip box with a brief explanation of the tool function. Also
Extended Tips can be activated by going to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Generalon the Menu bar. Extended Tips provide a brief description about tools and commands.
To display an extended tip, use the keyboard Shift+F1, then point to a tool or command.

•User Guides – opens the default browser at the Documentation page of the LibreOfficewebsite https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/. This page gives
access to the LibreOffice User Guides and other useful information that can be opened in
the default browser. Also, the User Guides are available in PDF format as a freedownload or to buy as printed copies.

•Show Tip of the Day – opens a small window with a random tip on how to use
LibreOffice.

•Search Commands – opens a window where typing a few letters, or the name of aMenu bar command, for example, quickly finds where the command is located. Clicking
on a command in the resulting list may open a relevant dialog or have other effects.

•Get Help Online – opens the default browser at the Ask LibreOffice forum of questions
and answers from the LibreOffice community, https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/.

•Send Feedback – opens the default browser at the Feedback page of the LibreOfficewebsite https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/feedback/. From this page, bugs can bereported, new features suggested and communicated with other users in the LibreOfficecommunity.

•Restart in Safe Mode – opens a dialog window giving options to restart LibreOffice andreset the software to its default settings. Restarting in safe mode also provides anopportunity to restore LibreOffice from a backup.

•Get Involved – opens the default browser at the Get Involved page of the LibreOfficewebsite, https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/. Choose a topic of interest tohelp improve the program.

Where to get more help | 5•Donate to LibreOffice – opens the default browser at the Donation page of theLibreOffice website, https://donate.libreoffice.org/ providing an opportunity to make adonation to support LibreOffice.

•License Information – outlines the licenses under which LibreOffice is made available.

•Check for Updates – opens a dialog and checks the LibreOffice website for updates toversion of the software. The dialog provides an opportunity to download and install any
updates to LibreOffice.

•About LibreOffice – opens a dialog and displays information about the version ofLibreOffice and the operating system being used. This information is often requested if
the community is asked for help or assistance with the software (on macOS, this option isfound under LibreOffice on the Menu bar).

Other free online support
The LibreOffice community not only develops software, but provides free, volunteer-based
support. See Table 1 and the web page https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/. For comprehensive
online support from the community, look at mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website,
https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/. Other user websites also offer free tips and tutorials.
Table 1: Free support for LibreOffice users
Free LibreOffice support
FAQsAnswers to frequently asked questions
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq

Mailing lists

Free community support is provided by a network of experienced users
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

Questions & Answers
andKnowledge BaseFree community assistance is provided in a Question & Answer
formatted web service. Search similar topics or open a new one in
https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions
The service is available in several other languages; just replace /en/with de, es, fr, ja, ko, nl, pt, tr, and many others in the web address
above.

Native language
supportThe LibreOffice website in various languages
https://www.libreoffice.org/community/nlc/
Mailing lists for native languages
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Local_Mailing_Lists
Information about social networking
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Website/Web_Sites_services

Accessibility options

Information about available accessibility options.
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/accessibility/

OpenOffice Forum

Another forum that provides support for LibreOffice, among other open
source office suites. https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/

Paid support and training
Support and training is available through service contracts from a vendor or consulting firm
specializing in LibreOffice. For information about certified professional support, see TheDocument Foundation website: https://www.documentfoundation.org/gethelp/support/.

6 | Preface

What you see may be different
Illustrations
LibreOffice runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, each of which has several
versions and can be customized by users (fonts, colors, themes, window managers). The
illustrations in this guide were taken from a variety of computers and operating systems.
Therefore, some illustrations will not look exactly like what is seen on a computer display.
Also, some of the dialogs may differ because of the settings selected in LibreOffice. Either use
dialogs from the computer system (default) or dialogs provided by LibreOffice.
To change to using LibreOffice dialogs:
1) On Linux and Windows operating systems, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice >General on the Menu bar to open the dialog for general options.
2) On a Mac operating system, go to LibreOffice > Preferences > General on the Menu
bar to open the dialog for general options.
3) Select Use LibreOffice dialogs in Open/Save dialogs to display the LibreOffice dialogs
on a computer display, as shown in Figure 1.
4) Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.

Icons
The LibreOffice community has created icons for several icon sets, including Breeze, Colibre,Elementary, Sifr, and Tango. Each user can select a preferred set. The icons used to illustratesome of the many tools available in LibreOffice may differ from the ones used in this guide. Theicons in this user guide have been taken from a LibreOffice installation that has been set todisplay the Colibre set of icons.

Figure 1: Options LibreOffice General dialog
What you see may be different | 7

Figure 2: Options LibreOffice View dialog
Change the icon set used in a LibreOffice installation as follows:
1) On Linux and Windows operating systems, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View
on the Menu bar to open the dialog for view options.
2) On a Mac operating system, go to LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > View onthe Menu bar to open the dialog for view options.
3) In Icon Style select Colibre (SVG) from the options available in the drop down list as
shown in Figure 2.
4) In Icon Size, select Small from the drop down lists for Toolbar, Notebookbar andSidebar, as shown in Figure 2.
5) Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.

NoteSome Linux operating systems, for example Ubuntu, include LibreOffice as part ofthe installation and may not include the Colibre icon set. This icon set can be
downloaded from the software repository for the Linux operating system being used.

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows andLinux. Table 2 below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this user guide. Fora more detailed list, see the application help.
Table 2: Example of macOS keyboard shortcuts
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options onMenu bar

LibreOffice > Preferenceson Menu bar

Access to setup options

Right-click

Ctrl+click and/or right-click
depending on computer setup

Opens a context menu

8 | Preface

Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectCtrl or Control⌘ and/or Cmd or Command,
depending on keyboard

Used with other keys

Alt⌥ and/or Alt or Option
depending on keyboard

Used with other keys

Who wrote this user guide?
This user guide was written by volunteers from the LibreOffice community. Profits from sales ofthe printed edition will be used to benefit the community.

Frequently asked questions
How is LibreOffice licensed?
LibreOffice is distributed under the Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved Mozilla Public
License (MPL). See https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/licenses/. It is based on code fromApache OpenOffice made available under the Apache License 2.0 but also includes
software that differs from version to version under a variety of other Open Source licenses.
New code is available under LGPL 3.0 and MPL 2.0.
May I distribute LibreOffice to anyone?
Yes.
May I sell it?
Yes.
May I use it in my business?
Yes.
How many computers may I install it on?
As many as you like.
Is LibreOffice available in my language?
LibreOffice has been translated (localized) into over 40 languages, so your language
probably is supported. Additionally, there are over 70 spelling, hyphenation, and thesaurus
dictionaries available for languages, and dialects that do not have a localized programinterface. The dictionaries are available from the LibreOffice website at: www.libreoffice.org.
How can you make it for free?
LibreOffice is developed and maintained by volunteers and has the backing of severalorganizations.
I am writing a software application. May I use programming code from LibreOffice in myprogram?
You may, within the parameters set in the MPL and/or LGPL. Read the licenses:
https://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
Why do I need Java to run LibreOffice? Is it written in Java?
LibreOffice is not written in Java; it is written in the C++ language. Java is one of severallanguages that can be used to extend the software. The Java JDK/JRE is only required forsome features. The most notable one is the HSQLDB relational database engine.
Java is available at no cost. More information and download links to the appropriate edition
for your operating system can be found at: https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Frequently asked questions | 9NoteIf the LibreOffice features that require Java are to be used, it is important that thecorrect 32-bit or 64-bit edition matches the installed version of LibreOffice. For moreinformation, see the Getting Started Guide. If Java is not to be used, nearly all of theLibreOffice features can still be used.
How can I contribute to LibreOffice?
You can help with the development and user support of LibreOffice in many ways, and you
do not need to be a programmer. To start, check out this webpage:https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/
May I distribute the PDF of this user guide, or print and sell copies?
Yes, as long as requirements are met for one of the licenses in the copyright statement at
the beginning of this user guide. There is no need to request special permission.
LibreOffice request that you share with the project some of the profits you make from salesof user guides, in consideration of all the work we have put into producing them.
Donate to LibreOffice: https://www.libreoffice.org/donate/

What is new in LibreOffice 7.3?
The LibreOffice 7.3 Release Notes are available at this link
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.3Also at this link, the release notes for earlier versions of LibreOffice are located giving more
information on the features that are included in LibreOffice.

10 | Preface