Draw Guide

Chapter 1
Introducing Draw

CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2020 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://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

To previous editions
Martin Fox

John Cleland

Jean Hollis WeberJohn A Smith

Peter Schofield

Vipul Gupta

Kees Kriek

Feedback
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 your email address and any other personal
information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted.

Publication date and software version
Published June 2020. Based on LibreOffice 6.4.

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows and Linux.
The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document. For a
more detailed list, see the application Help.
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options menu

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access setup options

Right-click

Control +click or right-click
depending on computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

F5

Shift + ⌘ + F5

Open the Navigator

F11

⌘ +T

Open the sidebar Styles deck

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at http://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright..............................................................................................................................2
Contributors................................................................................................................................. 2
To this edition.......................................................................................................................... 2
To previous editions................................................................................................................ 2
Feedback..................................................................................................................................... 2
Publication date and software version.........................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS........................................................................................................2

Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Draw main window...............................................................................................................4Workspace................................................................................................................................... 4
Pages pane.................................................................................................................................. 4
Layers bar.................................................................................................................................... 5
Sidebar........................................................................................................................................ 5
Rulers.......................................................................................................................................... 6
Status bar.................................................................................................................................... 7
Toolbars....................................................................................................................................... 8
Floating and moving toolbars.......................................................................................................9
Available toolsets.................................................................................................................... 9
Default toolbars..................................................................................................................... 10
Customizing toolbars............................................................................................................. 10

Choosing and defining colors...........................................................................................11
Grid, snap, and help lines.................................................................................................13

Introducing Draw | 3

Introduction
LibreOffice Draw is a vector graphics drawing program, although it can also perform some
operations on raster graphics (pixels). Using Draw, you can quickly create a wide variety ofgraphical images.
Vector graphics store and display an image as an assembly of simple geometric elements such aslines, circles, and polygons, rather than a collection of pixels (points on the screen). Vector
graphics allow for easier storage and scaling of the image.
Draw is fully integrated into the LibreOffice suite, and this simplifies exchanging graphics with allcomponents of the suite. For example, if you create an image in Draw, reusing it in a Writer
document is as simple as copying and pasting the image. You can also work with drawings directlyfrom within Writer or Impress, using a subset of the functions and tools from Draw.
The functionality of LibreOffice Draw is extensive and, even though it was not designed to rival
high-end graphics applications, it possesses more functionality than the drawing tools that are
generally integrated with most office productivity suites.
A few examples of the drawing functions are: layer management, magnetic grid-point system,
dimensions and measurement display, connectors for making organization charts, 3D functions
that enable small three-dimensional drawings to be created (with texture and lighting effects),
drawing and page-style integration, and Bézier curves.
This Draw Guide is not a course book to be worked through from beginning to end. Rather, it is areference work in which you can browse for guidance on particular topics.
This document describes only the functions associated with Draw. Some concepts, such as file
management or the way the LibreOffice environment works, are mentioned only briefly and arecovered in more detail in the Getting Started Guide.

Draw main window
The main components of the Draw main window are shown in Figure 1.

Workspace
The large area in the center of the Draw main window (Workspace) is where you create yourdrawings. This drawing area can be surrounded with toolbars and information areas. The number
and position of the visible tools vary with the task in hand and user preferences, therefore yoursetup may look different from Figure 1.
The maximum size of a drawing page in LibreOffice Draw is limited by your computer setup andthe page size that you can set and use in your printer.
By default, the Workspace consists of three layers (Layout, Controls and Dimension Lines) andthe tabs for these default layers appear in the bottom left corner of the Workspace. The default
layers cannot be deleted or renamed, but you can add layers as and when necessary.

Pages pane
You can split drawings in Draw over several pages. Multi-page drawings are used mainly forpresentations. The Pages pane, on the left side of the Draw main window, gives an overview of thepages that you create in your drawing. If the Pages pane is not visible, go to View on the Menu bar
and select Page Pane. To make changes to the page order, drag and drop one or more pages.

4 | Introducing Draw

Figure 1: Draw main Window

Layers bar
A layer is a workspace where you insert your drawings elements and objects. The Layers bar islocated on the bottom of the workplace and contains the guides for layer selection and layercommand. For more information on layers, see Chapter 11 Advanced Draw Techniques.

Sidebar
The Sidebar has five main decks in Draw. To expand a deck, click on its icon or click on the small
triangle at the top of the icons and select a deck from the drop-down list. If the Sidebar is not
visible, go to View on the Menu bar and select Sidebar from the submenu.
Properties
Contains panes for object properties: Page, Character, Paragraph, Lists, Area, Shadow,
Line, and Position and Size. The visible panes change depending on the object selected.
ShapesProvides quick selection of most items on the Drawing toolbar: Lines & Arrows, Curves,
Connectors, Basic Shapes, Symbols, Block Arrows, Flowchart symbols, Callouts, Stars, and
3D Objects.
StylesHere you can edit and apply Drawing styles to objects within your drawing. When you edit astyle, the changes are automatically applied to all of the elements formatted with this style inyour drawing. (In Draw, Presentation styles are not available.)

Draw main window | 5

GalleryOpens the Drawing gallery where you can insert an object into your drawing either as a copy
or as a link. A copy of an object is independent of the original object. Changes to the original
object have no effect on the copy. A link remains dependent on the original object. Changes
to the original object are also reflected in the link.
Navigator
Opens the Draw Navigator, in which you can quickly move between pages in your drawing or
select an object on the drawing. It is recommended to give pages and objects in yourdrawing meaningful names so that you can easily identify them when using the Navigator.

Rulers
You should see rulers (bars with numbers) on the upper and left-hand sides of the workspace. Ifthey are not visible, you can enable them by selecting View > Rulers in the Menu bar. The rulers
show the size of a selected object on the page using double lines (highlighted in Figure 2). Whenno object is selected, they show the location of the mouse pointer, which helps to position drawing
objects more accurately.
You can also use the rulers to manage object handles and guide lines when positioning objects.
The page margins in the drawing area are also represented on the rulers. You can change themargins directly on the rulers by dragging them with the mouse. The margin area is indicated by
the grayed out area on the rulers as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Rulers showing size of a selected object

Figure 3: Ruler units
To change the measurement units of the rulers, which can be defined independently, right-click ona ruler and select the measurement unit from the drop down list, as illustrated for the horizontal
ruler in Figure 3.

6 | Introducing Draw

Status bar
The Status Bar (Figure 4) is located at the bottom of the Draw window and includes several Draw
specific fields. You can hide the Status Bar by going to View on the Menu bar and deselecting
Status Bar.

Figure 4: Status bar

Note
The sizes are given in the current measurement unit. They might not be the same as
the ruler units. The measurement unit on the Status bar is defined in Tools > Options> LibreOffice Draw > General, where you can also change the scale of the page.
•

Slide number – shows the number of the drawing pane that is selected.

•

Information area – shows which action is being carried out, or which object type isselected.

•

Cursor position and Object size – show different information depending on whether
objects are selected or not.
•When no object is selected, the position numbers show the current position (X and Y
coordinates) of the mouse cursor.

•

When an object is selected and being resized with the mouse, the object size numbers
show the size of the object (width and height).

•

If an object is selected, the position numbers shows the X and Y coordinates of theupper-left corner and the object size number pair displays the size of the object. These
numbers do not relate to the object itself, but to the selection outline, which is thesmallest possible rectangle that can contain the visible part or parts of the object; see
Chapter 3 Working with Objects and Object Points for more information.

•

When an object is selected, clicking in either of these areas opens the Position and Sizedialog; see Chapter 4 Changing Object Attributes for more information.

•

Unsaved changes – a flag indicating that the file needs saving. Clicking on this flag opens
the Save as dialog if the file is new and has not been saved before. If the file has beensaved before any changes, then clicking on this flag after any changes automatically saves
the file.

•

Digital signature – a flag indicating whether the document is digitally signed. After the filehas been saved, double-clicking on this flag opens the digital signatures dialog.

•

Fit drawing – resizes the drawing so that you can see the whole drawing in theWorkspace.

•

Zoom slider and Zoom percentage – adjusts and indicates the zoom percentage of theWorkspace displayed. Double-clicking on zoom percentage opens the Zoom & View
Layout dialog.

Draw main window | 7

Figure 5: Selection of visible toolbar icons

Toolbars
To display or hide the various Draw toolbars, go to View > Toolbars on the main menu bar andselect from the drop down menu that appears which toolbars you want to display. For example, theStandard and Drawing toolbars are shown by default, but the Line and Filling, Text Formatting,and Options toolbars are not shown.
The appearance of the toolbar icons may vary depending on your operating system and theselection of icon size and style in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View. For more information
about working with toolbars, see the Getting Started Guide.
You can also select the icons or buttons that you want to appear on toolbars. To change the visible
icons or buttons on any toolbar, right-click in an empty area on the toolbar and select Visible
Buttons from the context menu. Visible icons or buttons are indicated by a shaded outline aroundthe icon as shown by the icons in Figure 5. Click on an icon to hide or show it in the toolbar.
The tools available in Draw toolbars are described as follows:Standard toolbar
The Standard toolbar (Figure 6) is the same for all LibreOffice components and is notdescribed in detail in this chapter. By default, it is located just under the Main menu bar.

Figure 6: Standard toolbar
Drawing toolbar
The Drawing toolbar (Figure 7) is the most important toolbar in Draw. It contains all thenecessary functions for drawing various geometric and freehand shapes, and for organizingthem in the drawing. It is described in detail in Chapter 2 Drawing Basic Shapes.

Figure 7: Drawing toolbar
Line and Filling toolbar
The Line and Filling toolbar (Figure 8) lets you modify the main properties of a drawing
object. The icons and pull-down lists vary according to the type of object selected. For
example, to change the style of a line, click on the up and down arrows for Line Style andselect the required style.

8 | Introducing Draw

Figure 8: Line and Filling toolbar

Figure 9: Text Formatting toolbar
The functions on the Line and Filling toolbar let you change the color, style, and width of theline drawn, the fill color and style, and other properties of an object. The object must first be
selected with a mouse click. If the selected object is a text frame, the Line and Filling
toolbar changes to the Text Formatting toolbar (Figure 9).
Text Formatting toolbar
The Text Formatting toolbar (Figure 9) is similar to the Formatting toolbar in Writer and only
appears when a text object has been selected in your drawing. For an explanation of thefunctions on this toolbar, see Chapter 4 Changing Object Attributes. For information on
adding and formatting text, see Chapter 9 Adding and Formatting Text.
Options toolbar
Use the Options toolbar (Figure 10) to activate or deactivate various drawing aids. The
Options toolbar is not displayed by default. To display it, go to View > Toolbars > Options
on the main menu bar. The tools available on this toolbar are described in greater detail inother chapters of this Draw Guide.

Figure 10: Options toolbar

Floating and moving toolbars
Available toolsets
Many icons have a small triangle pointing downward to the right side of the icon. This triangle
indicates that the icon has additional tools available. Click on the triangle to display the full set oftools (Figure 11).
You can “tear off” this toolset so it becomes a floating toolbar. Click the area at the top of thetoolset as shown in Figure 11, drag it across the screen to a location you want and then release themouse button. To close a floating toolbar, click on the X on the right of the toolbar title.

Figure 11: Additional tools and floating
toolbarDraw main window | 9

Note
When a toolset is made into a floating toolbar, the icon on the existing toolbar remains
in the toolbar and always shows the last tool you used. This means that the icon you
see on your screen may differ from the icon shown in this guide.

Tip
When you double-click on an icon in a toolbar, the command corresponding to thaticon will become active and remain active. You can then repeat this action as often as
you like. To exit from this mode, press the Esc key or click on another icon. Please
note that this may not work for every icon on every toolbar.

Default toolbars
When you open Draw, the default set of toolbars are already docked or fixed in their positions at
the top and bottom of the workspace. This default set of toolbars normally consist of the Standard
and Drawing toolbars. These toolbars can be undocked and become floating toolbars.
•

To undock a toolbar, move the mouse cursor to the far left of the toolbar and over the
toolbar handle (Figure 12). The cursor will change shape, normally a grabbing hand, but
this is dependent on computer setup and operating system. Click and drag on the toolbar
handle to move the toolbar until it becomes a floating toolbar. This floating toolbar capability
is common to all components of LibreOffice.

•To dock a floating toolbar at the top of the Draw workspace, press and hold the Ctrl key
then double click on the title of the toolbar. The toolbar will move into available space at the
top of the Draw workspace.

•

An alternative method of docking a toolbar is to click in the toolbar title and drag the toolbar
to the docked position that you require. This can be the top, bottom or one of the sides of
the Draw workspace.

Figure 12: Toolbar handles

Customizing toolbars
You can customize toolbars in several ways to show or hide icons defined for a toolbar, see“Toolbars” and Figure 5 on page 8 for more information.
To add functions to a toolbar, move tools between toolbars, or create new toolbars:
1)

Select View > Toolbars > Customize on the main menu bar, or right click in an empty area
on a toolbar and select Customize Toolbar from the context menu to open the Customize
dialog (Figure 13).

2)

Select the Toolbars tab, then select the toolbar you want to change from the Target dropdown list.

3)

Select the desired function from the Assigned Commands list and that function will be
added to the selected toolbar.

4)

If you want to add a new function to the selected toolbar, click on the new function in the
Available Commands list and then click on the right facing arrow ➜ to add the newfunction to your selected toolbar.

10 | Introducing Draw

Figure 13: Customize dialog
5)

Click on the Settings icon next to the Target drop down list and select how you want the
toolbar to appear in Draw from the context menu – Icon and text, Icon only, or Text only.

6)

To create a new toolbar, click on the Settings icon next to the Target drop down list andselect Add. A dialog opens so you can give your new toolbar a name and where you wantto save the new toolbar.

7)

To change the selected toolbar back to the default set of tools, click on the Defaults button.
Any additional functions that had been added will be removed and the default functions
added back to the selected toolbar.

8)

Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.

For more information when adding a new function, or modifying a toolbar, see the Getting Started
Guide.

Choosing and defining colors
To display the Color Palette currently in use (Figure 14), select View > Color Bar on the main
menu bar. To close the Color Palette, go to View on the main menu bar and deselect Color Bar.
Using the Color Palette, you can rapidly choose the color of objects in your drawing (lines, areas,and 3D effects). The box with the X at the bottom left of the Color Palette corresponds to none (nocolor).
You can also access several specialized color palettes in Draw, as well as change individual colors
to your own taste. To do this, go to Format > Area on the main menu bar to open the Area dialog
and click on Color to open the Color page (Figure 15). In the Colors option, click on the Palettedrop down list and select one of the palettes available in LibreOffice.

Choosing and defining colors | 11

Figure 14: Color Palette

Figure 15: Area dialog - Color page
Alternatively, when an object in your drawing is selected, you change the area or line color of yourobject as follows:•

For the object area color, click on Area in the Properties deck on the Sidebar and selectColor from the Fill drop down list to change the area color of your object (Figure 16).

•

For the object line color, click on Line in the Properties deck on the Sidebar and selectyour color from the Line Color pop up dialog. This is similar to the color palette displayed in
the Area dialog.

For a more detailed description of color palettes and their options, as well as more on the
difference between the CMYK and RGB color schemes, refer to Chapter 11, Advanced Draw
Techniques.

12 | Introducing Draw

Figure 16: Area and Line sections in
Sidebar Properties

Grid, snap, and help lines
Draw provides a grid and snap lines as drawing aids and these can be turned on or off by clicking
on the Display Grid or Display Snap Guides icons on the Line and Filling or Options toolbars.
The grid and snap lines are displayed only on the screen and are not shown on a printed drawing
or when the drawing is used in another LibreOffice module. The color, spacing and resolution of
the grid points can be individually chosen for each axis.
Help lines when moving objects can be displayed and these are turned on or off by clicking on the
Helplines While Moving icon on the Line and Filling or Options toolbars. Showing the positionof the object while moving makes positioning the object much easier. If this function is activated,pairs of vertical and horizontal lines enclosing the object are shown while moving the object. Theselines extend to the edges of the drawing area.
Draw also offers several snap functions to help you can position objects exactly in a drawing.
For more information on the grid, snap lines, snap functions, and help lines, see Chapter 3
Working with Objects and Object Points.

Grid, snap, and help lines | 13