Operation Manual

What is Draw?
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 of graphical images.
Vector graphics store and display an image as simple geometric elements such as lines, circles,
and polygons rather than a collections 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 all
components 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 directly
from 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 chapter introduces some features of Draw and does not attempt to cover all of the Draw
features. See the Draw Guide and the application help for more information.
Draw workspace
The main components of the Draw workspace are shown in Figure 152.
The large area in the center of the window is where you make the drawings. You can surround the
drawing area with toolbars and information areas. The number and position of the visible tools vary
with the task in hand and user preferences. Therefore your setup may look different. For example,
many users put the main Drawing toolbar on the left-hand side of the workspace and not at the
bottom, as shown in Figure 152.
You can split drawings in Draw over several pages. Multi-page drawings are used mainly for
presentations. The Pages pane, on the left side of the Draw window in Figure 152 gives an
overview of the pages that you create. If the Pages pane is not visible on your setup, you can
enable it from the View menu on the main menu bar (View > Page Pane). To make changes to the
page order, just drag and drop one or more pages.
In LibreOffice Draw, the maximum size of a drawing page is 300 cm by 300 cm.
Rulers
You should see rulers (bars with numbers) on the upper and left-hand sides of the workspace. If
they are not visible, you can enable them by selecting View > Ruler in the main menu bar. The
rulers show the size of a selected object on the page using double lines (highlighted in Figure 153).
When no 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, making it easier to position
objects.
The page margins in the drawing area are also represented on the rulers. You can change the
margins 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 153.
184 | Getting Started with LibreOffice 4.0