Operation Manual

After drawing the line, you can change the arrow style by clicking on the Arrowheads icon in
the Line and Filling toolbar and select the arrow start and end options. Start options are on the left
and end options are on the right in Figure 25.
Rectangles or squares
Drawing a rectangle is similar to drawing a straight line. Click on the Rectangle icon in the
Drawing toolbar. As you draw the rectangle with the mouse cursor, the rectangle appears with the
bottom right corner of the rectangle attached to the cursor.
Squares are rectangles with all sides of equal length. To draw a square, click on the Rectangle
icon and hold down the Shift key while you draw a square.
Note
If the option When creating or moving objects has been selected in Tools >
Options > LibreOffice Draw > General, the action of the Shift key is reversed.
When the Rectangle tool is selected, a square is drawn. To draw a rectangle you
have to press the Shift key when drawing. This Shift key reversal also applies when
drawing ellipses and circles in “Ellipses and circles” on page 35.
To draw a rectangle or square from its center rather than the bottom right corner, position your
cursor on the drawing, press the mouse button and then hold down the Alt key while dragging with
the cursor. The rectangle or square uses the start point where you first clicked the mouse button as
the center.
With the rectangle or square selected, you can quickly change border style, line width, or color, and
the type of fill color or fill pattern using the tools on the Line and Filling toolbar. For more
information on changing the attributes of a rectangle or square, see Chapter 4 Changing Object
Attributes.
Ellipses and circles
To draw an ellipse (also called an oval), click on the Ellipse icon on the Drawing toolbar. A
circle is an ellipse with both axes the same length. To draw a circle, click on the Ellipse icon and
hold down the Shift key while you draw a circle.
To draw an ellipse or circle from its center, position your cursor on the drawing, press the mouse
button and then hold down the Alt key while dragging with the cursor. The ellipse or circle uses the
start point (where you first clicked the mouse button) as the center.
With the ellipse or circle selected, you can quickly change border style, line width, or color, and the
type of fill color or fill pattern using the tools on the Line and Filling toolbar. For more information on
changing the attributes of an ellipse or circle, see Chapter 4 Changing Object Attributes.
Tip
To quickly insert a line, rectangle, ellipse, or text, press and hold the Ctrl key down
and then click on one of the icons for line, rectangle, ellipse, or text. An object is
drawn automatically in the center of the workspace area using default values. The
object attributes can then be changed using the Line Fill toolbar or the information in
Chapter 4 Changing Object Attributes. This works only if the icon has no associated
toolbar; that is, no triangle or arrow on the right side of the icon.
Adding arc and segment tools to the Drawing toolbar
If you regularly draw arcs or segments (partial circles or ellipses), then you can add the Circles and
Ovals toolbar (Figure 26) to the Drawing toolbar. The Circles and Ovals toolbar is an optional
toolbar and you have to customize the Drawing toolbar to add this optional toolbar.
Chapter 2 Drawing Basic Shapes 35