Using Canvases

This guide covers using canvases - that is, working with figures in a canvas. To learn how to manage canvases themselves, see the Managing Canvases section.

Adding Figures

Use the + button (the same one you used to add a new canvas). If there are no canvases, only the New Canvas item will be shown. If there are existing canvases, the menu will reflect the referenced figures for the selected canvas (a check will appear next to figures already referenced in the canvas). To add a figure to a canvas, select it in the menu. The figure will appear in the canvas.

Alternatively, you can drag an unreferenced figure from the Canvas inspector panel into the canvas to place it where you want it. Only unreferenced figures (figures not already added to the canvas) will be shown in the inspector panel. You must first make sure the canvas itself is selected (click an empty space inside the canvas) so that the Canvas inspector panel appears; if a figure is selected inside the canvas, the Figure Format inspector is shown instead.

Moving & Repositioning Figures

To reposition a figure within a canvas, simply drag the figure to the new location.

Editing Figure Formatting

As mentioned in Adding Figures above, you can select a figure by clicking it. This will reveal the Figure Format inspector panel, with which you can adjust the figure’s format in exactly the same way as you do in Outline view mode.

Note: Adjusting a figure’s format in the canvas affects the original figure. That is, changes you make here aren’t limited to the canvas; you’re changing its appearance in the Outline as well. Similarly, if the figure is using a shared style, changes here will also affect any other figures using this shared style.

Removing figures

To remove a figure, click to select it in the canvas, then press the delete key. Or click the + toolbar button and choose the figure from the menu - the figure will then be removed (and the figure will no longer have a check next to it in the menu).

Undo

Each of the above actions is undoable.