Drawing Basic Shapes

Draw provides a wide range of shapes, located in palettes accessed from the Drawing toolbar. This section describes only a few of the basic shapes, including text, which are treated as objects in Draw.

Some of the icons on the Drawing toolbar will change according to the shape that has been selected from the choices available. Icons with tool palettes available are indicated by a small triangle to the right of the icon.

Drawing toolbar

All drawing is done with the Drawing toolbar. The following image shows the function of each button in this toolbar.

Drawing a straight line

Click on the Line icon and place the cursor at the point where you want to start the line. Drag the mouse while keeping the mouse button pressed. Release the mouse button at the point where you want to end the line. A selection handle appears at each end of the line, showing that this object is the currently selected object. The selection handle at the starting point of the line is slightly larger than the other selection handle.

Line properties

When a line is drawn, it uses default attributes or properties. To change any of these attributes, select a line by clicking on it, then click on the Properties icon on the Sidebar and open the Line sub-section.

The basic properties you can change in a line are shown in the image below

Drawing an arrow

Arrows are drawn like lines. Draw classifies arrows as a subgroup of lines: lines with arrowheads as line endings. Alternatively to quickly draw arrows click on the arrow icon in the Drawing toolbar and choose one of the available arrows.

Drawing 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 its bottom right corner attached to the cursor. To draw a square select the rectangle tool and hold down the SHIFT key while you drawing the shape.

Rectangle properties

When a rectangle is drawn, it uses default attributes or properties. To change any of these attributes, select a rectangle by clicking on it, then click on the Properties icon on the Sidebar and open the Line and Area sub-section.

Besides line properties, a rectangle shape has an area fill color property.

Drawing circles or ellipses

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 whilst you draw a circle. The ellipse shape has the same basic properties as the rectangle (line and area).

Adding Text to shapes

In every basic shape we can add text. To add text to a shape:

1. Double click on any shape
2. When the blinking cursor appears, type your text inside the shape.

You can format the text inside using the Character and Paragraph section in the Properties Sidebar.

Adding Text Boxes

To add a Text Box click on the icon in Standard toolbar and draw the text box boundaries. A Text Box has all the basic shape and text properties. By default a text box has no line or area color.