Guide · Canvas
Move the view without moving the drawing.
Panning, zooming, the grid, snapping, and measurement change what you see and how you aim. None of them change stored geometry.
Pan and zoom belong to the viewport.
Panning and zooming alter the visible region only. Coordinates in the geometry panel, exported path data, and the document size stay exactly as they were, which is what makes it safe to work at high magnification.
Zoom in and zoom out controls sit in the footer next to the current zoom readout, so the magnification you are working at is always visible rather than guessed.
A future visual will compare document coordinates with viewport pan and zoom.
Recover the view in one step.
Fit document scales the view so the whole document is visible. Centre document brings the document back into the middle of the viewport without changing magnification. Reset view returns to the default viewing state.
These commands are the fastest answer when a drag has carried the artwork out of sight; they are viewport commands, so nothing has to be undone afterwards.
- Fit document
- Centre document
- Reset view
Turn on the grid and snapping when layout has to be measured.
The grid can be shown and adjusted, and snapping can be enabled independently. Showing a grid is a visual aid; enabling snapping is a change to how the pointer resolves a position, and the two are deliberately separate switches.
Frames and the side panel have their own toggles, so a crowded workspace can be reduced to the canvas while a shape is being placed.
- Toggle grid
- Toggle snapping
- Toggle frames
- Toggle the side panel
Measure a distance before committing to it.
The measure tool reports the distance between two points on the canvas. It answers spacing and alignment questions without adding helper geometry that would later need deleting.
The measured distance appears in the footer beside the coordinate readout, in the document unit you selected.
Read the footer while you work.
The footer reports the cursor position, the current zoom, and the measured distance. Together they answer where the pointer is, how magnified the view is, and how far apart two points sit.
Checking the readout is usually quicker than opening a panel, especially while a tool is mid-operation and the panels are showing the draft rather than the result.