• Introduction
• Manual has moved!
• Why use Inkscape?
• Professional Software
• About this Book
• Installing Inkscape
• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Gnu/Linux
• Getting Around in Inkscape
• Interface
• Managing the Workspace
• Drawing with Geometrical Shapes
• Ways of Drawing with Inkscape
• Shape Tools
• The Selector Tool
• Squares and Rectangles
• Circles, Ellipses and Arcs
• Stars and Polygons
• Spirals
• 3D-Boxes
• Freehand Drawing
• Freehand Drawing
• The Pencil Tool
• The Pen Tool
• The Calligraphy Tool
• Boolean Operations
• About Nodes
• Editing Paths
• Stacking Order
• Align and Distribute
• The Node Tool
• Tracing an Image
• The Tweak Tool
• Color
• Colors
• The Color Palette
• The Fill And Stroke Dialog
• Custom Colors
• Copying a Color
• Creating Gradients
• Creating a Mesh Gradient
• Using Patterns
• Modifying Patterns
• Creating Custom Patterns
• Strokes
• Markers
• Ordering Markers, Stroke and Fill
• Customizing Markers
• Text
• Text
• Writing Text
• Styling Text
• Changing Text Color
• Moving and Rotating Letters
• Putting Text on a Path
• Flowing Text into a Frame
• Creating Custom Fonts
• Advanced Techniques
• Beyond the Basics
• Saving Your Work
• Exporting a PDF File
• Exporting a PNG File
• Exporting to other File Formats
• Importing Pictures into a Document
• Importing other File Formats
• Copying and Duplicating Objects
• Cloning Objects
• Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts
• Clipping and Masking
• Filters
• Extensions
• Live Path Effects
• Where to Go from Here
• Test Chapter (for trying out styling)

Installing Inkscape on a Mac

For Inkscape to run properly on a Mac, you will first need to install XQuartz, then Inkscape.

How to install XQuartz

1. Using a web browser, go to XQuartz's website, which is xquartz.org or xquartz.macosforge.org.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Click the XQuartz dmg icon to download it.
   
    
   
    
3. Once it's fully downloaded, go to the folder your browser is set for files to be downloaded into — usually it's the Downloads folder (System/Users/nameofuser/Downloads) — and double-click the XQuartz.dmg file to open it.
   
   
   
    
4. A new window will appear. Double-click the XQuartz.pkg icon to open it.
   
    
   
    
5. Another new window, which enables you to install XQuartz, will appear. Follow the steps and instructions in this window.
   
   
   
    
6. Restart your Mac. You can either shut down or log out of it.
   
   
   
   
   
   

How to install Inkscape

1. Using a web browser, go to the page in Inkscape.org where you download the Inkscape installer for the Mac.
   
    
   
    
2. Click the box labelled "Mac OS X 10.7 Installer (xQuartz)" to download the .dmg file, which contains this installer.
   
    
   
    
3. A new window showing the installer downloading will appear in your browser window.
   
   
   
   
    
4. Once it's fully downloaded, go to the folder your browser is set for files to be downloaded into — usually it's the Downloads folder (System/Users/nameofuser/Downloads) — and double-click the installer to open it.
   
   
   
    
5. Click and drag the Inkscape icon to the Applications icon as instructed in this window. This will install Inkscape to your Mac.
   
   
   
   

Setting Up Inkscape

1. Open Inkscape by double-clicking its icon in the Applications folder.
   
   
   
   
    
2. Click OK in this window, which appears the first time Inkscape is opened.
   
   
   
   
    
3. Wait for Inkscape to open. This might take a few minutes, since Inkscape is caching the fonts in your system. The next time you open Inkscape, it will not take nearly as long to show up. As soon as Inkscape does open, its interface will appear inside XQuartz.
   
   
   
   
    
4. Open Inkscape's/XQuartz's preferences.
   
   
   
   
    
5. Click the Input tab, and configure its settings to this.
   
   
   
   
    
6. Click the Pasteboard tab and configure its settings to this.
   
   
   
   
    
7. Close Preferences. You are now ready to use Inkscape.

Other Ways to Install Inkscape

You can also build Inkscape in your Mac using Homebrew or MacPorts.

How to install Inkscape with Homebrew

1. Install Homebrew by doing the following:
   
   
   1. Open Terminal in System/Applications/Utilities.
      
       
      
       

   2. In Terminal, type:

       /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)

2. In Terminal, do either of the following:
   
   
   • If you've never installed Inkscape with Homebrew before, type:
     

     brew install caskformula/caskformula/inkscape

      
   • If you have installed Inkscape with Homebrew before, type:
     

     brew uninstall inkscape
     brew cleanup

      

How to install Inkscape with MacPorts

1. Install Xcode. Read this guide on how to do it, since there are different ways of installing Xcode for different versions of OS X.
   
   
   
   
    
2. Install MacPorts. Read this guide on how to do it, since there are different ways of installing MacPorts for different versions of OS X.
   
   
   
   
    
3. Open Terminal in System/Applications/Utilities.
   
   
   
   
    
4. In Terminal, type either of the following:
   • For the X11 version of Inkscape:

     sudo port install inkscape

   • For the Quartz version of Inkscape (be warned this might be less stable):

     sudo port install inkscape +quartz