• 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)

The Selector Tool

This tool is symbolized by an arrow. It is the top button in the toolbar, and is also accessible with either F1 or S key. This is a fundamental tool in the program, since almost everything must be selected before it can be edited.

Working much like a hand, the Select tool also moves, scales, skews and rotates objects.

To move an object:

• position the mouse over an object;
• press the mouse button and hold while dragging it to the desired position (hold the Ctrl key to move the shape in horizontal or vertical direction only);
• release the mouse button.

Drag to move the selection. Transformations (such as moving, scaling, rotating) are easy thanks to the two-way arrows. Click the selection a second time to access skew and rotating functions.

To scale (resize) an object:

• click on it to select it;
• position the mouse over a two-way arrow on a side or a corner;
• press the mouse button and hold while dragging it to the desired size (also hold the Ctrl key to preserve the proportions);
• release the mouse button.

To skew an object:

• select it, then click it again;
• position the mouse over a horizontal or vertical two-way arrow;
• press the mouse button and hold while dragging it to the desired amount of skew (also hold the Ctrl key for 15° increments)
• release the mouse button.

To rotate an object:

• select it, then click it again;
• grab a curved two-way arrow in any corner;
• drag it until the object reaches the desired angle (also hold the Ctrl key for 15° increments).

In some cases, you want to edit more than one object at once. So the Select tool can select more than one object at once.

To select more than one object, there are mainly two ways:

• click the first object, then hold the Shift key while clicking each additional object once;
• or, press the mouse button and drag out a rectangular selection box which encloses all the objects.

Each selected object is framed with a dashed line (known as the bounding box), while the two-way arrows for transformation are placed around the entire selection (one or more than one object).

You can combine the two methods: hold the Shift key to keep previously selected objects selected, and drag out a selection box to add more objects to the selection. Or vice versa works too. After selecting more than one object by dragging a selection box, hold the Shift key while you individually click on more objects.

Also notice how the Shift key allows you to sort of toggle a selection: click to add to the selection, click again to remove.