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Draw Guide 7.6

Preface

Copyright

This document is Copyright © 2023 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors are listed below. This document maybe distributed and/or modified under the terms of either the GNU General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later. All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors

Contributors for this edition:

Peter Schofield

Socks Eight

Contributors for previous editions:

Elzett Kotze

Jean Hollis Weber

Peter Schofield

Rachel Kartch

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team Forum at https://community.documentfoundation.org/c/documentation/loguides/ (registration is required) or send an email to: loguides@community.documentfoundation.org.

Note

Everything sent to a forum, including email addresses and any other personal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted. Emails sent to the forum are moderated.

Publication date and software version

Published August 2023. Based on LibreOffice 7.6 Community.Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Who is this user guide for?

Anyone who wants to quickly acquire knowledge on LibreOffice Draw and is new to drawing software, or maybe familiar with another office suite, will find this user guide very useful.

LibreOffice is an open-source office productivity software suite containing capabilities for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and formula editing. LibreOffice Draw is the vector graphics drawing application for LibreOffice where a wide variety of graphical images can be easily and quickly created. Drawings can be exported in several file formats, for example, PDF, HTML, and numerous graphic formats.

What is in this user guide?

This user guide introduces the main features of LibreOffice Draw. Although Draw is a vector graphics drawing tool, it can also perform some operations on raster graphics (pixels) such as photographs.

A few examples of drawing functions are as follows:

Layer management, snap functions and grid-point system

Dimensions and measurement display

Connectors for making organization charts

3D functions that enable small 3D drawings to be created (with texture and lighting effects), drawing and page-style integration, and Bézier curves.

What is LibreOffice?

LibreOffice is a freely available, fully-featured, open source office productivity suite that is compatible with other major office suites and is available on a variety of platforms. The native file format used is Open Document Format (ODF). However, LibreOffice can also open and save documents in many other formats, including those used by several versions of Microsoft Office. For more information, see the Getting Started Guide.

Minimum requirements for using LibreOffice

LibreOffice 7.6 requires one of the following operating systems:

Linux x64 (deb) and Linux x64 (rpm)

Mac OS X (Aarch64/Apple Silicon)

macOS x86_64 (10.14 Mojave or higher)

Windows x86_64 (Windows 7 or newer required).

For a detailed list of requirements and operating systems supported, see the LibreOffice website, https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/system-requirements/.

How to get LibreOffice

Computers and laptops

Versions of LibreOffice for Windows, Linux, and macOS are freely available and can be downloaded from the LibreOffice website at https://www.libreoffice.org/download.

Linux users will find LibreOffice included free with many of the latest distributions, for example Ubuntu. Linux versions may differ in a few features from the descriptions used in this user guide.

LibreOffice is also available for Windows in the Microsoft Store and for macOS in the Apple App Store at a low and attractive price. These versions are free software (as in open source), but this small charge covers the cost of putting Libreoffice in the app stores. The profits from this sale of LibreOffice are invested to support the development of the LibreOffice project.

Tablets, iPads and Chromebooks

To use LibreOffice on tablets, iPads, or Chromebooks a LibreOffice based app has to be downloaded and installed. The app is called Collabora Office, which uses the same technology as LibreOffice and is very similar in operation to LibreOffice. For more information, go to the Collabora Office website at https://www.collaboraoffice.com.

Installing LibreOffice

Information on installing LibreOffice on the various supported operating systems can be found at this web page: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/install-howto/. When LibreOffice is acquired through official app stores, follow the installation instructions provided by the store.

Setting up and customizing LibreOffice

After installation, to change the default settings (options) in LibreOffice to suit working requirements and preferences, go to Tools > Options on the Menu bar (mac OS LibreOffice > Preferences).

Tip

Some settings are intended for power users and programmers. If it is difficult to understand what an option does, LibreOffice recommends leaving the option on its default setting unless instructions in this user guide recommend changing the setting.

Settings are described in LibreOffice Help and the Getting Started Guide. These two sources provide information on how to customize menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts in LibreOffice Draw, add new menus and toolbars, and assign macros to events.

Extensions and add-ons

Functionality can be added to LibreOffice using extensions. Several extensions are installed with LibreOffice and more extensions can be installed from the official extensions repository, https://extensions.libreoffice.org/ or from other sources. See the Getting Started Guide for more information on installing extensions.

Where to get more help

This user guide and other LibreOffice user guides, the built-in Help system, and user support systems assume that users are familiar with computers and basic functions such as starting a program, opening and saving files.

Help system

LibreOffice comes with an extensive Help system and this can be used as the first line of support. Windows and Linux users can choose to download and install the offline Help for use when not connected to the Internet. Offline Help is installed with the MacOS version of LibreOffice.

To display the LibreOffice Help, press F1 or go to Help > LibreOffice Help on the Menu bar. If the offline help is not installed on a computer, but connected to the Internet, a dialog opens giving the option to Read Help Online. Select this option and the default web browser opens at the LibreOffice online help pages in the LibreOffice website.

The Help menu also includes links to other LibreOffice information, support facilities and resources that may be useful to LibreOffice users.

What's This?

For quick tips when a toolbar is visible, place the cursor over a tool icon to see a small tooltip box with a brief explanation of the tool function. For a more detailed explanation, select Help > What's This? Also Extended Tips can be activated by going to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > General > Help (macOS LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > General > Help) on the Menu bar and selecting the option Extended Tips. Extended tips provide a brief description about tools and commands. To display an extended tip, use the keyboard Shift+F1, then point to a tool or command.

User Guides

Opens the default browser at the Documentation page of the LibreOffice website https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/. This page gives access to the LibreOffice User Guides and other useful information that can be opened in the default browser. Also, the User Guides are available in PDF format as a free download or to buy as printed copies.

Show Tip of the Day

Opens a small window with a random tip on how to use LibreOffice.

Search Commands

Opens a window where typing a few letters, or the name of a Menu bar command, for example, quickly finds where the command is located. Clicking on a command in the resulting list may open a relevant dialog or have other effects.

Get Help Online

Opens the default browser at the Ask LibreOffice forum of questions and answers from the LibreOffice community, https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/.

Send Feedback

Opens the default browser at the Feedback page of the LibreOffice website https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/feedback/. From this page, bugs can be reported, new features suggested and communicated with other users in the LibreOffice community.

Restart in Safe Mode

Opens a dialog window giving options to restart LibreOffice and reset the software to its default settings. Restarting in safe mode also provides an opportunity to restore LibreOffice from a backup.

Get Involved

Opens the default browser at the Get Involved page of the LibreOffice website, https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/. Choose a topic of interest to help improve the program.

Donate to LibreOffice

Opens the default browser at the Donation page for the LibreOffice website, https://donate.libreoffice.org/ providing an opportunity to make a donation to support LibreOffice.

License Information

Outlines the licenses under which LibreOffice is made available.

Check for Updates

Opens a dialog and checks the LibreOffice website for updates for the software version. The dialog provides an opportunity to download and install any updates to LibreOffice.

About LibreOffice

Opens a dialog and displays information about the version of LibreOffice and the operating system being used. This information is often requested if the community is asked for help or assistance with the software (on macOS, this option is found under LibreOffice on the Menu bar).

Other free online support

The LibreOffice community not only develops software, but provides free, volunteer-based support. See Table 1 and the web page https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/. For comprehensive online support from the community, look at mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website, https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/. Other user websites also offer free tips and tutorials.

Table 1: Free support for LibreOffice users

Free LibreOffice support

FAQs

Answers to frequently asked questionshttps://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq

Mailing lists

Free community support is provided by a network of experienced usershttps://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

Questions & Answers and Knowledge Base

Free community assistance is provided in a Question & Answer formatted web service. Search similar topics or open a new one in

https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions

The service is available in several other languages; just replace /en/ with de, es, fr, ja, ko, nl, pt, tr, and many others in the web address above.

Native language support

The LibreOffice website in various languageshttps://www.libreoffice.org/community/nlc/

Mailing lists for native languageshttps://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Local_Mailing_Lists

Information about social networkinghttps://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Website/Web_Sites_services

Accessibility options

Information about available accessibility options. https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/accessibility/

OpenOffice Forum

Another forum that provides support for LibreOffice, among other open source office suites. https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/

Paid support and training

Support and training is available through service contracts from a vendor or consulting firm specializing in LibreOffice. For information about certified professional support, see The Document Foundation website: https://www.documentfoundation.org/gethelp/support/.

For schools, educational and research institutions, and large organizations, see https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

Figure 1: Options LibreOffice dialog — General page

Options LibreOffice dialog — General page

What you see maybe different

Illustrations

LibreOffice runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, each of which has several versions and can be customized by users (fonts, colors, themes, window managers). The illustrations in this guide were taken from a variety of computers and operating systems. Therefore, some illustrations will not look exactly like what is seen on a computer display.

Also, some dialogs may differ because of the settings selected in LibreOffice. Either use dialogs from the computer system (default) or dialogs provided by LibreOffice.

To change to using LibreOffice dialogs:

1)  On Linux and Windows operating systems, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > General on the Menu bar to open the dialog for general options.

2)  On a Mac operating system, go to LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > General on the Menu bar to open the dialog for general options.

3)  Select Use LibreOffice dialogs in Open/Save dialogs to display the LibreOffice dialogs on a computer display, as shown in Figure 1.

4)  Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.

Icons

The LibreOffice community has created icons for several icon sets, including Breeze, Colibre, Elementary, Sifr, and Tango. Each user can select a preferred set. The icons used to illustrate some of the many tools available in LibreOffice may differ from the ones used in this guide. The icons in this user guide have been taken from a LibreOffice installation that has been set to display the Colibre set of icons.

Change the icon set used in a LibreOffice installation as follows:

1)  On Linux and Windows operating systems, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View on the Menu bar to open the dialog for view options.

Figure 2: Options LibreOffice dialog — View page

Options LibreOffice dialog — View page

2)  On a Mac operating system, go to LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > View on the Menu bar to open the dialog for view options.

3)  In Icon Theme select Colibre (SVG) from the options available in the drop down list as shown in Figure 2.

4)  In Icon Size, select Small from the drop down lists for Toolbar, Notebookbar and Sidebar, as shown in Figure 2.

5)  Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog.

Notes

Some Linux operating systems, for example Ubuntu, include LibreOffice as part of the installation and may not include the Colibre icon set. This icon set can be downloaded from the software repository for the Linux operating system being used.

Some previously included icon sets are now available only as extensions; see https://extensions.libreoffice.org/?Tags%5B%5D=49 or search for specific ones. For example, the People Gallery is available from https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/people-gallery.

Using LibreOffice on macOS

Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows and Linux. Table 2 below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this user guide. For a more detailed list, see the application help.

Table 2: Example of macOS keyboard shortcuts

Windows or Linux

macOS equivalent

Effect

Tools > Options

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access to setup options

Right-click

Ctrl+click and/or right-click depending on computer setup

Opens a context menu

Ctrl or Control

⌘ and/or Cmd or Command, depending on keyboard

Used with other keys

Alt

⌥ and/or Alt or Option depending on keyboard

Used with other keys

F11

⌘+T

Open the Styles deck in the Sidebar

Who wrote this user guide?

This user guide was written by volunteers from the LibreOffice community. Profits from sales printed editions are used to benefit the community.

Frequently asked questions

How is LibreOffice licensed?

LibreOffice is distributed under the Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved Mozilla Public License (MPL). See https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/licenses/.

It is based on code from Apache OpenOffice made available under the Apache License 2.0 but also includes software that differs from version to version under a variety of other Open Source licenses. New code is available under LGPL 3.0 and MPL 2.0.

Can LibreOffice be distributed to anyone?

Yes.

Can LibreOffice be sold?

Yes.

Can LibreOffice be used in a business?

Yes.

How many computers can LibreOffice be installed on?

As many as required.

Is LibreOffice available in different languages?

LibreOffice has been translated (localized for more than 80%, both UI and Help) into over 46 languages, so a required language is probably supported. Localization is well under way for another 30+ languages (50-80%) and for another 50+ languages help is more than welcome. In addition, over 70 spelling, hyphenation, and thesaurus dictionaries are available for languages and dialects that do not have a localized program interface. The dictionaries are available from the LibreOffice website at: www.libreoffice.org.

How can LibreOffice be freely available?

LibreOffice is developed and maintained by volunteers and has the backing of several organizations. LibreOffice also relies upon donations from its users. To make a donation, go to the following web page: https://www.libreoffice.org/donate/.

Can the programming code from LibreOffice be used when developing a software application?

Yes, but follow the parameters set in the MPL and/or LGPL. Read the licenses: https://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.

Why is Java required to run LibreOffice? Is it written in Java?

LibreOffice is not written in Java; it is written in the C++ language. Java is one of several languages that can be used to extend the software. The Java JDK/JRE is only required for some features. The most notable one is the HSQLDB relational database engine.

Java is available at no cost. More information and download links to the appropriate edition for an operating system can be found at: https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Note

If the LibreOffice features that require Java are to be used, it is important that the correct 32-bit or 64-bit edition matches the installed version of LibreOffice. If Java is not to be used, nearly all LibreOffice features can still be used.

How can users contribute to LibreOffice?

Users can help with the development and user support of LibreOffice in many ways, and there is no need to be a programmer. To start, check out this webpage: https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/. An interactive web page that guides users in contributing with their best skills available at https://whatcanidoforlibreoffice.org.

Can the PDF copy of this user guide be distributed, or printed and copies sold?

Yes, as long as requirements are met for one of the licenses in the copyright statement at the beginning of this user guide. There is no need to request special permission. LibreOffice requests that users share with the LibreOffice project some of the profits made from sales of user guides, in consideration of all the work that LibreOffice volunteers have put into producing user guides.

Donate to LibreOffice: https://www.libreoffice.org/donate/.

What is new in LibreOffice 7.6?

The LibreOffice 7.6 Release Notes are available at this link https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.5. Also at this link, the release notes for earlier versions of LibreOffice are located giving more information on the features that are included in LibreOffice. Noticeable improvements or enhancements to this version include the following:

Figure 3: New application icons

New application icons

Contents