arrow or Shift + arrow move by 2px, with Shift move 10 times of 2 px
< or > scale, with Ctrl scale up or down by 200% or 50%
[ or ] rotate by 15 degrees, with Ctrl by 90 degrees
all transforming action with Alt act with 1 screen pixel
Multiple selections
Shift + left clicking object select simultaneously
left clicking and dragrubberband selection With Shift always create the rubberband.
Shift + left clicking excludes it from the selection
Esc deselects all selected objects.
Ctrl + A selects all objects in the current layer
Grouping
select one or more objects + Ctrl + G create a group
Ctrl + U ungroup one or more groups
Ctrl + left clicking selected and editable alone
Shift + Ctrl + left clicking to select or edit several objects
Fill and stroke
Shift + Ctrl + W open the Swatches dialog
Shift + Ctrl + F open Fill and Stroke dialog
Duplication, alignment, distribution
Ctrl + Dduplicating an object
Shift + Ctrl + A align and distribution
Z-order
The term z-order refers to the stacking order of objects in a drawing, i.e. to which objects are on top of other objects, and cover them, so the bottom objects are not (completely) visible.
PageUp raise the selected object one step
PageDn lower one step
Selecting under and dragging selected
Alt + left clicking cycle through the entire z-order stack of objects at the click point.
You can always convert a shape to a path(Shift + Ctrl + C), but the reverse conversion is not possible.
General tips
A new shape is created by dragging on canvas with the corresponding tool. Once the shape is created (and so long as it is selected), it displays its handles as white diamond, square or round marks (depending on the tools), so you can immediately edit what you created by dragging these handles.
All four kinds of shapes display their handles in all four shape tools as well as in the Node tool (F2). When you hover your mouse over a handle, it tells you in the statusbar what this handle will do when dragged or clicked with different modifiers.
All four kinds of shapes display their handles in all four shape tools as well as in the Node tool (F2). When you hover your mouse over a handle, it tells you in the statusbar what this handle will do when dragged or clicked with different modifiers.
When in a shape tool, selecting an object can be done by clicking on it. Ctrl+click (select in group) and Alt+click (select under) also work as they do in Selector tool. Esc deselects.
Rectangles
With Ctrl, draw a square or an integer-ratio (2:1, 3:1, etc) rectangle.
With Shift, draw around the starting point as center.
2 resize handles + rounding handles
1 rounding handle stayed and move the other
Ctrl + double click on one rounding handle
Scale with Scale rounded corners off
Scale with stroke off
Here are the shortcuts for the rounding handles of a rectangle:
Drag with Ctrl to make the other radius the same (circular rounding).
Ctrl+click to make the other radius the same without dragging.
Shift+click to remove rounding.
Rectangle tool’s Controls bar with horizontal (Rx) and vertical (Ry) rounding radii and you may set multiple rectangles with such parameters together.
Ellipses
With Ctrl, draw a circle or an integer-ratio (2:1, 3:1, etc.) ellipse.
With Shift, draw around the starting point as center.
The rightmost handle is two overlapping handles that let you “open” the ellipse.
To get a segment (an arc plus two radii), drag outside the ellipse; to get an arc, drag inside it.
Stars
Set shape with Controls bar
Drag with Ctrl to snap the angle to 15 degree increments.
Spirals
Ctrl+drag to snap angle to 15 degree increments.
Once drawn, a spiral has two handles at its inner and outer ends. Both handles, when simply dragged, roll or unroll the spiral (i.e. “continue” it, changing the number of turns).