The LibreOffice Draw module is a vector graphics application included in the LibreOffice suite. Draw lets you create graphics you can use in your documents. While there are more advanced vector graphics programs – such as Inkscape – Draw provides you with more tools than most drawing packages included in other office suites.

Vector graphics create images by defining geometric shapes such as circles, rectangles and polygons, rather than by pixel points on the screen. Because of this, vector graphics scale without distortion.

As with the other modules in LibreOffice, Draw integrates well with the others, making it the tool of choice when creating graphics for your documents.

The Default Layout

The default layout for Draw is rather sparse. You will probably want to modify it to include the toolbars you use most often. The layout includes the basic elements you need to create a graphic image. The center of the screen is the area where you will create your graphic. To the right, you have the page pane, showing the different pages of the graphic. Multi-page graphics are used mostly for presentations, and I will cover them at a later time.

By default, you have three toolbars. The standard toolbar is the topmost toolbar. This is the toolbar you see in most of the LibreOffice modules. It controls the new, open, save, copy, cut, paste, and other functions that pertain to most modules. The line and fill toolbar sits below it. This toolbar controls how the lines and fill of an object will look. At the bottom of the window sits the drawing toolbar. From this toolbar, you can create most of the objects for your graphic. You can move the toolbars by grabbing the handle at the beginning of the toolbar and dragging it to the location where you want it.

The status bar at the bottom of the window gives you a lot of useful information about the object you are editing. An object’s type, dimensions, angle, and other useful information will show up here. I will refer to the status bar often during the How-tos on Draw.

At the top and along the left edge sit the rulers. The rulers are guides to where you are in the image. If you want to change the unit of measure in the rulers, you can right-click the ruler and select a different unit of measure. When you have an object selected, the ruler shows double lines to indicate the object’s position on the drawing.

The Color Bar

The color bar displays the current color palette under the drawing area. You can use it to select colors for your objects rather than having to use the dropdown list in the line and fill toolbar. The first box – the white box with an X in it – is the no color (or invisible) selection. To display the color bar, go to View > Toolbars > Color Bar. To use the color bar, left-click the color you want for the fill color of the object, and right-click to select the line color.

Tear-Off Toolbars

Many of the icons on the toolbars have a triangle or arrow to the right. This indicates the item is expandable. Clicking on the arrow gives you more choices. You can detach these items from the toolbar, creating a floating toolbar. When you expand the item, you will see a grab bar at the bottom. Click and drag the grab bar to create a floating toolbar of the items. This is helpful when you need to use the items repeatedly, and is quicker than having to expand the items each time. When you are finished, just close the floating toolbar by clicking on the close button in the title bar.

Grid, Snap Lines, and Snap Points

When creating an image, I find it useful to have guides to work from. The grid, snap lines, and snap points are useful for such guides. You can set the program to snap to these guides, which help you precisely place your objects in the drawing.

To set up the grid, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice Draw > Grid. If you want objects to snap to the grid by default, check the Snap-to-grid checkbox under grid. You also have the option to make the grid visible by default. Resolution sets the vertical and horizontal settings for the grid. Subdivision sets the number of markers between the horizontal and vertical grid points. The more subdivisions the more precise the changes when snap-to-grid is on. But like most things, a happy medium is usually better than too much. You can set certain snap options on by default under the snap section, but I recommend leaving these all off by default, and using the options toolbar when you need to turn them on. Use the snap range to control how close to a snap point you are before your object snaps to the point.

Unlike the grid, snap points and snap lines are inserted when you need a more exact location. Snap lines are great for aligning objects vertically or horizontally. To create a snap line or point, Insert > Insert Snap Point/Line from the menu bar. The X position controls the distance from the left of the image. The Y position controls the distance from the top. The type controls whether you are inserting a snap point, vertical snap line, or horizontal snap line. You can also create snap lines by clicking and dragging from either the horizontal or vertical rulers. To delete a snap line, click and drag it back to the ruler. To delete a snap point, right-click the snap point and select Delete Snap Point.

Options Toolbar

The options toolbar contains all your snap options. If it is not showing, select View > Toolbars > Options. On the toolbar, you can toggle whether your guides are displayed, and toggle on and off the snap options. You might want to dock this toolbar to the bottom or side of your window as I suspect you will use it often to toggle these options.

There is one more guide on the toolbar we have not discussed yet. It is the helplines. When you select the helplines on the options toolbar, then, when you move an object, dashed lines appear from the corners of your object to the rulers. The helplines are just one more tool to help you accurately place your objects.

Conclusion

LibreOffice Draw is the graphics application of the LibreOffice suite. Draw saves graphics in a vector graphic format for use in your documents created with other applications in the suite. Draw provides you with the tools to combine text and geometric objects to create your graphics. Guides, and the ability to snap to the guides, help you to precisely place your objects.

In the next LibreOffice How-To, we will look at creating basic objects in Draw.