Getting Started

The Welcome window

Qwing opens with a Welcome window. From here you can:

Action What it does
New Document Opens the new-canvas sheet described below
Open Document Opens a .zdraw file
Open Image Opens a bitmap or SVG as a new document, sized to fit it
New from Clipboard Creates a document from an image on the clipboard
Recent Reopens a document you worked on recently; Clear empties the list
Sample Documents Opens a bundled example, if any are installed
Feedback Opens a pre-addressed email to the developers
Help Opens this guide

You can also drag a .zdraw, .svg, or image file straight onto the Welcome window.

Creating a document

Choose File ▸ New (⌘N) to open the new-canvas sheet.

Presets. Pick one of the built-in canvas sizes, or one you have saved yourself. The built-in presets are:

Preset Size (points)
横屏 HD (Landscape HD) 1280 × 720
全高清 (Full HD) 1920 × 1080
方形 (Square) 1080 × 1080
A4 纵向 (A4 Portrait) 827 × 1169
A4 横向 (A4 Landscape) 1169 × 827
US Letter 850 × 1100

Custom size. Type a width and height. Values may range from 100 to 40000 points.

Background. Pick the canvas background colour.

Saving your own preset. Set a size you like, then choose Save Current Size as Preset…, give it a name, and it joins the list under your own presets. To remove one, right-click it and choose Delete — built-in presets cannot be deleted.

From the clipboard. If the clipboard holds an image, the sheet offers to create a document from it. The canvas is sized to match the image and the image becomes its first layer. The same thing is available from the menu as File ▸ New from Clipboard, without opening the sheet.

Opening documents

Command Shortcut Notes
Open… ⌘O Opens a .zdraw document
Open Image… — Creates a new document from the chosen bitmap or SVG, sized to fit it
Open Recent ▸ — Recently opened documents; Clear Menu empties the list
Import SVG… — Adds SVG files to the current document as shapes

Import SVG accepts several files at once. Each file is placed on the canvas as its own shape. If some files fail to import, Qwing imports the rest and tells you which ones it skipped.

Saving

Qwing saves your document in place as you work, so you never have to remember to save. The File menu still offers the usual document commands:

Command Shortcut What it does
Save ⌘S Writes your changes now
Duplicate ⇧⌘S Makes a copy of the document and switches to it
Save As… ⌥⇧⌘S Saves a copy under a new name
Rename… — Renames the current document
Move To… — Moves the document to another folder
Revert to Saved — Discards your changes and reloads the last saved version
Close ⌘W Closes the document window

The window

A document window has four parts:

  1. Toolbar across the top — the Add menu for creating things, the pointer tool, a dynamic zone that changes with what you are doing, the zoom menu, the export button, and a button to show or hide the inspector.
  2. Left sidebar — the Stencils library and the Layers list. Switch between them with the tabs at the top of the sidebar.
  3. Canvas in the middle. This is where you draw.
  4. Inspector on the right — properties of whatever is selected, or of the canvas itself when nothing is selected.

The toolbar's dynamic zone

The middle of the toolbar changes to suit the moment:

The Add menu

The + button in the toolbar is the fastest way to reach every drawing tool:

Choosing a tool from the Add menu makes it the active tool, ready to draw.