Getting started

Your first figure

1. Pick a mode from the mode panel on the left, for example Box (key B). The message panel at the top says what to do next, and the mouse indicator shows what each mouse button does right now.
2. Press the left button on the canvas, drag, and release. The box is drawn with the current attributes shown in the indicator panel at the bottom (line width, colours, fill and so on).
3. Pick Move (key M), click the box and click again where it should go. Or use Select and drag it.
4. Change how things look: set an attribute in the indicator panel, then use Update attributes (key U) on an object, or double-click an object with Select to open its edit panel.

6. File > Save As writes a .fig file. File > Export writes PDF, SVG, EPS, PNG and other formats.

Things worth knowing early

• Most modes have three mouse button functions. See The mouse for how to press the middle and right buttons without a three-button mouse.
• Hold Shift to see Shift variants in the mouse indicator.
• Press Escape or the right button to cancel what you are doing in most modes. Escape again clears the selection, and once more leaves the mode. While drawing a line, Backspace removes the last point.
• Coordinates are in 1/1200 inch (Fig units); you work in inches or centimetres as the units box says.
• The figure is never lost when the program stops unexpectedly: see Files (recovery).