Canvas Settings

The Canvas Settings dialog brings together the grid, the rulers and guides, the units, and the hoop. All changes are applied instantly and match those in Edit → Preferences → Canvas (Preferences).

How to open it

Click the button in the top-left corner of the rulers, next to the unit indicator (cm or in). The button has the tooltip Grid, guides, and units.

You can also open it from the main menu:

Edit → Preferences → Canvas

To close it, click Done, the ×, Esc, or click outside the dialog.

tip

In the top-right corner of the rulers there is a lock button to lock or unlock the guides without opening the dialog.

Grid

Option	Default	What it does
Spacing	10.0 mm	Distance between grid lines. Accepts 1 to 100 mm with one decimal.
Show grid	On	Draws the grid over the canvas.
Snap to grid	Off	When moving, drawing, or editing nodes, the cursor snaps to the nearest grid intersection.
Color	Light gray	Six swatches: light, gray, blue, red, green, and lime.

Spacing is always expressed in millimeters, even when the rulers are in centimeters or inches.

Rulers and guides

Option	Default	What it does
Show rulers	On	Shows the horizontal and vertical rulers.
Show guides	On	Shows the guides you have created.
Lock guides	Off	Prevents creating, moving, or deleting guides.
Snap to guides	On	The cursor snaps to guides when drawing and moving objects.
Guide color	Blue	Six swatches: blue, red, green, amber, gray, and lime.
Clear all guides	—	Deletes all guides. Asks for confirmation: the text changes to Confirm delete for 3 seconds.

For details on creating, moving, deleting, and coloring guides, see Rulers and Guides.

Create, move, and delete guides

• Create: drag from the horizontal ruler to create a horizontal guide, or from the vertical ruler to create a vertical guide.
• Move: hold Ctrl and drag an existing guide.
• Delete: with Ctrl, drag the guide back to its ruler.
• Lock: use the Lock guides switch or the lock in the top-right corner of the rulers.

Units

You can choose Millimeters (mm), Centimeters (cm), or Inches (in). The unit affects the rulers and the size fields in the context bar and in Properties.

note

The rulers show centimeters in millimeter and centimeter modes, and inches in inch mode. This avoids overly dense labels when zooming.

Hoop

Option	What it does
Show hoop on canvas	Draws the hoop over the design area. It can also be enabled with the hoop icon in the right sidebar.
Hoop selector	Choose from the available Tajima tubular models (7, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 210×120, 255×160, and 255×255).
Fabric color	Six swatches (light, cream, green, blue, pink, and graphite) or Custom… to choose any color.
Measurements	Shows the inner diameter and usable embroidery area of the selected hoop, in millimeters.

The hoop is drawn below the design and serves as a visual reference; it is not part of the objects that are exported.

Related shortcuts

Icon	Action	Shortcut
	Show/hide grid	Ctrl+Alt+G
	Show/hide rulers	Ctrl+R
	Show/hide guides	Ctrl+Alt+U
	Lock/unlock guides	Ctrl+L