The Canvas

The Canvas is the area on which you work. Using the tools provided in The Tool Palette, the Canvas is where you create the objects and shapes that make up your document.

Each Canvas has at least one layer, and each OmniGraffle document can have multiple canvases. Canvases and layers are managed in the Navigation Sidebar.

Canvas Modes

Use the Canvas Size inspector to specify your type of canvas; choose between:

Fixed Size
Flexible
Infinite Canvas

Fixed Size

The canvas is a size of your specification, based on the values set in the Width and Height fields. Choose a Fixed Size canvas when you know the dimensions of the thing you are creating; for example, an app icon.

Flexible

A canvas that can be expanded in any direction: up, down, left, right, or any combination of the four. Choose a Flexible canvas when you want the canvas to expand or collapse to the size of objects on the canvas.

Use the Autosizing Switches to enable canvas expansion in that direction.

The Autosizing Switches are placed on the top, bottom, left, and right side of a box. The box is supposed to be the canvas; use the switches to choose the direction in which the canvas expands.

Width: Tap or to decrease or increase the width of the canvas, respectively. Changing the Width after the Autosizing Switches have been set turns off the left and right switches.
Height: Tap or to decrease or increase the height of the canvas, respectively. Changing the Height after the Autosizing Switches have been set turns off the top and bottom switches.
Canvas Padding: Tap or to adjust the amount of padding to surround a canvas.

Canvas Padding is disabled when you turn on Size Uses Printer Pages; see Canvas Size inspector, later in this Manual.

Infinite Canvas

A canvas that infinitely extends in all directions. Choose an Infinite Canvas when you have a document that needs a lot of space.

The Width and Height of an Infinite Canvas are not adjustable.

Contextual Menus and the Canvas

With nothing selected on the canvas, a single-tap on the canvas reveals its contextual menu:

The contextual menu that you see when you tap on the canvas

Menu Item	Description
Select All	Selects everything on the canvas.
Paste	Available if something has been copied to the clipboard; pastes the contents of the clipboard at the tapped location.
Full Screen Exit Full Screen	Enters or exits Full Screen.

To reveal an object’s contextual menu, tap an object that’s already selected on the canvas, or touch and hold the object if it isn’t already selected.

Menu Item	Description
Cut	Removes the selected object(s) from the canvas and places them on the clipboard for pasting.
Copy	Copies the selected object(s) and makes it available on the clipboard for pasting.
Select All	Selects everything on the canvas.
Paste	Available if something has been copied to the clipboard; pastes the contents of the clipboard at the tapped location.
Delete	Deletes the selected object(s).
Lock/Unlock	Locks or unlocks the current selection.
Bring to Front	Brings the selected object(s) to the front of the object stack.
Send to Back	Sends the selected object(s) to the back of the object stack.
Group	When two or more objects are selected, creates a group from those objects.
Ungroup	If a group or table is selected, the selection is ungrouped.
New Artboard Under Selection	Places an artboard under the selected object(s). If no artboard layer exists, one is created.
Make Table	Creates a table out of the selected object(s).
Copy Style	Copies the style of the selected object; the style properties are copied to the clipboard for pasting.
Paste Style	Available if the style properties of another object have been copied to the clipboard; pastes the style properties from the clipboard to the selected object(s).
Full Screen Exit Full Screen	Enters or exits Full Screen.
Copy As JavaScript	Copies the properties of the selected object(s) and makes that information available for use in the Automation Console, accessible by tapping in the toolbar.