Menu bar

The menu bar is the series of menus running across the top left of the editor's title bar. It provides organized access to many actions which are described on this page.

Clicking File, Edit, Layer, Document, View, and Help opens a dropdown menu with clickable actions. Pay attention to the keyboard shortcut listed on the right of each row in the dropdown menus. Learning to use them can help speed up your workflow.

The rest of this page is intended as a reference resource. Skip ahead to the next page if this is your first read-through of the manual.

App button

The app button shows the Graphite logo. Clicking it opens the Graphite website home page.

File

The File menu lists actions related to file handling:


New…	Opens the New Document dialog for creating a blank canvas in a new editor tab.
Open…	Opens the operating system file picker dialog for selecting a `.graphite` file from disk to be opened in a new editor tab.
Open Demo Artwork…	Opens the Demo Artwork dialog for loading a choice of premade sample artwork files provided for you to explore. Click the button below each image to open it.
Close	Closes the active document. If it has unsaved changes (denoted by the `*` after the file name), you will be asked to save or discard the changes.
Close All	Closes all open documents. To avoid accidentally losing unsaved work, you will be asked to confirm that you want to proceed which will discard the unsaved changes in all open documents.
Save	Saves the active document by writing the `.graphite` file to disk. An operating system file download dialog may appear asking where to place it. That dialog will provide an opportunity to save over a previous version of the file, if you wish, by picking the identical name instead of saving another instance with a number after it.
Import…	Opens the operating system file picker dialog for selecting an image file from disk to be placed as a new bitmap image layer into the active document.
Export…	Opens the Export dialog for saving the artwork as a File Type of PNG, JPG, or SVG. Scale Factor multiplies the content's document scale, so a value of 2 would export 300x400 content as 600x800 pixels. Bounds picks what area to render: All Artwork uses the bounding box of all layers, Selection uses the bounding box of the currently selected layers, and an Artboard: [Name] uses the bounds of that artboard. Transparency exports the PNG or SVG file with transparency instead of the artboard background color.
Preferences…	Opens the Editor Preferences dialog for configuring Graphite's settings.

Edit

The Edit menu lists actions related to the editing workflow:


Undo	Steps back in the history of changes in the active document.
Redo	Steps forward in the history of changes in the active document.
Cut	Copies the selected layer(s) to the clipboard, then deletes them.
Copy	Copies the selected layer(s) to the clipboard.
Paste	Pastes the copied layer(s) from the clipboard into the document. It will end up beside a selected layer or inside a selected folder, or otherwise at the base of the folder structure. In the web version of Graphite, your browser will ask for permission to read from your clipboard which you must grant; using the hotkey `CtrlV` (macOS: `⌘V`) works without browser permission.

Layer

The Layer menu lists actions related to the layers within a document:


Select All	Selects all layers and folders in the document.
Deselect All	Deselects everything in the document.
Delete Selected	Removes all selected layers and folders.
Grab Selected	Begin grabbing the selected layer(s) to translate (move) them around with your cursor's movement. Lock to an axis with `X` or `Y` then use the number keys to type a pixel distance value. Confirm with a left click or `Enter`. Cancel with a right click or `Esc`.
Rotate Selected	Begin rotating the selected layer(s) around their pivot point with your cursor's movement. Use the number keys to type an angle value in degrees. Confirm with a left click or `Enter`. Cancel with a right click or `Esc`.
Scale Selected	Begin scaling the selected layer(s) around their pivot point with your cursor's movement. Lock to an axis with `X` or `Y`. Use the number keys to type a scale multiplier value. Confirm with a left click or `Enter`. Cancel with a right click or `Esc`.
Order > Raise to Front	Reorders the selected layer(s) above all other layers within their same folder(s), so they appear in the layer stack and render above those other layers.
Order > Raise	Reorders the selected layers(s) up by one in the layer stack, so any layer that was immediately above the selected layer(s) ends up immediately below.
Order > Lower	Reorders the selected layers(s) down by one in the layer stack, so any layer that was immediately below the selected layer(s) ends up immediately above.
Order > Lower to Back	Reorders the selected layer(s) below all other layers within their same folder(s), so they appear in the layer stack and render below those other layers.

Document

The Document menu lists actions related to the document and artwork:


Clear Artboards	Removes all artboards from the document, thus enabling an infinite canvas.

View

The View menu lists actions related to the view of the canvas and viewport:


Tilt	Begins tilting the viewport angle based on your mouse movements. Hold `Ctrl` to snap to 15° increments. Confirm with a left click or `Enter`. Cancel with a right click or `Esc`.
Reset Tilt	Sets the viewport tilt angle back to 0°.
Zoom In	Narrows the view to the next whole zoom increment.
Zoom Out	Widens the view to the next whole zoom increment.
Zoom to Fit Selection	Zooms and frames the viewport to the bounding box of the selected layer(s).
Zoom to Fit All	Zooms and frames the viewport to fit all artboards, or all artwork if using infinite canvas.
Zoom to 100%	Zooms the viewport in or out to 100% scale, matching 1:1 the scale of the document and viewport.
Zoom to 200%	Zooms the viewport in or out to 200% scale, displaying the artwork at twice the actual size.
Rulers	Toggles visibility of the rulers shown along the top and left edges of the viewport.

Help

The Help menu lists actions related to information about Graphite:


About Graphite…	Opens the About Graphite dialog for displaying release and license information.
User Manual	Opens this user manual.
Report a Bug	Opens a page to file a new GitHub issue.
Visit on GitHub	Opens the Graphite GitHub repository.
Debug section	Developer-only actions.