Drawing Tools

DocuShark gives you a set of drawing tools for creating and manipulating shapes. Switch between them using the toolbar or keyboard shortcuts.

Select Tool (V)

The default tool for selecting and manipulating shapes.

• Click a shape to select it
• Shift+Click to add or remove shapes from your selection
• Drag on empty canvas to marquee-select multiple shapes
• Drag a selected shape to move it
• Drag a handle to resize

TIP

Press V any time to get back to the Select tool. It's your home base.

Shape Tools

Rectangle (R)

Click and drag to create a rectangle. Hold Shift for a perfect square.

Rectangles support adjustable corner radius — use the Property Panel to round the corners.

Ellipse (O)

Click and drag to create an ellipse. Hold Shift for a perfect circle.

Line (L)

Click to set the start point, then click again to set the end point. Lines can have arrowheads at either end — configure them in the Property Panel.

Text (T)

Click anywhere on the canvas to place a text box, then start typing. Click outside or press Escape to finish.

Double-click any existing shape to edit its text inline.

Hand Tool (H)

Pan the canvas without accidentally selecting shapes. Useful when you want to navigate without worrying about clicking on shapes.

TIP

You don't need to switch to the Hand tool just to pan — holding Space temporarily activates panning with any tool.

Shape Manipulation

Moving Shapes

• Drag selected shapes to move them
• Arrow keys nudge selected shapes by 10px
• Shift+Arrow nudges by 50px for bigger moves

Resizing

Select a shape to see its resize handles:

• Corner handles resize proportionally (hold Shift to unlock free resize)
• Edge handles resize in one direction only

Rotating

1. Select a shape
2. Hover near a corner handle until the cursor changes to a rotation icon
3. Drag to rotate

Hold Shift while rotating to snap to 15° increments.

Grouping

Combine multiple shapes into a single unit:

1. Select the shapes you want to group
2. Press Ctrl+G (or right-click → Group)

To ungroup: Ctrl+Shift+G (or right-click → Ungroup)

Groups can be nested — group shapes that are already inside groups to create hierarchies.

Alignment

Select multiple shapes, then use the alignment buttons in the toolbar:

• Horizontal: Align left, center, or right
• Vertical: Align top, middle, or bottom
• Distribute: Space shapes evenly horizontally or vertically

Z-Order (Stacking)

Control which shapes appear in front of others:

• Right-click → Bring to Front or Send to Back
• Drag shapes in the Layer Panel to reorder them visually

Clipboard

Action	Shortcut
Copy	Ctrl+C
Paste	Ctrl+V

Pasted shapes are offset by 20px from the original to avoid stacking directly on top.

Shape Text

Most shapes support inline text. Double-click any shape to start typing. The text respects the shape's text properties (font, size, alignment) which you can configure in the Property Panel.

Tip: LaTeX in shapes

Prefix a shape's label with = to render it as a LaTeX equation. For example, a rectangle with the label =\sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i renders the math visually.