Your feedback helps us improve DXFDraw and guide future development. Share an idea, request a feature, report a bug, suggest an improvement, or contact us about the application.
File → Print or Ctrl+P prints only the selection when objects are selected; otherwise it prints all visible drawing objects on a clean white background. Grid, axes, selection markers, Snap markers, and temporary guides are excluded.
File → Open File... is the single import entry point. It accepts DXFDraw .adn/.json projects, .dxf drawings, supported raster images (PNG/JPEG/WEBP/GIF families), and recognizable text-based ADN/DXF files. DXFDraw detects the selected file and routes it to the existing matching importer; unsupported or unrecognized files show a warning instead of changing the drawing.
Save stores the active tab as an .adn project file. ADN preserves DXFDraw project geometry and application-specific data.
Export PNG provides Low / Standard / High / Ultra resolution, transparent or selected-color background, and 0–200 px padding. If objects are selected, only the selection is exported.
Export DXF writes native CAD geometry, Layers, Text, Hatch, and supported Dimension entities. Raster Images remain browser drawing objects and are not embedded into the DXF because standard DXF IMAGE entities depend on external raster files. Import DXF maps supported semantic DXF entities back into DXFDraw objects.
Opening a supported raster image through Open File... places it in the drawing. A selected image can be resized proportionally from corner handles or independently in Width/Height from its side handles and Quick Size fields.
Undo / Redo are available from the top toolbar. Mirror Horizontal and Mirror Vertical mirror the current selection about its center. Clear Drawing removes all objects from the active tab as an undoable operation.
Select uses a click for a single object and a window for multiple objects. Selection handles provide scaling and rotation; dragging selected geometry moves it with the Snap engine.
Clicking normal geometry or Text inside a Group selects the whole Group. Double-click group-child Text to edit it without exploding the Group. Use Ctrl+click for child-level Text selection; multiple child Text objects can then be moved together with Ctrl+drag.
Ctrl/Shift clicks in the Objects list modify top-level multi-selection. Double-clicking an object centers it at 100% view.
Quick Width / Height: For drawing geometry, Width and Height resize the selected drawing bounds about their center on the corresponding axis. Enable Keep Aspect Ratio beside the Width/Height fields to scale the other axis proportionally when Width or Height is changed. For a single selected Image, the same option preserves the image Width/Height ratio.
Dynamic Input focus: when Line, Rectangle, Circle, Grid, Move, or Copy is started from the toolbar/mouse workflow, the first field of the on-canvas popup receives focus so a value can be typed immediately. If the same tool is launched from the Command Line, the Command field keeps focus; moving the mouse over the drawing while a Dynamic Input popup is available hands focus to that popup's first field.
Click the start point, then continue placing connected Line segments. Dynamic Length/Angle fields accept numeric input. Shift captures a 15° direction lock immediately; entering Length and pressing Enter preserves that locked angle even if the mouse has moved. Press Shift again while the temporary lock is active to release it. A manually entered Angle always overrides the temporary lock. Enter/right click ends the current line chain. Tracking guides: dwell for about 1.3 seconds on a red Point Snap while Line is active to acquire a tracking reference. Up to two references can provide horizontal/vertical guides and, for a Line reference, its native direction. Active guides are purple dashed lines; guide Edge Snap is green and intersections of two active guides are red Point Snap candidates. Guides are temporary and never enter the model, Undo, PNG, or DXF.
Uses first-corner / opposite-corner input. The default is a square; hold Shift for a free rectangle. Dynamic Width/Height fields support 0.001 precision.
The first click sets the center. The default mouse constraint is a Circle; hold Shift for an Ellipse with independent X/Y radii. Dynamic Width/Height represent overall diameters, and entering different values in both fields creates an Ellipse directly.
Uses three points: start, a point that defines the arc direction/shape, and end. After one Arc is completed, the Arc tool remains active so another Arc can be drawn immediately; it stays selected until you change/cancel the tool.
Place control points in sequence. After at least three points, snapping to and clicking the start closes the Spline. Enter or right click finishes an open Spline.
Click a location and enter the text content. Text-specific settings such as font, size, line spacing, alignment, Bold, and Italic are edited in Properties. Layer, Color, Linetype, Lineweight, and Transparency use the shared General Properties system. Double-click existing Text to select it and edit its content/settings in Properties.
Creates an outer frame and a specified count of vertical/horizontal internal Lines in one operation. The default outer frame is square; hold Shift for free Width/Height. Internal grid lines are independent Line objects.
Select geometry, choose a reference point, then a target point. Ghost preview, Point/Edge Snap, and selection Snap points remain active. Shift locks the target direction to 15° increments.
The toolbar Copy button uses the same Free Copy owner as the context menu: select one or more objects, choose a reference point, then place one or more copied targets with the existing Snap/ghost-preview workflow. Shift locks the reference-to-target direction to 15° increments.
Drag a small window across the segment to remove. Supported Line, Rectangle, Polyline, Spline, Circle, Arc, and compatible grouped geometry are trimmed using intersections.
Uses a small crossing window or click to erase touched targets. Selected objects can also be removed with Delete.
Select the Fillet or Chamfer tool, set Radius/Distance in Properties, then window the target corner. Supported straight/open-curve endpoint combinations are handled by the same corner system. If adjacent operations mathematically consume a complete Line, the zero-length remainder is removed so no point-like CNC/DXF entity remains.
Select Offset, set the distance in Properties, move the mouse to the desired side, and click. Circles/Arcs use exact radius logic. More complex paths can use a fitted polyline result. When an offset-generated fitted polyline is later Exploded, DXFDraw reconstructs compact Line/Arc geometry where possible instead of creating hundreds of tiny Line segments.
Select two compatible edge/curve references. DXFDraw calculates the minimum valid radius. Enter R in the popup, press Enter, choose a valid preview solution, and click to create the Arc. Right click can reopen the radius for the same references.
Dimension-specific settings such as font, precision, unit, arrowheads, text placement, fit, center marks, and visibility are edited in Properties. Layer, Color, Linetype, Linetype Scale, Lineweight, and Transparency use the same shared General Properties system as all other drawing objects.
Double-click existing dimension text to edit custom text. Enter inserts a new line, Ctrl+Enter accepts, and Esc cancels. Blue control points on selected dimensions can be dragged to edit geometry and text placement.
Select Hatch, choose the Pattern, Pattern Scale, and Pattern Angle in Properties, then click inside a closed region. The Pattern Scale slider moves in whole-number steps from 1–100 for quick adjustment; fractional values can still be typed manually in the numeric Scale field when needed. Hatch Layer, Color, Linetype, Lineweight, and Transparency use the shared General Properties system. DXFDraw computes closed faces from drawing segments and uses a small topology-only join tolerance to survive tiny Trim/Snap gaps without modifying the actual model geometry.
The Properties palette is docked on the left and is context-sensitive. With selected objects it edits their actual values; with supported active tools and no selection it exposes tool defaults. General CAD properties—Layer, Color, Linetype, Linetype Scale, Lineweight, and Transparency—have one shared owner for Lines, Circles, Arcs, Splines, Text, Hatch, and Dimensions. Object-specific sections appear only when relevant. Multi-selection shows shared values or Varies. Color and Linetype palettes close after a selection, when clicking elsewhere, or when pressing the same palette button a second time.
The Layer Properties Manager follows CAD Layer semantics: Current, On/Off, Freeze/Thaw, Lock, Name, Color, Linetype, Lineweight, Transparency, Plot/No Plot, New VP Freeze, and Description. Layer 0 and Defpoints are protected system Layers. New Layers inherit the Current Layer's properties, and Move Selection to Current Layer moves selected drawing objects, Text, Hatch, and Dimensions to the Current Layer. Locked Layers remain visible and available for snapping but cannot be edited; Frozen Layers are excluded from display, snap, and drawing extents. Layer Color uses the same advanced RGB/HEX palette as Properties, and Linetype opens the same visual line-sample palette; both popups close on selection, outside click, or a second click on the same button.
The context menu contains Select, Select All, Show/Hide Snap Points, Free Copy, Duplicate, Delete, free/directional Move, Move to Origin, directional Copy, rotation, Align, Distribute, Bring to Front/Send to Back, Group/Explode, Grid Divide, and Template editing. Grid Divide targets the closed objects/groups that were selected when the dialog opened. Straight mode creates horizontal/vertical divisions. Cross mode creates an X pattern per cell for Rectangles and clipped +45°/−45° families for other supported closed regions.
The Template Creator provides paper size, orientation, scale, date, zone marks, customer/title/part information, material, weight, revision, sheet, Drawn By / Checked By / Approved By, drawing number, company, notes, and logo. Preview is live. The generated sheet is one Group. Save Template stores the complete form and embedded Base64 logo in a .dxtpl preset; Load Template restores it. When Edit Template → Update Template is used after moving, proportional scaling, or rotating the sheet, the existing position, size, and rotation are preserved when paper size and orientation have not changed. Changing paper size/orientation rebuilds the sheet at the new standard size and applies Zoom Extents.
Select by Type can select drawing geometry, Dimensions, Text, Images, or all objects. When one or more Text objects (including group-child Text) are selected, the Text Editing section can apply common font, size, color, line spacing, alignment, Bold, and Italic settings.
DXFDraw includes a bottom CAD command line. For Line, Rectangle, Circle, Move, Copy, and Grid, command values are mirrored live into the existing Dynamic Input popup while the popup follows the active preview point and avoids covering the preview geometry. When a tool is launched from the Command Line, keyboard focus intentionally remains in the Command field; if you then move the mouse over the drawing while that tool has a Dynamic Input popup, focus transfers to the popup's first field so mouse and direct numeric entry can continue naturally. ELLIPSE / EL creates an exact ellipse from center then Width,Height. WINDOW / W selects top-level objects fully contained by two entered corner coordinates. MOVEORIGIN / MO moves the current selection bounds to 0,0. GRID continues after its two corners to request vertical and horizontal line counts with live preview. Click the Command field or start typing a letter while the canvas is idle, then press Enter. Command aliases are documented in the ? Command Reference. The old L/R/T/B/C/E alignment/distribution letter shortcuts are removed so command typing is unambiguous. Standard Ctrl-based application shortcuts remain, while normal input/textarea/select controls keep their native typing behavior. Space still ends an active drawing/dimension step while keeping the tool ready and can repeat the last tool when Select is idle.
? Help at the lower-right opens this full User Guide. The ? button at the right end of the Command Line opens Commands & Essential Keys, including the live command list and keyboard/mouse reference. Both reference windows provide a Close control at the top as well as the existing Close button at the bottom, so you do not need to scroll to the end of a long page before closing it.
| Command / Alias | Action |
|---|
| Key / Combination | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+P | Opens the DXFDraw print workflow. Prints only the selection when objects are selected; otherwise prints all visible drawing objects. |
| Ctrl+S | Saves the active drawing as an ADN project file. |
| Ctrl+N | Creates a new empty drawing tab. |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo. |
| Ctrl+Y | Redo. |
| Ctrl+C | Copies selected objects to the internal clipboard, including layer references. |
| Ctrl+V | Pastes clipboard objects into the active drawing and creates compatible layers when required. |
| Esc | From the canvas/normal UI, cancels the active drawing step and returns to Select; if no operation is active in Select, clears the selection. Normal form inputs keep their native Esc behavior, while dynamic input, Tangent Arc radius, and dimension-text editors handle Esc locally. |
| Delete | Deletes selected objects. If group-child Text objects are selected, only those children are removed without exploding the group. |
| Ctrl + click | Adds or removes Text inside a Group from child-level multi-selection without exploding the Group. |
| Ctrl + drag | Dragging one selected group-child Text while Ctrl is held moves all selected child Text objects together. |
| Shift/Ctrl + object click | Adds or removes a top-level object from the current selection. Ctrl+click on group-child Text uses child selection first. |
| Shift/Ctrl + window selection | Adds the window selection to the current selection instead of replacing it. |
| Shift/Ctrl + Objects-list click | Adds or removes the clicked top-level object from the current selection. |
| Space | If a drawing/dimension step is active, the first press ends that step but keeps the current tool active. In Select with an empty selection, Space repeats the last tool-panel command. When no command can be repeated, holding Space and dragging with the left mouse button pans the view. |
| Middle-mouse drag | Pans the view with any tool. |
| Mouse wheel | Zooms around the world point under the cursor. |
| Shift · Line | Locks the line direction to 15° increments. With Angle Lock enabled, the normal lock is 45°; Shift uses 15° increments. Press Shift again while the temporary line lock is active to release it. |
| Shift · Rectangle | Releases the default square constraint and allows free Width/Height rectangle drawing. |
| Shift · Circle | Releases the default circle constraint and draws an ellipse with independent X/Y radii. |
| Shift · Grid | Releases the default equal Width/Height outer boundary and allows a free rectangular grid. |
| Shift · selection drag | Locks free selection movement to the dominant X or Y axis. |
| Shift · rotation handle | Locks mouse rotation to 15° increments. |
| Shift · Move / Free Copy | Locks the reference-to-target direction to 15° increments. |
| Mouse move · Command tool | When a Command-launched Line, Rectangle, Circle, Grid, Move, or Copy already has a Dynamic Input popup, moving the mouse over the drawing transfers focus from the Command field to the popup's first input for direct numeric entry. |
| ↑ / ↓ · Command | Moves through the relevance-ranked command suggestion list while typing; when no suggestions are open, browses command history. |
| Tab · Command | Completes the highlighted command suggestion without running it; Enter runs the highlighted suggestion. |
| Tab | Moves to and selects the next dynamic input field for Line, Rectangle, Circle, Grid, and similar mouse-driven tools. |
| Shift+Tab | Moves to the previous dynamic input field. |
| Enter | Accepts the active dynamic value. For Line, Angle can advance to Length and Length commits the segment. For Spline, Enter finishes an open spline after at least two points. |
| Right click | When a drawing/dimension step is active, the first right click ends the current step but keeps the tool active. With no active step, the next right click opens the context menu. |
| Ctrl+Enter | Accepts Dimension/Leader text and closes the text editor. |
| Enter · dimension text | Inserts a real new line in Dimension/Leader text. |
| Esc · dimension text | Cancels dimension-text editing. |
| Enter · Tangent Arc R | Accepts the Tangent Arc radius and prepares a valid arc candidate. |
| Esc · Tangent Arc R | Cancels the Tangent Arc operation. |
| Right click · Tangent Arc | With two references selected, reopens the radius input for the same references; with only the first reference selected, cancels the operation. |
| Enter · Width/Height | Applies the value entered in the quick Width/Height field to the selected compatible object or drawing geometry. |
| Enter · Rotation Angle | Applies a plain numeric rotation immediately. For a math expression, the first Enter evaluates the expression and the next Enter applies the rotation. |