10 Hidden Secrets In Inkscape That Will Improve Your Workflow

Inkscape is a capable open source alternative to commercial vector graphics applications like Illustrator and CorelDraw. It has a lot of features that make it shine, but many of Inkscape's most useful features are nestled in obscure areas. In this post I'll be sharing 10 of those hidden features and how they can improve your workflow once you're aware of them.

One of the benefits of having used Inkscape on a near full-time basis for the past 8 years is that I've become quite familiar with it. I've learned a lot of handy tricks and shortcuts that have saved me countless hours in the long run.


Intro song: "In Da Mood" by Combustibles, used with written permission

[finnflash]

I just wanna say thank you. During the long time that I've been following this channel, you've made me an Inkscape Pro! Learning my graphic design skills thru Inkscape even landed me to a job and a career in designing! Still, after all these years Inkscape offers some new things to learn. That's why I still keep following this channel and watch your awesome tutorials with great interest. Keep making videos, you're the best Inkscape teacher in the world of YouTube!

[BigYoshi]

0:43 1. Use Align & Distribute on nodes
1:09 2. Alt-clicking
1:41 3. Manipulating nodes that are part of things as if they were themselves objects
2:21 4. Selecting objects by fill and/or stroke
3:02 5. Custom templates
3:51 6. Batch export
4:23 7. Workarounds for Adobe Illustrator files
5:02 8. Patterns out of your objects
5:19 9. Rasterize an object
6:01 10. Angled guides

[jomenikia]

ive been using inkscape for almost 6 years and i actually never knew any of these. this video was really dang cool and very helpful

[jairokasso]

the feature to transform nodes as you do with objects got me speechless, i was wishing to be able to do that sort of thing all this time! now i am going to use it on my work, thanks a lot for this awesome tip!

[Abrahamic.Design]

How lucky are we that you are not only a talented designer, but also a generous teacher! Seriously, Nick. Thanks for teaching so well.

[ruudbremer]

I use Inkscape sometimes for reverse engineering on technical pdf drawings. Where i want to measure angles or lengths.
Using the ruler lines you can manually rotate the lines with hold the shift key and draging the line to its desired angle. Than you can read out the angle from the properties menu if you double click it.
Some of the features i knew. but the Alt selection methode was unknown to me, but will use that in the future. Thank you.

[andresmg]

Words can't describe how useful this video is. I've been using inkscape for a few years now and I only knew 3 of these. Thank you so much. Keep it up!

[ViratKohli-jjwj]

The most underrated youtuber in the world.

[KRXOVRmedia]

Your channel is the reason why I started using Inkscape along with GIMP. You have inspired me to work on developing content for the softwares as well. Thank you so much! If you haven't already, a similar video like this for GIMP would be cool too.

[ChristianSYLVOZ]

You can also change the angle of a guide around its origin by Shift left clicking while dragging it. +Ctrl for 15° increments.

[ballentphoto]

I used Illustrator many years ago then stopped and picking up designing again. Found your videos about Inkscape which did not exist when I started and wow what an on-ramp you have provided. Still learning the tool but I always look forward to your videos

[bustozoni]

Alt drag for selection, scaling nodes and select by similarity are amazing! thanks nick for that.

[AA-lqpu]

I just discovered that in the new Inkscape 1.0, when you would like to create a new template you just click, file, save template without having to navigate to a specific folder to save something as a template, so it is much easier now to save a template, yay!

[idowebwork]

Gotta love the hidden gems within Inkscape. Definitely can see many of these being used in my workflow here.

[andrefilgueiras]

This video is the best birthday present I received. Great tips Nick well done!!!

[wealthwithathena]

Just learned about InkScape last week. I knew a few of the shortcuts, but not most of them THANKS!!!

[PaulBHartzog]

I've watched several of your videos (I'm learning Inkscape) but this one really struck me as having very useful information that one wouldn't otherwise be able to find very easily (like select objects by Fill color, etc.). Thx.

[Kaycii.Austine]

Thanks Nick. I sure didn't know about this hidden features in inkscape and will be using them onwards.

[diji]

Thank you Nick! I feel like even though I could just learn everything there is to know about inkscape from your Youtube channel, you deserve the $ so I went ahead and bought the solo Inkscape course package.


People! You will not be disappointed! Great teacher!

[jzielinski]

Thank you Nick! <3 I didn't know majority of the stuff you showed