Changing the line width (thickness)

To change the line thickness or the outline thickness of a shape, first select the object or objects:

Type a new line width into the text box on the standard control bar or choose the default line thickness from the menu.

Or position the mouse pointer over the edge of a line or shape, hold down Ctrl + Shift and use your mouse wheel to rapidly adjust the outline width. This works whether or not the line/shape is selected.

Line thickness is traditionally measured in points, abbreviated to pt. 1 point is 1/72^nd of an inch (about 0.3mm), which is slightly less than the thickness of one screen pixel when viewed at 100% zoom.

You can enter the thickness value in any unit, and Xara will convert it to the correct number of Points. E.g. you can enter 0.5cm, and you will get a line half a centimeter thick, but it will show just over 14pt in the line width field.

If you have no object selected and you change the line thickness value, this changes the default for all new lines.

Note: A zero width line is a special case, and should not normally be used. This draws a line one device-pixel wide. The actual size will therefore depend on the device the drawing is displayed on. On a monitor screen one pixel is clearly visible and is never shown anti-aliased. On devices such as printers and particularly on image setters, which have a much higher resolution, the line is almost invisible (zero width lines in imported files are converted to 0.25pt).