Draw Toolbar

The Draw Toolbar is at the top of the Draw Page and contains several tools and features to help you easily work with your project.

The toolbar contains the following options:

• Edit the label of the currently selected item.
• Align multiple selected items. Learn more here.
• Lock the currently selected item from further edits (and unlock it).
• Remove the currently selected item from the drawing.
• Layer dropdown to view the active layer when nothing is selected, or to view the selected item’s layer when an item is selected. You can change the active layer and the current selection’s layer from this dropdown. Learn more about layers here.
• Add layer button to quickly add a new layer to your drawing.
• Undo and redo recent changes. Learn more here.
• Toggle pan mode on and off.
• Zoom in and out of the drawing.
• Zoom to fit the drawing.
• Draw a Gear Group in the drawing. Learn more here.
• Draw a Text Box in the drawing. Learn more here.
• Toggle Node Edit Mode for editing connection nodes. Learn more here.
• Print the drawing to a PDF.
• Export the drawing to JPG, PNG, and Pro users can export SVG.
• Change the grid size.
• Toggle the grid on and off.
• Toggle the snap lines on and off.
• Enable or disable the Smart Routing feature for connections. Learn more here.

And finally, it displays the name of the selected item, or the total count when multiple items are selected.

Edit Label

By clicking this button with a selected gear item, you will be presented with a dialog to edit the label of the gear item.

When multiple items are selected, clicking this button opens a Bulk Edit Dialog that allows you to edit all selected items’ labels at once, with optional auto-numbering. BETA APP

Align Items BETA APP

When multiple items are selected, the Align Items button opens the Alignment Menu to align or distribute the selected items.

See Alignment and Distribution for more information.

Lock/Unlock

By clicking this button with a selected item, you can toggle its lock state. When locked, the item cannot be modified or moved until unlocked. This applies to gear, text boxes, and gear groups (connections cannot be locked).

When multiple items are selected, this toggles the lock state for all selected items. If any selected items are locked, they will all be unlocked; otherwise, they will all be locked. BETA APP

Remove

The trash can icon removes the selected item from the drawing. For gear items, they will still be available in the My Gear Pane where you can fully remove them.

When multiple items are selected, this removes all selected items from the drawing. BETA APP

Caution

Actions from the Draw Toolbar always operate on the entire selection, even when using selection filtering from the Selection Toolbar.

Layers

The layer dropdown behavior changes based on what you have selected:

• Nothing selected: Shows the current active layer. New gear will be added to this layer.
• Single gear item: Shows the gear’s layer and allows you to change it.
• Single connection: Shows the connection’s layer and allows you to change it.
• Multiple items: Shows the layer if all selected items are on the same layer, or “Mixed” if they are on different layers. Selecting a layer applies it to all eligible items (gear and connections). Bulk layer changes require Local Mode. BETA APP

Note

Groups and text boxes do not have layers, so they are excluded from layer changes.

You can add a layer by clicking the + button. A colour and name will automatically be generated for the new layer, which can be edited from the Layer Manager.

Undo and Redo

Use the Undo and Redo buttons to step backward or forward through recent edits.

• Requires Local Mode to be enabled.
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl + Z (Undo), Ctrl + Y (Redo).
• For a timeline view and quick jumps, see Undo Stack (Pro feature).

Pan Mode

The Pan Mode button allows you to toggle pan mode on and off.

Pan Mode allows you to toggle pan mode on and off. When pan mode is active:

• The cursor changes to a grab cursor.
• You can click and drag anywhere on the drawing to pan around.
• You can still use the middle mouse button or Ctrl/Cmd+click for panning.
• Connection creation is disabled to prevent accidental connections while panning.

You can also toggle pan mode temporarily by holding the Space key. This provides a temporary pan mode - when you release the Space key, you’ll return to the default cursor mode.

Pan mode is also available from the View Menu for easy access.

Zooming

You can zoom in and out of the drawing by clicking the magnifying glass icons. You can also use your mouse wheel, or the Ctrl+= and Ctrl+- keyboard shortcuts.

You can zoom to fit the drawing by clicking the Zoom to Fit button or by pressing Z on your keyboard.

When zooming from the toolbar, the zoom will be centered on the drawing. To zoom in on a specific area, you can use the mouse wheel.

Gear Groups

Allows you to toggle Gear Group Drawing Mode on and off. To learn more about Gear Groups, see the Gear Groups page.

Text Boxes

Allows you to toggle Text Box Drawing Mode on and off. To learn more about Text Boxes, see the Text Boxes page.

Node Edit Mode BETA APP

Node Edit Mode provides a dedicated mode for editing connection nodes. When enabled via the toggle button in the Draw Toolbar, you can click directly on connections to add, move, or remove nodes without accidentally selecting other items.

To enable Node Edit Mode, click the Node Edit Mode button in the Draw Toolbar. The button will highlight and the cursor will change to a crosshair to indicate the mode is active. Click it again to disable the mode.

Printing and Exporting

GearConnect offers several options for printing and exporting your drawing:

• Print: Print the drawing to a PDF, and adds a title block to the bottom right of the drawing.
• Export: Export the drawing to a variety of formats, including JPG, PNG, and SVG (Pro feature).

Note

Printing will export with a white background. JPG and PNG will export the background to match your current theme (light or dark). SVG will export with a transparent background.

Grid Size

You can change the grid size by changing the number in the Grid Size input box. This must be a number between 1 and 99. The grid size is used when moving gear items around the drawing, including connections, labels, and snap lines.

You can toggle the grid on and off by clicking the Show Grid button.

Snap Lines

By default, snap lines are enabled to easily align gear items to other gear items. You can toggle snap lines on and off by clicking the Disable Snap Lines or Enable Snap Lines button.

Smart Routing

One of the unique features of GearConnect is the Smart Routing feature. In most drawing applications, you need to manually adjust connections and lines to avoid gear and obstacles. With Smart Routing, connections will automatically route around gear items and other obstacles.

There are times when smart routing cannot find a path, such as when gear items are too close together. In these times, the connection will fall back to a simple straight line. You can toggle Smart Routing on and off by clicking the Disable Smart Connection Routing or Enable Smart Connection Routing button in the Draw Toolbar.