A zoom tool and more in drawings

In a visual application like Google drawings, we know the details count, which is why we’re excited to announce another batch of features and shortcuts that will help you refine your drawings. Create a drawing to check them out.

Zoom improvements
We’ve added several new and simple ways to zoom in and out within a drawing: a zoom tool on the toolbar; the ability to draw a rectangle around an area to zoom; zoom levels to the View menu; and keyboard shortcuts to zoom in (Ctrl Shift → or Cmd Shift → on a Mac) and zoom out (Ctrl Shift ← or Cmd Shift ← on a Mac).


Pie and arc drawing improvements
Once you’ve selected the pie or arc shape, drag from the center point, then release to set the radius, move your mouse along the circumference to set the angle, then click when you’re done. Hint - you can hold shift during step 2 to constrain your arc to 15 degree increments.

You can also select Edit > Change Shape to toggle between a pie shape and arc shape.

Duplicate while rotating and resizing
You may already know that if you hold Control (or Command on a Mac) you can make a copy of an object as you drag it. Well, we have extended the Control/Command modifier to duplicate objects while you resize and rotate objects too, which makes it easy to make both concentric and radial diagrams.

Hint: duplicating while resizing works better if you resize from large to small, since each new object gets placed on top.


New line decoration controls
Now you can change the style of the cap used at the end of your lines from the default butt cap to use square caps or round caps (see below).

You can also change the appearance of line joins within your polylines and shapes from the default round join to use miter joins or bevel joins. These options are available via Format > Line decorations.

Let us know what you think in the forums.

Posted by: Chris Nokleberg, Software Engineer