Rulers and Guides

The rulers at the top and left show the canvas scale. Guides are reference lines that cross the entire design area and help align objects, center the embroidery, or check symmetry.

Guides are editing aids: they are not part of the exported design.

Show and lock

Icon	Control	Shortcut	Effect
	Show rulers	Ctrl+R	Shows or hides the rulers.
	Show guides	Ctrl+Alt+U	Shows or hides the guides.
	Lock guides	Ctrl+L	Prevents creating, moving, and deleting guides.

You can also lock or unlock the guides with the lock button in the top-right corner of the rulers.

To create or edit guides, they must be visible and unlocked.

Create a guide

1. Check that Show guides is on and that the guides are not locked.
2. Place the cursor over the appropriate ruler:
   • Top ruler → creates a horizontal guide.
   • Left ruler → creates a vertical guide.
3. Drag from the ruler onto the canvas. A preview line follows the cursor.
4. Release at the desired position. The guide is set.

You do not need to activate any tool: you can create guides with the Select tool or while drawing.

tip

To center a design, create one horizontal guide and one vertical guide near the center of the hoop. Turn on Snap to guides and move the objects until they snap into place.

Move or edit a guide

1. Hold Ctrl and place the cursor over the guide. The cursor changes to indicate that it can be dragged.
2. With Ctrl held down, drag the guide to its new position.
3. Release to set it.

Guides do not have a numeric position field: they are adjusted by dragging. Use zoom to place them more precisely.

Delete guides

Delete one guide

1. Hold Ctrl and drag the guide.
2. Take it back to its source ruler: the top ruler for horizontal guides or the left ruler for vertical ones.
3. Release over the ruler. The guide is deleted.

Delete all guides

1. Open the Canvas Settings.
2. Under Rulers and guides, click Clear all guides.
3. The button changes to Confirm delete for 3 seconds. Click again to confirm.

Clear all guides remains available even when guides are locked; locking affects creating, moving, and deleting them one at a time with the mouse.

Change the color

1. Open the Canvas Settings.
2. Under Rulers and guides, find Guide color.
3. Choose one of the six swatches: blue, red, green, amber, gray, or lime.

The color is global: it is applied to all guides instantly. Blue is the default.

Snap objects to guides

The Snap to guides option is on by default. When moving, drawing, or editing nodes, the cursor adheres to the nearest guide.

• Turn it off if you need to place an object right next to a guide without snapping to it.
• Grid snapping is independent and is controlled in the same section of the dialog.

Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Show/hide rulers	Ctrl+R
Show/hide guides	Ctrl+Alt+U
Lock/unlock guides	Ctrl+L
Move or delete a guide	Ctrl + drag

Best practices

• Lock guides once they are in place so they are not moved by accident.
• Use one horizontal guide and one vertical guide to mark the center of the hoop.
• Change the guide color if the guides are hard to distinguish from the artwork or the grid.
• Hide the guides (Ctrl+Alt+U) to review the preview without distractions; the same shortcut shows them again.