How can I make Page Margins visible in Draw?
In Writer, I can select: View / Boundaries
The menu item View > Display grid will show where the margins are.
You could instead make a coloured page background and then remove it before printing
Or you could create a new layer and place rectangles, the same size as the margins, in each corner. Lock the layer and set it to non printing. Make it a template
BlankPageWithMarginMarkers.odg (9.3 KB)
I am not sure why margins are important when objects can be placed anywhere on the page and text has to be within text boxes, not within margins. The only important margin is the printing margin which depends on the printer
I just filed bug tdf#165770 for this.
âDraw: Need ability show Page Margins (page boundaries)â
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=165770
Please CC yourself there, and vote for it.
That is only true for the top and left margins (see screenshot).
The grid is not in sync with the bottom and right margins. Therefore the tiny dots in the grid only approximately align with the margins there. Also, I want clearly visible lines and not some dots.
1 Like
Because I want to make sure I am placing my objects within the visual boundaries that I have defined.
The printing margins are never visible on the page, nor is the softwareâs interpretation and representation of the printer margins reliable.
That is why I also often use the page margins to approximate the printing margins. I want to see that my objects are within the printable space.
tdf#165770 confirmed by me.
with me:
Version: 25.2.1.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: d3abf4aee5fd705e4a92bba33a32f40bc4e56f49
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10 X86_64 (10.0 build 19045); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI: de-DE
Calc: CL threaded
1 Like
@Hrbrgr please donât confirm just based on âyes itâs impossibleâ. The question is - why should it be possible at all.
Then use guidelines. This is not a compelling reason to introduce margins. You define rectangular boundaries; someone else wants them in form of a star ⌠Draw has the features to do that, and margins are IMO not something we should do. In Writer, margins are part of a box model; and for Draw, this has no meaning.
Why have margins if they canât be made visible?
1 Like
Agree: we should drop the margins from the page properties in Draw.
1 Like
Yes, that would be correct!
Not correct at all. Draw is a capable environment to prepare both vector and raster graphics of any layout (e.g. 36" posters, or 3"x5" postcards). In that context margins (visible now by applying a background to margins) coupled with layout grid, which I find accurate, allows for the composition one needs.
The âAlign Objectsâ context menu controls (Left, Center, Right, Top, Middle, Bottom) do in fact respond relative to a page margins as set. So no we can not just drop margins for the sd module.
1 Like
This task can also be solved without margins, e.g. by positioning a rectangle.
In Writer, margins define the area used (automatically!) by the text flow. What specifically do margins do in Draw? The boundaries that you are talking about are just some guides, hints to a user, not something automatically defining anything, nor limiting anything, right? Guidelines are 100% suitable for the task.
1 Like
Only sort of, bcz methods delivered by margins give you the ability to perform alignment at an arbitrary distance from the page edge, methods to align relative to a draw shape ârectangleâ are not available.
Page margins in the sd module can currently be made visible with a temporary background area fill as noted, so strictly speaking ability to show them as a line is not neededâbut the margin definitions and methods for a sd page object are very much required.
2 Likes
Alignment is a good point. It should be mentioned in the bug.
Then you need to find a way to show the printable area! And you need to make sure it is accurate for every printer that might print that document!
Or⌠just simply provide the possibility show the margins on the page.
BTW: The âPositionâ of objects (F4) is defined by the margins. The Position X = 0.00 is right up against the left margin, and the Position Y = 0.00 is right up against the top margin - as it should be.
I use margins ALL the time when creating Draw documents, for the above and other reasons.
I was giving possible workarounds.
In my Draw document I made little squares in the corners on a non-printing layer to emulate the crop marks in your screenshot. I assumed you wanted those rather then the Border outline (Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Formatting Aids > Object Boundaries > Border Outline)
Until the bug is resolved the easiest way is to create a new layer, draw a rectangle starting very slightly outside the top left margin so the start will automatically begin at the margin and drag it down to the bottom right margin. Once again the end point will want to align itself with the margin. Set the fill to None and the lines to grey. Set the layer to Visible, Non printing, Locked. Save as template
LetterPageWithMargin.odg (9.2 KB)
As long as the standard for pages (printed or otherwise displayed) is rectangular, the âbox modelâ (setting the text document apart as a text entity, page by page) is equally (if not more) relevant for a graphical document.
Sorry, but donât you see a contradiction here? There is no âtext documentâ, when we are talking about Draw; thereâs even more no âpage by pageâ for the flowing text; and there is no text content for the page in Draw. For any element that can have text content, the box model applies.
1 Like