Size

Dragging a handle is the quick way to size an element, and for most work it is the only way you need. When you want two boxes to match exactly, or a frame to be a precise size, the Size category in the element menu lets you type the numbers instead.

Right-click any element (or use the ⋯ button on its selection toolbar) and open Size.

Typing a width and height

The two boxes hold the element's width and height in canvas pixels at 100% zoom. That is the only unit the diagram has: if you are drawing to a scale of your own, say ten pixels per centimetre, the numbers here are still pixels and the scale is yours to keep track of.

Two things behave the way you would want but are worth knowing:

• The box you type in commits when you leave it, on Enter or by clicking away, and Escape puts back what was there. It does not resize as you type, so typing 120 does not briefly make the element 1px then 12px wide, and your undo history gets one step rather than three.
• The top-left corner stays put. Typing a width grows or shrinks the element to the right, so whatever edge you had lined up stays lined up. Resizing is a layout act, and the alignment you already have is the thing worth preserving.

Values are kept between 8 and 20000 pixels. Below that is not really a shape, and a stray extra digit should not produce something you cannot pan back from.

The boxes always show the element's current size, so they update when you drag a handle, undo, or let the lock carry the other dimension.

Lock aspect ratio

With Lock aspect ratio on, changing one dimension carries the other, so the element keeps its proportions. This is the same lock that applies while you drag a corner handle, so it means one thing everywhere.

Setting both boxes yourself still works while the lock is on. Typing two numbers is a clear statement of what you want, and the lock does not overrule it.

Reset aspect ratio

Reset aspect ratio returns a shape that has been stretched to its natural proportion, keeping roughly the same area, so a squashed circle becomes a circle again without becoming a different size.

It holds the centre rather than the top-left, because changing a proportion is not a layout act: holding an edge would make the shape drift sideways as it un-warps.

The button appears only for shapes that have a natural proportion to return to, which is the same set the Shape category offers to morph between.

What has a size

Size applies to boxed elements: shapes, text, notes, images, frames, tables, and the rest of the things that occupy a rectangle. Arrows have no width and height to type, so they have no Size category. See Arrows for how those are shaped instead.