Attributes Overview

Attributes are properties or characteristics of the objects
in your drawings. There are many types of attribute, the most common is color. When you drag a color from the Color Line onto an object in your drawing, you are giving it a new color attribute. With color there are two types of attribute, the fill color (the color filling the middle of the shape) and the line color (the color out the line or outline). You can apply any type of attribute to any type of object, but some objects will ignore some attributes. For example if you apply a font size to a rectangle. Some other examples of attributes are font size, line width (thickness) and transparency.

When you draw a new object, the attributes the new object uses are the current attributes
. For example, if the current attributes include a red fill color and a yellow line color, all the objects you draw will first appear filled with red with a yellow outline.

You can easily change the current attributes so all the new objects you draw have the same characteristics. To change the current attributes, change the attribute with no objects selected. For more information, see Setting the current attributes. Remember the current attributes for text are separate from those for other types of object.

You can set the program up so each new object uses the attributes from the previous object you changed. So for example if you draw a rectangle and fill it with green, the next object you draw will be green. To change the program in this way, choose Give New Objects Most Recent Attributes in the General Options (see General Options).

Saving default attributes by creating a template document

It is possible with Xara LX to create your own templates—a great time-saving measure. This way you can save any custom attributes into a template document so that whenever you use that template in the future all your preferred attribute settings are already in effect. Find out more about creating a template document.

Copying attributes from one object to another

You can copy attributes from one object
to another.

To apply an object's attributes to another object

1. Select the object that has the attributes you want to copy (Selecting objects).

2. Select Edit > Copy or press Ctrl-C.

3. Select the objects to apply the attributes to.

4. Choose the Edit > Paste Attributes. Or press Ctrl+Shift+A.

Tips

Paste Attributes only applies attributes which are identical on all objects on the clipboard. So for example if the clipboard contained objects with different fill colors, Paste Attributes would not affect the fill color of the selected objects when chosen.

You can set the current attributes
using this method. Just don't select any objects before you click Paste Attributes.

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Related Topics

Fill Tool

Transparency Tool

Color Line overview