Create and Open Files

Todo

Add link to the UI sections when done

After you launch Inkscape, you can either create a new document, open an existing document, or open a template.

Create a New Document

To create a new document, you can do one of the following:

  • From the Welcome Dialog: Click on the New Document button.

  • From an open Inkscape instance: Go to File ‣ New, or press the shortcut CtrlCmdN.

Todo

  • Add term tab in glossary

  • Add links to chapters

If you have one or more documents opened, the new document opens in a tab of the window you invoked the command in.

Tip

By default, a new document consists of a single A4 page. If you want to change the default document Inkscape creates, see Setting a Default Template.

Open an Existing Document

To open an existing document:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • From the Welcome Dialog: Double-click on the New Document button.

    • From an open Inkscape instance: Go to File ‣ Open…, or press the shortcut CtrlCmdO.

  2. Locate the folder where the file is stored.

  3. Click on a filename.

  4. Click on Open.

Tip

You can also open recent documents by double-clicking on an existing file in the Welcome dialog, or navigating to File ‣ Open Recent and selecting a file.

See also

There may be different dialogs that appear when you open files in different formats. For information about the file formats you can open and what the dialogs will show, see Supported File Formats.

Create a Document from a Template

To create a document from a template:

From the Welcome Dialog

  1. Navigate to one of the categories to the left of the Time to Draw tab.

  2. Single-click on one of the templates.

From an open Inkscape instance

  1. Go to File ‣ New from Template…

  2. Select a category in the left panel or search a template by typing in the search box.

  3. Double-click on a template, or select a template and click on Create from Template.

See also

To learn how to create and manage templates, see Templates.