Selection & Editing

Selecting and editing objects on the canvas is a key part of McKinley’s functionality.

The Select tool

All of the following require the Select tool (the arrow) to be active.

Click on an object to select it. If the object has children (e.g. you have a Group which itself contains other objects), your click will select the outermost object, e.g. the group itself in this example.
Shift click to add or remove objects from the current selection. If you shift click on an object that is not currently selected, then it is added to the selection, and vice versa.
Drag a box around multiple objects, starting from an empty area on the canvas, to select objects within the box.
Note that locked objects (or objects on locked layers) cannot be selected.

Other methods of selection

Edit -> Select All and Deselect All to select everything on the canvas, or deselect everything.
Invert Selection changes the selection to whatever was not selected before.
Select All On Layer selects the objects on the current layer.
Select Same lets you choose Fill, Stroke, or Stroke Width. Based on the object you have selected, all objects that share that parameter will be selected.

Duplicating

Edit -> Duplicate (⌘D) makes a copy of the selection, slightly offset from the original.
Option-drag an object to drag out a copy, leaving the original where it was. This works inside groups too.
Repeat your last move or rotation on the current selection with Edit -> Transform Again (⇧⌘D). If that move made a copy (a Duplicate or an Option-drag), Transform Again makes another copy too, so you can use it to build a row of evenly spaced copies.

Cut, copy and paste

To paste an object in the middle of the canvas, choose Edit -> Paste (⌘V).
Paste in Place (⇧⌘V) puts the pasted objects in the same position they were copied from.
Paste in Front (⌘F) and Paste Behind (⌘B) also keep the original position, and put the pasted objects directly in front of (or behind) the selected objects. If nothing is selected, they go at the very front or back.

To/from other apps

You can copy objects from McKinley into any app that will accept SVG or PDF.
Likewise, you can paste SVG or PDF into McKinley, to bring vector data in.
Pasting text into McKinley creates a text object.
Pasting an image will place the image on the canvas, to use as a reference. This is handy for tracing, but note that reference images are not included when exporting an SF Symbol.

Pasting into a path

If you are inside a path’s editing scope, pasting objects copied from McKinley adds them to that path as new subpaths. Shapes such as rectangles and ellipses are converted to paths first.

Copying styles

Copy an object’s style with Edit -> Copy Style (⌥⌘C). This copies the fill, stroke and knockout of the selected shape or text object. You need exactly one object selected.
Paste the style onto every selected shape or text object with Edit -> Paste Style (⌥⌘V).

Styles use their own clipboard, so copying one won’t replace what’s on your normal clipboard.

Locking and hiding objects

Lock an object with Arrange -> Lock Object (⌘2) to stop it being selected on the canvas. It is still drawn and still exported. Unlock All (⌥⌘2) unlocks everything, and selects it.
Hide an object with Arrange -> Hide Object (⌘3). A hidden object is not drawn, can’t be selected, and is not exported. Hiding a group hides everything in it. Show All (⌥⌘3) shows everything again, and selects it.
You can also use the padlock and eye buttons on a row in the Layers palette, to lock or hide an object, group, or a whole layer.

Drawing attributes

New shapes get the same fill and stroke as the last shape you selected or edited.
Set the fill and stroke for the next shape by changing the fill/stroke colour while nothing is selected, either in the inspector or with the paint wells at the bottom of the Tools palette.
Swap the fill and stroke by clicking the arrow by the paint wells in the tool palette, or pressing ⇧X.

Renaming

Rename the selected object with Edit -> Rename (⌘R). This opens the Layers palette and starts editing the name. If nothing is selected, it renames the current layer instead.

Names on layers or objects are purely for your organisational use, and don’t affect the exported symbol.