Draw (software)

Draw (software). LibreOffice Draw is a free and open-source vector graphics editor and diagramming tool included as part of the LibreOffice office suite, developed by The Document Foundation. It is designed for creating technical drawings, flowcharts, organizational charts, network diagrams, and general illustrations, providing a versatile alternative to proprietary software. The application is cross-platform, running on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, and is released under the Mozilla Public License.

Overview

As a core component of the LibreOffice suite, Draw integrates seamlessly with other applications like LibreOffice Writer, LibreOffice Calc, and LibreOffice Impress for embedding and editing graphics. Its primary function is the creation and manipulation of vector-based artwork, which allows for scalable images without loss of quality, distinguishing it from raster-based painting programs. The software is widely used in educational, business, and technical environments for producing diagrams, posters, and simple CAD-style drawings. Its development is guided by the global community of contributors to The Document Foundation, ensuring continuous improvement and adaptation to user needs.

Features

Draw offers a comprehensive set of tools for object creation, including geometric shapes, connectors for flowcharts, curves, and text art. It supports advanced features such as layering, styles and formatting management, grids and snap lines for precision alignment, and 3D object creation and rotation. The application includes powerful Boolean operations (union, intersect, subtract) for combining shapes and a Gallery of predefined clipart and symbols. Furthermore, it provides dimensioning tools for technical drawings and can export directly to PDF format, including creating interactive forms.

File formats

The native file format for Draw documents is the OpenDocument standard (`.odg` extension), an ISO/IEC standard promoting interoperability. It maintains strong compatibility with the legacy StarOffice and OpenOffice.org Draw formats. For import, it supports a wide range of formats including Microsoft Visio (`.vsd`, `.vdx`), SVG, WMF, EMF, and common raster formats like JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Primary export formats include PDF, SVG, EPS, and the aforementioned raster formats, facilitating sharing with users of other software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW.

History

Draw originated as part of StarOffice, a suite acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999. When Sun open-sourced the code to create OpenOffice.org in 2000, Draw was included as a core module. Following Oracle Corporation's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010, concerns over the project's stewardship led key contributors to form The Document Foundation and fork the project as LibreOffice in 2011, with Draw continuing as an integral component. Since the fork, its development has diverged significantly, with major enhancements in UI modernization, performance, and format support driven by the LibreOffice community, independent of the Apache OpenOffice project.

See also

* LibreOffice * Inkscape * Vector graphics editor * OpenDocument * Diagramming software

Category:LibreOffice Category:Vector graphics editors Category:Free diagramming software Category:Free software programmed in C++