A keyword search and the Quick Start table of contents aren't helping and I have a feeling I have to read the entire manual which isn't the most user friendly way to learn.

I have a svg file with a bar code and a product description under it. I want to move the product description to the left and keep the bar code part where it is. Selecting and dragging moves everything together. How do I edit the way I want to?

Try the tutorials in the help menu... They should get you going.

Tip: watch the status bar info for clues, like if you have a group selected.

Bohan wrote:I have a svg file with a bar code and a product description under it. I want to move the product description to the left and keep the bar code part where it is. Selecting and dragging moves everything together. How do I edit the way I want to?

Most likely they are all grouped together. Select all and ungroup button several times.

Or try this manual:

http://write.flossmanuals.net/start-with-inkscape/

(it's not 100% ready yet, but should be good enough)

I guess I'll try the tutorials. The flossmanuals info basically gives the same information about the selector tool as the Inkscape manual. I think what I need to know is how to move part of an object. I tried ungroup and it didn't work. I Googled for the phrase inkscape "move part of an object" but so far I don't see any results about Inkscape.

Look into the node editing section, and read about grouping.

The Quick Start chapter is meant to be worked through from start to finish, with the tutorials building in difficulty. Those are the kind of tutorials which produce a particular drawing in the end.

Help menu > Tutorials are different. The first 3 (Basic, Shapes, and Advanced) are meant to introduce new users to the basic features. (And yes, even though one is named advanced, it really should have a different name (imo). Perhaps it's considered advanced in that it might be best to read it 3rd, with Basic and Shapes being the first 2??) The one named Advanced introduces you to paths, creating paths and editing them. Anyway, these tutorials teach about techniques, and do no produce a drawing when you're finished.

The manual which Moini gave a link to, also is meant to be worked from start to finish. It teaches techniques, rather than producing a drawing in the end, and starts with the simplest things, and moves on to more complicated things. If you happened to know the terminology, you could skip around, but that's not how it's meant to be used.

If ungrouping doesn't work, you might need to ungroup more than once, and maybe even several times. Keep an eye on the status bar as you click, and when the status bar says "No groups to ungroup" it means you have all the grouped ungrouped.

If you still can't move only part of the drawing, try selecting the object, then Path menu > Break Apart. After that, deselect everything, and now you should be able to select your individual object.

If that doesn't work (we are only guessing, after all) please share your SVG file with us, and we can get to the bottom of the problem very fast.

I found the problem. Path > Break apart worked but only after I followed instructions in a YouTube video to convert it to a vector image. It was saved as an SVG file but it apparently wasn't vector. So now I can split it up the proper way.

I solved the problem the improper way yesterday by enlarging the PDF version of bar code in Adobe reader, taking a snapshot, pasting into MS Paint, editing the bitmap image the way I wanted, then converting it to vector in Inkscape and scaling it down. That was good enough actually.

How many scans to choose when there are over 1000 shades of gray was an issue. Eight worked well enough.

Bohan wrote:How many scans to choose when there are over 1000 shades of gray was an issue. Eight worked well enough.

Actually, first I chose the actual number of shades and it took a while to process and came out too bold, then I think I tried 8 and it looked good except the background was light gray and not white. Then I think I chose about 20 and it was good...or I might have increased the contrast or something to keep the white white.