I'm having a problem changing a path after putting text on it.

I create both the text and the path then use Text -> Put on Path afterwards I make the path invisible by setting Stoke Paint to 'No Paint'
My problem occurs when I select the now visible text and Shift-D whereupon I get the message "The object you are trying to select is not visible it is in <defs>

Any assistance with this problem would be greatly appreciated as I have searched for references to the message about the path moving to <defs> without any success.

I have read the relevant section of the excellent manual at
tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Path.html
where it talks about Cloning but then the Shift+D only points to the original text

I am using:
Inkscape 0.48.0 r9654
On Ununtu Lucid from the ppa
https://launchpad.net/~ricotz/+archive/ppa

From experimentation I think that the problem of the Path moving to <defs> occurs when I save my file.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Hhhmm....it's possible this has been changed in recent versions, but that the manual hasn't caught up yet. I'm not sure, but in any case, I can't speak to the <defs> thing. Until someone who knows more about it can reply, I thought I'd suggest trying to select it using the Tab key. With the Selection tool engaged, each time you press the Tab key, it selects the next object. In this case, it might be better to use Shift + Tab, which will select the previous object. If you've done a lot of drawing since creating the text on path, and especially if there are tens or hundreds of objects, this might not be very feasible. But I thought I'd mention it

Thank you Brynn,
I hadn't discovered "A Quick Guide to Inkscape", nor did I know about selecting with the Tab key (much appreciated advise but sorry to report it hasn't helped with my problem of paths getting lost in the <defs>) so I'm continuing to learn about the wonders of Inkscape.
BTW - while discussing the ability to select items I have found that the Alt Key click "to select under" doesn't seem to work? I'll do a search of the forum to see if I can work out what I am doing wrong there.

Found the solution to my ALT key not working for select under
Kerning ([alt]+[arrows]) not working on Ubuntu Linux

You can set that under System > Preferences > Windows.

- specifically change the 'Movement Key' option to Super Key

It might indeed be another case of the key assignment being different for Linux. I mean about your original problem, and maybe even my suggestion for the Tab key. Hopefully a Linux user will reply soon

condamine wrote:I create both the text and the path then use Text -> Put on Path afterwards I make the path invisible by setting Stoke Paint to 'No Paint'
My problem occurs when I select the now visible text and Shift-D whereupon I get the message "The object you are trying to select is not visible it is in <defs>

Any assistance with this problem would be greatly appreciated as I have searched for references to the message about the path moving to <defs> without any success.

Did you copy & paste the text (put on path) into a new document? Or cut & paste it within the same document? This will put the path into the <defs> section unless it was selected together with the text object.

To make the path editable again:

1. select the text object
2. open 'Edit > XML Editor…'
3. in the list in the left, expand the '<svg:text …>' item, and click on the '<svg:textPath …>' item below
4. in the upper right panel, remember the value of the 'xlink:href' attribute (it's the 'id' of the path the text was put on)
5. expand the '<defs>' section in the list on the left and search for an entry with that 'id'
6. select it and use the '<' 'v' '>' buttons at the top to move that path out of the defs ('<'), down ('v') and into the current layer (use '>' once it has been moved down just below the layer item '<svg:g id="layer1" …>')
7. now you can look up the path the text was put on again with 'Shift-D' and node-edit the thus selected path

You beaut suv,

~suv wrote:Did you copy & paste the text (put on path) into a new document? Or cut & paste it within the same document? This will put the path into the <defs> section unless it was selected together with the text object.

To be honest I'm not sure what I did, but yes I probably did copy and paste within the document as I often create things on the wrong layer, not finding the "Move to layer options...", until I was well into editing; initially I was cutting and pasting to change layers. I guess that's a common trap for us 'Noobs'

~suv wrote:To make the path editable again:

1. select the text object
2. open 'Edit > XML Editor…'
3. in the list in the left, expand the '<svg:text …>' item, and click on the '<svg:textPath …>' item below
4. in the upper right panel, remember the value of the 'xlink:href' attribute (it's the 'id' of the path the text was put on)
5. expand the '<defs>' section in the list on the left and search for an entry with that 'id'
6. select it and use the '<' 'v' '>' buttons at the top to move that path out of the defs ('<'), down ('v') and into the current layer (use '>' once it has been moved down just below the layer item '<svg:g id="layer1" …>')
7. now you can look up the path the text was put on again with 'Shift-D' and node-edit the thus selected path

I managed to work through your instructions; but initially had to load my document into a text editor with a find function as I was not very good a navigating the built in XML Editor eg: in step 3 'xlink:href' I didn't fully expand to find the reference - once I was familiar with the layout I found it OK - and discovered I could drag items around, rather than using the big "V"s. After a bit of experimentation I felt the "V" arrows did a better job of placing it eg: when moving down to the layer that the text was it the down arrow put my path at the bottom of the layer list.
Best bit of using the XML Editor: one can watch the magic in the drawing window!

THANK YOU!!