Thinking this is a bug - but figured I'd try here first.

So - I create a drawing with two objects - but I only want to print one of them

I select the object I want to print - then go to File / Print.

When the print dialog comes up - the option to set to print "Selected" is grayed out.

Running 0.48.1

Tried this on two systems - so I don't think it's unique to my install.

Thoughts? Bug? Am I doing this wrong?

Thanks,

-Rich

Hi Rich,

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Hhm, it's grayed for me too. Inkscape 0.48, Windows 7, 64-bit.
Do you know if Inkscape was ever able to print selections? I have no idea, but I do know that sometimes there are options in the software for features which don't yet exist.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable about printing from Inkscape will reply before too long

not sure if this was supported previously - I'm fairly new to inkscape (liking it so far)

I'm using it for laser cutting - so the materials / time cost of printing stuff I don't need is a bit higher than usual...

nothinglabs wrote:<snip>So - I create a drawing with two objects - but I only want to print one of them

I select the object I want to print - then go to File / Print.

When the print dialog comes up - the option to set to print "Selected" is grayed out.

Running 0.48.1</snip>

Hi Rich!

Yeah, the option is indeed greyed out. However. I have a thought.

You're using Inkscape as the medium for your direct printing. I suppose under normal circumstances that might not be a bad idea. But since you're "living in interesting times", things are not exactly normal.

If you review my tutorial on exporting parts of images, you'll notice there's an option I suggest a person leaves unchecked: "[ ] Hide all except selected".

My suggestion would be to follow that tutorial, select the objects you want printed, run the export feature, push the image to 300 dpi for a smooth printing experience , and turn that option on. Hiding all non-essential objects during an export may just be your solution.

Finally, load the exported PNG file into your favorite graphic software (such as GIMP, KolourPaint, Pinta Image Editor or some equivalent software if you have the misfortune of not using Linux) and print to your heart's content. Always do a "Print Preview" to ensure the size is as it should be. And, as they say, "Bob's your uncle".

I have another shockingly simple solution. It’s embarrassingly easy after all the blah blah I offered above, but here goes.

Let’s go with the idea that you’ve got two objects on screen: Rectangle and Ellipse.

You want to print the amazing rectangle while leaving the ellipse out of the picture (play on words intended), here are the steps:

1. Click the Rectangle in question.
2. Cut the object out of the document by one of many means:
   
   • Keyboard: Ctrl X or
   • From the menus: click Edit > Cut
3. Open the layers dialogue box:
   
   • Keyboard: Ctrl Shift L or
   • From the menus: click Layer > Layers...
4. In the Layers dialogue click the Create new layer button (mine looks like a pretty green plus sign, bottom left just above the word "Blend") and name it whatever you want: Rectangle would be appropriate for this example. Whether it is above or below the current layer is unimportant.
5. Your new layer is selected by default. So, paste your rectangle in using the convenient Paste In Place option:
   
   • Keyboard: Ctrl Shift V or
   • From the menus: Edit > Paste In Place
6. Your image should look exactly as it did when we started. So let’s hide our ellipse layer. Slide your mouse pointer back to your Layers dialogue and click the small "Eye" icon to the left of the original layer name. Hey presto: your ellipse has temporarily vanished from view.
7. File > Print and, as they say, "Bob’s your Uncle."

thanks for the suggestion - I've come up with another work around....

- select the objects I want to print
- hit "!" to inverse selection
- delete selected objects
- print
- undo delete

Sounds like I should file a feature request - can't think of any apps that don't have this functionality...

thanks for the help.

-Rich

In my print dialog I don't see a button for 'selected'. Not to be nitpicky, but are you referring to a "radio-selection button" (a dot, in other words) that says "selection"? This is for printing selected pages from a multipage document and since Inkscape does not do multipage this button will always be grayed out.

can't think of any apps that don't have this functionality...

Can you give us (me) an example? The only thing I can think of is that some apps have a "hide" command that can be applied to multiple objects at the same time. Inkscape's hide command is unfortunately buried in the object attributes dialog box and therefore can only be applied to one object at a time. However you can select all the objects you want to hide and group them, this will give you the ability to hide them all at once. There is a menu command for unhide all that is the only way to get back hidden objects. Unless you want to go into the xml and delete the display:none value in style for each object. or select the object in the xml and return to canvas and call up the attributes dialog.

Not to be nitpicky, but are you referring to a "radio-selection button" (a dot, in other words) that says "selection"? This is for printing selected pages from a multipage document and since Inkscape does not do multipage this button will always be grayed out.

yes - but that's not my understanding of the functionality. Most apps will print any selected objects (not pages) if that option is chosen.

I just confirmed have this behavior for the following apps:

CorelDraw X4
Open Office Draw
Google Chrome
FireFox

Thanks,

-Rich

Yeah, looking at it again, I think druban's right. That's not for printing selected objects. It's for selecting which pages you want to print. Inkscape doesn't support multiple pages (I don't think) which may be why it's grayed out. That said, every program I've looked at just now, also has that option grayed out (IE, OpenOffice Writer, Inkscape, GIMP). (also looked at IrfanView, but doesn't even have "Selection" option) Unfortunately, I don't have any of those you mentioned.

i can confirm that this software doesn't have the option to print just selection. i try to use it with an engraver and i must cut the outside of the object and i can't becouse the software doesn't know how to do this. when i had corel installed in adition to this software, the option to print just the selection was activated but that was becouse i had corel and yes, inkscape has cut the object fine. now, i didn't installed corel and i am left in the dust....

For making such prints, you can save the svg as a pdf, which you can set to show only the object with a specific id.
Then, if you want to print literally only that one selected object,
there are some ways to make the other parts disappear.

One simple way is to draw a white rectangle on top of the image, then put the object you want to print above it.
Another way, is to duplicate that object and put it on a new layer, then make the other layer(s) unvisible.
Other solution could be done by clipping as well.