Hello all. The project that I work on with Inkscape ends up having different vertical sizes per project. I try to choose a size wisely when I begin but I never get it exactly perfect. The problem comes up when I need to change the size of the canvas. In version .47 of Inkscape it adds the extra space to the top of the canvas. In version .46 it added it to the bottom which is where I need it otherwise I have to select everything and move it up and down and when I'm dealing with really large images this becomes tedious and difficult. Anyway, is there a setting I'm missing somewhere or is there an easy change I can make to the source (I compile mine from scratch anyway)?

Thanks,
Dave

Um, I don't know about the source, or any coding or scripting options (in 0.47, there is a new Scripting tab in Document Properties, although I couldn't begin to know how to use it).

But I do know about Document Properties > Page tab > Fit page to selection. I use it all the time. It fits your page to your image precisely. I usually like a few pixels...kind of buffer, I guess. So after I click Fit page to selection, and with a huge image, you'll have to wait a few seconds, but after I see the new values in the Width and Height, I add 10 to each, b4 I close the dialog. Then while the entire image is still selected (you could use Select all in all layers, to avoid trying to drag around the huge image) I just change the 0.00 in both the X and Y fields on the tool control bar, to 5.00. This gives me a 5 pixel buffer around the image. It's just an idiosyncracy, I usually don't like my image contacting the border of where ever I end up putting it.

Anyway, Fit page to selection might work for you?

Thanks for the suggestion. The problem for me is that the width is set and has to be 540px every time regardless of the height of the image. Also, I copy and paste a lot and use the border to cut off parts of objects so even if I could get the height pretty close the width would be a huge nightmare using this method.

It's such an odd thing to change from one version (.46) to another (.47) which makes me wonder about the rationale behind it and which one most people find the more useful. Oh well, I'll keep hacking away.

create a rectangle that is the dimensions you want your canvas to be. Either group everything in the image and use the rectangle to clip it, or simply position the rectangle such that you have your image arranged as you'd like on the canvas and then select the rectangle and do as Bryn suggests.

Hey llogg, that's a very clever idea! If it works the way I'm imaging it then it will actually give me finer control over the vertical size than I was getting by tweaking the size in the document properties dialog. Thank you very much, the next part of my project comes up Wednesday so I'll see how it works then.