Hi all I am new here. I've been using Inkscape for a week now and I love it. Just one problem though, when I save in SVG and go back to work on the graphic the erase tool does not seem to be working properly. It leaves lines (it could be erasing the image) on the file that has been saved. What is the best way to save a graphic so I can pick up right where I left off, so all the tools work as they did before the file was saved?

I just have one more quick question: What is the best way to draw a circle? I started by using the ellipses tool to make a sphere I did not like how the erase tool worked on the circle outline so I was thinking of tracing the circle and then use nodes to shape it like the circle?

Welcome mike2105!

So you're saying that when you open an existing SVG file, that the Erase tool doesn't work, but that it leaves lines? Are they red lines? That's a normal part of using the Erase tool. After you release the mouse, the red line should disappear. If you're erasing a lot of stuff, it might take a couple of seconds before the line disappears, along with the content that you erased. If they're not disappearing, could you show us a screenshot?

I have had an instance or 2 where the red line didn't go away until I selected another tool.

The best way to draw a circle, is to use the Ellipse tool, and hold Ctrl while you drag the mouse. If you then need it to be a path, use Path menu > Object to path. Also, please note the info in my signature for some excellent instructional material.

EDIT
Interesting, I can't get the Eraser tool to work at all on an existing image. It only works on newly drawn objects. Maybe that's by design, but that's not indicated in the Guide. It does say that the Cut Out mode doesn't work on raster images or on Inkscape Groups. But I can't get it to work on an existing image at all. It doesn't leave lines behind. It does draw the red line, but doesn't erase anything. Maybe there is a bug, but I can't find anything in the bug tracker (although I've never had much luck searching there).

Try selecting some objects before switching to the eraser tool - I have found that this sometimes wakes it up.

Selecting doesn't fix it for me (Inkscape 0.48, Windows 7, 64-bit).

Here are some examples of what I'm having an issue with. The circle is with no fill but it still leaves lines, that is why I was trying to come up with the best way to draw a circle I was thinking the drawn lines would erase cleaner.

The second is a saved SVG file.

Ok, in your first file (Erase tool.svg) that's normal behavior. And drawing an elliptical path would be no different. I think you may be thinking from a raster graphics perspective, because that's how you would erase lines in a raster graphics program. But vector graphics is entirely different. In Inkscape, the erase tool actually draws a new path and subtracts it from whatever you're erasing (in Cut-Out Mode).

Now your 2nd file, I'm not sure what happened there. It looks like you may have Filled the path made by the erase tool....which I'm not sure how that could even happen.... There's another thing that bugs me about that file, which I'm not sure if you can explain. The large black ellipse there is grouped with another smaller ellipse (with no stroke or fill). After I ungroup them, and select just the black ellipse, it says it's a path with 2 nodes. But if I select it with the Node tool, it appears to have 16 nodes. So that's a little strange.

Plus, I still can't get the Eraser tool to work on some saved files! Actually I think we may have stumbled upon a bug. On your 2nd file (erase tool 2.svg) I cannot erase from any objects, if the object is inside the page border. If I moved an object outside the page border, erase works perfectly. On other files, I can't erase at all. And I don't know what to look for, to troubleshoot.

~suv, do you know anything about Eraser tool bugs? I searched Launchpad, and didn't find anything similar. But then I don't always know the right vocabulary. If you haven't heard anything about this, let me know, and I'll start a new topic on this, along with some sample files.

Well, aside from all this, it sounds like you still haven't figured out how to do what you want. If you could explain that, we'd be glad to give you some suggestions. Because there probably is another way to do what you're trying to do with the Erase tool. Or is all this just experimenting?