Sometimes when I create new paths with or and I have groups in my drawing, the newly formed paths will automatically adhere to an existing group. The group doesn't have to be selected for this to happen. Is this a bug or am I missing some setting that applies to groups?

The only solution to the problem that I've found is to ungroup the group that the paths adhere to, and regrouping it without the path. Saving the drawing and restarting Inkscape doesn't work.

Have you perhaps accidentally "entered" the group before drawing the line?

Keep an eye on the status bar at the bottom. There's a drop down list there for quickly changing layers. When you're "in" a group it will show something like "#g1234". There are (at least) four ways to exit a group:

* Select a different layer from the drop down
* Right-click on the canvas and select "Go to parent"
* Double-click outside the group (I usually double-click way outside the document boundary to ensure I don't accidentally enter another group)
* Select an object that's outside the group (this is also a quick way to change layers if you want your new object to be on the same layer as an existing one)

Having exited the group (and bear in mind that you could be nested within multiple levels of groups, so might need to exit more than one) you should be able to draw your line without it getting attached to the group.

If you've already drawn your line, you don't need to un- then re-group. Instead you can select the line(s) or other objects in question and cut them to the clipboard. Then exit the group, and use Edit > Paste In Place to put them back at the same coordinates in your drawing, but now outside of the group.

That's right on the money Xav. I didn't realize that you could add new objects to groups while in them, and it seemed so weird that it carried over to the save file. Seeing how entering groups is temporary, I would expect to exit all groups as I close the drawing.

Thanks a lot.

Xav wrote:There are (at least) four ways to exit a group

I'll add one, it's the one that I always use. When you're zoomed in you may not have a blank area of the canvas available but you can always "Ctrl-Backspace". Also useful when you are in nested groups, and you don't want to back all the way out, if you know what i mean.

Natural Reject wrote:That's right on the money Xav. I didn't realize that you could add new objects to groups while in them, and it seemed so weird that it carried over to the save file. Seeing how entering groups is temporary, I would expect to exit all groups as I close the drawing.

It can be really useful being able to add (and delete and edit) objects when you're inside a group. I often group all the elements in a single character or background and then clone the group to go in other panels within my comic. Then I can enter the group of the original object and edit away as much as I like, knowing that all the clones will look the same. That much is obvious enough, but sometimes I put a single element in a group - just an approximate path or a rectangle - as a placeholder; then I clone the group, and come back some time later to actually edit its contents - an approach that only works because I can add new objects to the group.

When you save, Inkscape tends to store your last editing state - your zoom level and position, which layers are visible, and so on. I guess the idea is that you can save a file then reopen it later and carry on drawing where you left off. The fact that you're inside a group makes more sense in that light - especially when you consider that layers and groups are essentially the same thing, so storing your position "in" a group is no different to storing your current layer (SVG has no concept of layers, so Inkscape simulates it with groups).

When I finish a comic and save the SVGZ version to put online my final steps are always: zoom to page; double-click on the background until I'm outside of all groups; explicitly set the current layer to our "Border". These steps ensure that someone downloading our files doesn't find themselves looking at a zoomed in view of whatever element I was last editing.

druban wrote:I'll add one, it's the one that I always use. When you're zoomed in you may not have a blank area of the canvas available but you can always "Ctrl-Backspace". Also useful when you are in nested groups, and you don't want to back all the way out, if you know what i mean.

Nice - I didn't know that one at all.