Use the Line tool

The Line tool  lets you create straight lines with only two nodes (a start point and an end point).

Drawing a straight line

To draw a straight line

1. In the Toolbox, select the Line tool.

2. Place the pointer where you want the starting point of the line to be, drag, and release the mouse button where you want the end point to be.

   Tip

   Hold down the SHIFT key to constrain the line's angle to 45 degree increments.

The angle of the rotation depends on the value set in the Options dialog box.

To set the number of rotation steps

1. On the Edit menu, point to Options, and then click Units and Grids.

2. In the Units and Grids panel, under Arrangement, adjust the number of Rotation steps.

The line takes on both the current fill and stroke attributes, even though a straight line cannot actually display any fill.

A line is a regular Bezier path object. You can achieve the same effect by selecting the Pen tool, clicking once at the start point, and double-clicking at the end point.

Appending lines

To append a straight line to a current path

1. In the Toolbox, select the Line tool.

2. Place the pointer over the starting or ending point of another path, drag, and then release the mouse button. You can also drag with the Line tool and release the mouse button when the pointer is over the starting or ending point of another path.

If you do not want your lines to connect to already-existing paths, disable the Drawing tools append to path feature.

To disable Drawing tools append to path

1. On the Edit menu, point to Options, and then click Stroke.

2. In the Stroke panel, under Stroke, clear the Drawing tools append to path check box.

Alternatively, select the Line tool and, without objects selected on your page, in the Properties panel, in the Create Line category, clear the Append to Line check box.

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