Kivio identifies the stencil currently being edited by displaying six green rectangles on the corners and edges of a square around the stencil. Stencils shown in this manner are described as being selected. The green rectangles are known as handles. To change the currently selected stencil move the mouse pointer over the stencil you wish to select and press the left mouse button. To select all the stencils in the current document select Edit->Select All. To deselect all stencils select Edit->Select None.

To move a stencil to another position on the page. Move the mosue pointer over the stencil, note the pointer will change to a cross with four arrows. Hold down the left mouse button and move the stencil to the new position. Release the mouse button.

Move the mouse pointer over one of the handles and note the mouse pointer change. Hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse, the size of the stencil will be adjusted continuously as the mouse is moved. When you are happy with the new size release the mouse button.

If at any time you are unhappy with a change you have made to the document you can select Edit->Undo to revert the change. There is also an icon on the toolbar.

If you undo an action and decide that was a mistake select Edit->Redo restore the change. Kivio stores multiple actions to undo/redo several changes.

Note that stencils cannot currently be rotated.

Stencils can contain text to describe their function. To add text to a stencil move the mouse pointer over the stencil and double-click. A dialog box will appear prompting for some text. Enter some text and click OK, the text should be shown inside the stencil.

The font, size, alignment and style of the text can be adjusted by selecting Format->Text. Alternatively by using the buttons on the Format toolbar. The adjustments will only affect the currently selected stencil.

There are two ways to select multiple stencils in Kivio.

1. Click once inside the first stencil you wish to select. Hold down shift as you click inside subsequent stencils. All the stencils will be shown with handles around them. 2. Move the mouse pointer to a blank area of the document near the stencils you want to select. Hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse to the other side of the stencils you want to select, drawing a square around them. The square must completely emcompass the stencils for them to be selected.

Stencils can be filled with a solid color and the color of the outline can be changed. Select a stencil then select Format->Stencils and Connectors.

There is also a Set Background Color button on the Format toolbar. Clicking on the arrow to the right-hand side of this button will produce a drop-down color selector, clicking on the button itself will display a color palette allowing you to choose any color. A similar toolbar button exists to adjust the line color.

The width of a stencil's border can be adjusted by selecting Format->Stencils and Connectors or by using the Line Thickness spinbox on the Format toolbar. The line width can be entered in millimeters or increased/decreased using the arrows next to the text box.

Kivio's connector tool allows lines to be drawn between shapes. The lines remain connected to the shapes even when the shapes are moved to new positions on the page.

The Connector tool is available from the Tools toolbar, by default shown on the left-hand side of the window. Click on this tool to begin using it, the mouse pointer will change shape.

Notice that all stencils have little blue crosses around their edges. These crosses mark points where connectors can be attached.

To connect two stencils move to one of the connection points on the first stencil, hold down the left mouse button and drag a line to one of the connection points on the second stencil. The green square at the end of the line will change to red when it is over a connection point indicating that the line is attached to a stencil.

When you have finished using the connector tool click on the Arrow tool to regain normal selection functionality.

Various properties of the connector can be adjusted including line thickness and color, this is done in the same way as for stencils.

Connectors may also be labelled with text. To add text to a connector simply double click on it and enter the text In the dialog that appears. The text will be shown with a green handle next to it. Use this to modify the position of the text.

Arrowheads can be added to either end of a connector. Select the connector and then select Format->Arrowheads.

Limitations: Connectors do not currently reroute around stencils, you need to adjust them manually. Text is always displayed horizontally; rotated text is not currently possible.

Several stencils may be semi-permanently grouped together. Once this has been done any changes made to one stencil will affect the others in the group.

To make a group select the stencils and select Edit->Group Selected Stencils.

The procedure can be reversed by selecting a group of stencils and select Edit->Ungroup Selected Stencils.

Stencils can be positioned on top of one another, a stencil drawn on-top of another stencil will obscure the stencil underneath it. To adjust the drawing order select one of the stencils and select either Edit->Bring to Front or Edit->Send to Back.

Send to Back will cause the stencil to be obscured by any stencil which overlaps. Bring to Front will cause the stencil to obscure any stencil which overlaps it.

A stencil's properties may be “locked” to prevent accidental changes. To alter a stencil's protection using the Protection docker. This can be displayed by selecting View->Docker->Protection. Select the stencil or stencils you wish to protect and then tick the properties you want to protect on the protection docker.

The protections available are: width, height, aspect ratio, X position, Y position and deletion. Deletion prevents a stencil from being deleted from the document.

For accurately specifying the dimensions of a stencil use the Geometry docker. To display the docker select View->Docker->Stencil Geometry Panel. The panel contains four text boxes for specifying the horziontal and vertical position of the stencil and the width and height.

To adjust the zoom level select View->Zoom Level. This sub-menu contains a list of percentages from 33% to 500%, selecting one of these will adjust the magnifcation to show that percentage of the document.

There is also a list of zoom levels on the Edit toolbar, by default shown at the top of the screen.

A second method of controlling in the magnification is to use the Zoom tool. This is available on the left-hand tools menu. This tool can be used in two ways. Clicking on the document with the zoom tool active will increase the magnification. Holding down the shift key whilst clicking will decrease the magnication, i.e. zoom out.

Alternatively holding down the left mouse button and draging out a box, then releasing the mouse button will increase the magnification so that that portion of the document fills the available space.

The pan tool lets you move the document around adjusting the portion that is visible. Very useful when working at high magnifications where the entire document is not completely visible. The pan tool shares a button with the zoom tool on the Tools toolbar. Once activated the mouse pointer turns into a hand. To move the document move the mouse over the currently visible portion, hold down the left mouse button and drag.

The Bird's Eye docker provides a quick way of adjusting the zoom level and moving around the document. To enable it select View->Docker->Bird's Eye.

The docker has five buttons along the top, they are: Zoom In, Zoom Out,

A miniature representation of the document itself is shown underneath. A red rectangle indicates the portion that is currently visible. Clicking anywhere on this representation pans the view to that area. The rectangle can also be dragged.

At the bottom of the docker there is a slider for adjusting the zoom level and a box showing the current zoom level.

All dockers can have a handle on one edge which enables them to be moved around and positioned on any edge of the main view. The can also float anywhere on the screen. If not floating they shrink when not in use to remain unobtrusive, however, this behavior can be toggled by clicking on the icon that looks like a small pin. Next to this is a button marked with a cross that removes the docker.

It is possible to have multiple views of the same document displayed simultaneously.

Select New View from the View menu and a new Kivio window showing the same document will appear. This is very useful for multiple monitor set-ups.

The additional windows can be closed and Kivio will only prompt you to save the document when the last window is closed. All windows pertaining to a particular document can be closed simultaneously by selecting View->Close All Views

It is also possible to split the window into two or more portions which can be used to view two areas of a document at once. To split a window select View->Split View. The orientation of the split can be changed from horizontal to vertical using View->Splitter Orientation. To restore the window to its original state selecting View->Remove Split.

The View Manager allows you to store the current display settings, including zoom level and position. You can then adjust the view but revert back to the previous settings with a single mouse click. A number of different settings can be stored and given names for ease of reference.

To display the View Manager choose View->Docker->View Manager. The docker contains five buttons and a list of stored views.

The first button, Add Current View, stores the current display settings. Once the settings have been stored you can modify the display settings. To revert to any of the stored settings click on its name in the list.

By default Kivio labels the settings with the page number and the magnification level, to enter a more descriptive name click on the middle button, Rename Item, this lets you enter your own text.

The second button, Remove Item, removes the currently selected set of stored settings.

The final two buttons, Move Item Up and Move Item Down, allow the order of the settings in list to be adjusted.

The View menu contains options for toggling the display of: page borders, page margins, rulers, guides and the grid.

To add additional pages to a document select Page->Insert Page. The selector beneath the document view shows tabs for all the pages in the document that have not been hidden.

Unwanted pages can be removed by selecting Page->Remove Page.

The names given to each page can be adjusted by double-clicking on the page name on the page selector, a dialog box will appear allowing the name to be edited.

The order of the pages can be adjusted by dragging the tabs on the page selector bar.

If you have a lot of pages in a document and you do not want to see them all on the page selector you can hide pages by selecting Page->Hide Page. This will remove the currently selected page from the page selector bar.

To reveal a hidden page select Page->Show Page and choose the page you want to see from the list box.

To add a guide move the mouse pointer over either the horizontal or vertical ruler, depending on the type of guide you require. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the document and release the mouse button where you want to position the guide. As you drag the mouse the guide will move accordingly.

Once a guide is in place you can reposition it by moving the mouse over it, holding down the left mouse button and dragging. Release the mouse button when the guide is in its new position.

To hide guides select View->Show Guides, this toggles the visibility.

By default stencil edges are snapped to the nearest guide, to toggle this behavior select View->Snap Guides.

To adjust the current page's layers select View->Docker->Layer Manager. The Layer Manager docker allows layers to be created, deleted and renamed. It can also be used to adjust layer visibility, drawing order and select the current layer.

Kivio has the concept of the currently active layer which is the one affected by any editing actions. By default a page contains only one layer which is the active layer.

Using the layer docker you can add new layers by clicking the New Layer button, the first from the left. Layers can be deleted by clicking the second button, Remove Layer. Kivio numbers the layers consecutively, to rename a layer select it in the list and click Rename Layer.

Layers are drawn in the order they are listed. The drawing occurs from the top down so objects in the layer at the bottom of the list are drawn on top of objects in all the other layers. The order of the list can be changed by selecting a layer and using the Move Layer Up and Move Layer Down buttons to change its position.

Each layer is listed with four small icons next to its name. From left to right they represent: Visibility - shown as a small eye. Clicking on the icon will toggle the layer's visibility.

The Align tool rearranges a group of stencils so that they are aligned on one edge or on an invisible centerline. To use the tool select several stencils, then select Format->Align & Distribute.... If the stencils are arranged in a horizontal row you the choice of aligning along the top or bottom edges or the centerline. For stencils that are arranged in a vertical row the choice is left or right edge or the centerline.

The distribute tool arranges a group of stencils so that there is an even amount of spacing between each stencil.

First select the stencils you want to rearrange, then select Format->Align & Distribute... and click on the Distribute tab in the tabbed window that appears.

You can choose whether the items should be spaced so that there is equal spacing between two edges, for example, the distance between the lefthand edge of each stencil should be the same. Or, whether the gap between each item should be identical. Choose the Spacing option if you desire this.

The second choice is whether the spacing should use the entire extent of the page or just the extent of the selection. If the latter is chosen the stencils will not occupy any more space than they did originally.