Fill Styles

Fills control the interior of vector shapes (rectangles, circles, polygons, paths, and other shapes drawn with the Draw tools). A shape's look is built from a stack of style components — fills, strokes, and effects — shown in the Inspector.

For notation symbols, colours come from the symbol's colour scheme instead.

Editing a Fill

  1. Select a vector shape
  2. Open the Inspector's Style tab
  3. In the Style section, click the Colour Fill component in the Style Components list
  4. The fill controls appear below, with three tabs: Solid, Gradient, and Pattern

Solid

Click the colour well and choose a colour. The colour picker's opacity slider sets how transparent the fill is.

Gradient

The Gradient tab creates a linear gradient:

  • Gradient bar — drag the colour stops to change where each colour sits, and click a stop to change its colour
  • Angle — turn the dial or type a value to set the gradient's direction
  • Edit on Canvas — drag the gradient's handles directly on the shape; click Done when finished

Radial gradients can't be created from the Inspector. Shapes that already have a radial gradient (for example from a template or an AI assistant) keep it.

Pattern

The Pattern tab fills the shape with a tiled image:

  • Paste Pattern Image — use an image from the clipboard
  • Image from File... — choose an image file

Removing a Fill

Uncheck the Colour Fill component's checkbox in the Style Components list, or set the fill colour's opacity to 0.

Adding More Fills

Click + (Add Style Component) and choose from the FILLS group to stack extra fills: Colour Fill, Zig-Zag Fill, Pattern Fill, or Hatch.

Shadows on Fills

A Colour Fill can also carry a Shadow and an Inner Shadow. See Shadows & Effects.

Colour Palette Chips

The floating shape toolbar shows your document colours as quick colour chips, so you can fill a shape with a palette colour in one click.

Tips

  • Subtle gradients (colours close in value) look more professional than strong contrasts
  • Lighter top → darker bottom suggests overhead lighting and adds depth
  • Ensure contrast between text and the fill behind it
  • Don't rely on colour alone to convey meaning — add text labels too