Adjust document and board settings

Written by:  Shanna S
Last updated:  

Lucid provides a flexible workspace with many adjustable document settings in Lucidchart and Lucidspark. Read this article for instructions on how to adjust various board, document, and page settings.

Document settings menu

To access the document settings menu in Lucidchart, follow these steps:

  1. Open more-menu-icon the More menu from the top-left of the canvas.
  2. Hover your cursor over “File”.
  3. Hover your cursor over "Settings".
  4. Click Document settings.

To access the document settings menu in Lucidspark, follow these steps:

  1. Open more-menu-icon the More menu from the top-left of the canvas.
  2. Hover your cursor over “Board settings”.
  3. Click Open Board settings.

The document settings menu will open, which can be used to access and change various document, board, and page settings. See the sections below for details on each category of settings found in this menu.

document-settings-menu-in-lucidspark-and-lucidchart.png

Canvas and page

With the canvas and page settings, you can customize the size, background color, and page setup of your workspace. Read this section for more details.

Note: Lucidchart page settings only apply to the view of your document that is currently open in your editor. To make a change to every view of your document you need to enter into each page and change its settings individually.

Set units of measurement
Use the dropdown to the right of the “Units” setting to change the unit of measurement used in your document. This is used for measurements only and will not change the layout or appearance of your document. You can choose from the following options:

  • Inches
  • Centimeters
  • Pixels
  • Points

Change background color
Click the box to the right of “Background color” to adjust the color of your workspace.

To add a custom color, click the plus icon at the bottom of the “Solid” section of the “Background color” panel. From here, you can also access the color dropper or change the opacity of a color.

backgrund-color-document-settings-with-custom-color.png

Enable infinite canvas
To work on an endless Lucidchart or Lucidspark canvas, toggle on “Infinite canvas”. This disables page-specific settings and allows you to use as much space as needed on the workspace.

Note: When infinite canvas is enabled, you cannot change the following settings: Size, Format, Auto tiling, Page tiling, Fit to page, or Content scale.

Adjust page size
Click the dropdown to the right of “Size” to choose from a list of common page sizes. You can also select Custom to manually adjust the width and height of your pages.

Switch page orientation or format
Click the dropdown to the right of “Format” to change the page orientation to Landscape or Portrait.

Enable auto tiling
When auto tiling is enabled, new page tiles are automatically created when you add content that exceeds a page’s boundaries.

When auto tiling is turned off, content that exceeds the page boundaries appears on the gray area surrounding the canvas. This content will not appear on exported versions of your document.

Show or hide page tiling
When page tiling is toggled on, the boundaries of each individual page become visible on the workspace.

show-page-tiling-in-lucid.png

Fit content to one page
Click fit-to-page-icon-in-document-settings.png the fit to page icon to adjust the content scale of your document so that the contents of the open view fit onto a single page tile. This feature is useful for shrinking content onto a single printable page.

Adjust scale of content
Use this setting to adjust the size of the content in your document relative to the page tiles. For example, if you decrease the content scale from 100% to 50%, the content will shrink to cover just a quarter of the original page tile.

adjust-content-scale-in-lucidchart.gif

Note: If you increase the content scale when auto tiling is disabled, the content will expand onto the gray space surrounding the original page tile.

Show or hide document margins
If you plan to print your document, you can add a margin to the canvas to mark the limits of printed content. Enable “Show margin” to view the margin as an outline around the border of the workspace.

Note: Margin settings apply to all page views of your document. Margin lines do not show up on downloaded or printed versions of your document.

Adjust margin size
Use the dropdown to the right of “Margin size” to adjust the size of your document’s margins.

Show or hide rulers
Toggle “Show rulers” to show or hide the rulers above and to the left of the workspace.

show-or-hide-rulers-in-lucidchart.gif

Grid and snapping

With grid and guide snapping settings, you can force objects to adhere to specific lines when you move objects around the canvas.

Note: Grid and guide settings apply to all page views of your document. Grid and guide lines do not show up on downloaded or printed versions.

Grid settings

  • Show or hide grid: Toggle on “Show grid” to view a grid on the background of the workspace.
  • Change grid style: In the dropdown to the right of “Grid style”, choose Line or Dot to change the appearance of the grid.
  • Adjust grid size: Use the dropdown to the right of “Grid size” to adjust the distance between grid lines.
  • Snap to objects: Toggle on “Snap to objects” to force objects to align with other objects on the workspace.
  • Snap objects to grid: Toggle on “Snap to grid” to force objects to align with your document’s grid.
example-of-snap-to-grid-toggled-on-and-off in lucid.gif

Guide settings
Guides are lines you can use as a reference point to help align objects. To add a guide, right-click anywhere on the canvas and select Create Horizontal Guide or Create Vertical Guide.

  • Snap to guides: Toggle on “Snap to guides” to force objects to align with guide lines.
  • Show guides: Toggle on “Show guides” to view guides as lines on the workspace.
  • Clear guides: Click the trash can icon next to “Clear guides” to remove all guides from your document.

Spell check

Enable spell check
Use the dropdown to the right of “Spell check” to select one of the following options:

  • Always On: Lines indicating misspelled words will always appear on your document.
  • While Editing: Lines indicating misspelled words will appear on your document only when you are editing text.
  • Off: Lines indicating misspelled words will not appear.

Change spell check language
Use the dropdown to the right of “Language” to change the language being used to spell check the text in your document.

Commenting

Show notes
Toggle this setting on to viewnotes-icon-in-lucid.png the Notes icon in the top-left corner of any object or area of the workspace with a note.

Show comments
Toggle this setting on to view tasks-comments-icon-in-lucid.pngthe Comments icon in the top-left corner of any object or area of the workspace with a comment.

Lines

Enable line connections
Toggle this setting on to show red connection points around the objects on your workspace when you hover over or click on them. Click one of these points to automatically add a line.

Show line jumps
When this setting is toggled on, any line that overlaps with another line forms a small ridge at the point of overlap. Line jumps are useful if you are creating a document with many overlapping lines, as they help prevent confusion for viewers who are following the lines.

  • To select a different line jump style, click the Line style menu and select a style.

line-jumps-enabled-in-lucid.png

Zoom

Animated zoom
Toggle this setting on for a smoother zoom experience. When toggled off, your Lucid document will zoom in and out in increments, rather than in one fluid motion.

  • Speed: Determine how fast the zoom animation is.
  • Step size: If you are using a mouse with a scroll wheel, this setting determines how far each scroll of the wheel zooms you in or out.

Double-click

Select the circle next to “Sticky note” or “Text box” to determine what a double-click creates on the canvas.

Additional settings

In Lucidchart

From the View menu located under more-menu-icon the More Menu in Lucidchart, you can set the following preferences:

  • Navigation mode: Choose Trackpad, Mouse, or Auto to update your document navigation preferences.
    • Navigation mode can also be accessed by following the steps below:
      1. Click help-icon-to-open-naviagtion-mode-accessibility.pngthe help icon on the bottom right of your document.
      2. Click Mouse or trackpad.
  • Shapes panel: Choose Icons only, Icons and text, or Text only to determine the appearance of the Shape menu on the left-hand side of the workspace.
  • Animate GIFs: When this is checked, GIF animation will play on the canvas.
  • Show / Hide: Choose to show notes, comments, links, rulers, authors, and slides. When enabled, these will display on the canvas at all times.

In Lucidspark

From the “Board Settings” located under more-menu-icon the More Menu in Lucidspark, you can set the following preferences:

  • Navigation mode: Choose Trackpad, Mouse, or Auto to update your document navigation preferences.
    • Navigation mode can also be accessed by following the steps below:
      1. Click help-icon-to-open-naviagtion-mode-accessibility.pngthe help icon on the bottom right of your document.
      2. Click Mouse or trackpad.
  • Reduce motion: When this is checked, movement when navigating the board will be slower.

How document settings affect collaborators

When a document is shared, any collaborator with editing permissions is able to adjust document settings. However, only settings that alter the content of the document are synced for all collaborators. See below for a list of which settings impact all collaborators on a document:

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