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Menus

Use this page to find where a command lives, or to check what a menu item does before you click it.

Boldbobbin's menu bar has File, Edit, View, Tools, Window, Settings, Help, and it speaks whichever language you have picked. As of v1.3.1 the desktop app's menu bar also shows each command's keyboard shortcut, following your preset and any keys you have changed. Shortcuts use Ctrl/Cmd (Cmd on macOS, Ctrl elsewhere), and tool keys below are the default Illustrator preset (change them in Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts). The full list is in Keyboard shortcuts.

File​

  • New design: Ctrl/Cmd+N
  • New from Template…: browse a small public gallery of ready-made starter designs and open one to build from. No account needed.
  • Open (.vemb)…: Ctrl/Cmd+O
  • Save: Ctrl/Cmd+S. On the web this always saves to your account; on desktop the first save asks Cloud or this computer, then remembers. See Save and open cloud designs.
  • The two builds list their destinations differently, because they have different ones:
    • Desktop has three to tell apart, so the other two sit under Save as ▸: Save to this computer (.vemb)… (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+S) and Save on cloud.
    • Web has two, and one of them is Ctrl/Cmd+S, so they are listed flat: Save to Cloud and Download (.vemb) (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+S).
  • Save as new version… and Version history… (desktop only, new in v1.3.0): named versions of a design in a team library. They are always clickable; on a personal design they say that versions are kept for team designs. On the web the same two live in the header, beside the team chip.
  • Import ▸
    • Import design (.vemb)…: merges another Boldbobbin design into this one, as one group. For example, use it to drop a logo you saved earlier into a name-tag design. New in v1.3.1. See Merge one design into another.
    • Import embroidery…
    • Import reference image…
    • Import SVG / PDF…: also reads Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files saved with PDF compatibility. See Import an SVG.
    • Auto-digitize…: turn an image into stitches automatically, with three methods that run on your own computer: Photostitch (photos), Cross-stitch (pixel art), and Auto-Trace (logos and flat clip art).
    • Advanced auto-digitize…: the three methods that run on Boldbobbin's servers and cost credits: Pixel art, Line art & Redwork, and Vector stylization. New in v1.3.0.
  • Export ▸
    • Export embroidery…: Ctrl/Cmd+E
    • Export Run Sheet (PDF)…: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+E
  • Publish to community…: put a copy of the design in the public gallery and get a shareable link. It sits next to Export because it is the other way of sending a design somewhere. See Publish a design.

Edit​

Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Select all, Deselect, Delete selection, Duplicate selection, Group selection, Ungroup selection, Translate…, Rotate…, and the four ordering commands (Send to front / forward / backward / to back). Shortcuts in Keyboard shortcuts.

View​

  • Zoom in / Zoom out
  • Zoom to selection: Shift+2. New in v1.3.1
  • Zoom preset ▸: Zoom to fit, Zoom to hoop (new in v1.3.1), Zoom 0.5× (half size), Zoom 1:1 (actual size), Zoom 3×, Zoom 6×
  • Cycle render mode: Shift+S
  • Toggle jumps overlay: Shift+J
  • Toggle trims overlay: Shift+T
  • Toggle grid: Shift+G
  • Enter full screen

Toggle snapping (Shift+Y) and Toggle penetration points (Shift+P) are real commands but are not in this menu. Reach them by shortcut, from the command palette, or (for snapping) from Settings.

Tools​

  • Selection ▸: Select (V), Lasso select (Q), Color select (C)

  • Pan (H)

  • Ruler (\): drops a measured guide line

  • Individual stitch (S)

  • Pen (P)

  • Freehand (N)

  • Satin column

  • Add shape ▸: Rectangle (M), Ellipse (L), Polygon (Y), Star

  • Magic wand (W): click a region of a reference picture to turn it into stitches. New in v1.3.3. See Use the magic wand.

  • Text (T)

  • New Pixel Art…: makes a blank sprite and opens the pixel editor on it. See Create pixel art.

  • New Line Art…: makes a new line drawing, starting from a heart, and opens the line-art editor on it. New in v1.3.3. See Draw line art.

See Tools for what each does. The Cutter, Lettering, and Import font are not in this menu; they are in the tool rail. The desktop app's native menu has the same entries, Magic wand and New Line Art… included.

Edit shape and Draw the angle (the tatami fill-angle picker) are in no menu either. Reach them by their keys (A and Shift+A in the default preset), from the buttons on the canvas, or from the command palette. See Shapes and fills.

Right-click menu​

Right-click a selection on the canvas for the commands that apply to it. New in v1.3.3:

  • Divide by drawing sits after Union, Subtract, Intersection and Exclude. Select one or more shapes and a line drawing, and each area the drawing's lines close becomes a shape of its own. See Divide by drawing.
  • The four path operations show their new keys (Alt+Shift+U / S / I / X).

Convert to ▸ Line art and Convert to ▸ Curve (for a line drawing) are on the selection's action bar; see Convert to.

Window​

Show or hide the editor panels and reset their arrangement:

  • Layers panel, Scene panel, Properties panel: toggle each panel on or off. A check marks an open panel.
  • Reset panel layout: return the panels to their default arrangement.

There is no Colors panel: thread colors live on the bottom bar.

Chat has no entry in this menu, on the web or on desktop. If you close it, open it again with Ask Bobby in the header (see Outside the menu bar) or with a panel group's + tab button.

Settings​

  • Preferences…: Ctrl/Cmd+, (opens Settings)
  • Design palettes…

On the web, these live under their own top-level Settings menu, as above. On desktop, there's no standalone Settings menu: on macOS both items are in the Boldbobbin application menu (below About); on Windows/Linux they're at the bottom of the File menu.

Help​

  • Command palette…: Ctrl/Cmd+K
  • Keyboard shortcuts…: Ctrl/Cmd+/
  • Report a bug…: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+B (also the Bug report button in the header, so you don't have to find it in a menu)
  • About Boldbobbin…
  • Documentation: opens the Boldbobbin documentation (this site) in your browser. Boldbobbin confirms first, since it takes you out of the app.

Outside the menu bar​

Two menus live in the header rather than the menu bar:

  • Tutorial: the guided walkthrough and the How to list. New in v1.4.0, four How-tos join it: Change the stitch type, Resize a shape, Change a shape's thread, and Add text. Each one works on an example shape and leaves your design as it was. The line-art and pixel editors have a Tutorial button of their own (new in v1.3.3). See Take the in-app tutorial.
  • Ask Bobby (new in v1.4.0) opens the Chat panel, where Bobby, the design assistant, works on your design with you. By default Chat sits as a tab beside Properties. See Design with Bobby.
Menus may be native on desktop

On the desktop app, these can appear as the operating system's native menu bar.