Overview

ManualWorks provides the Visual Editor, which lets you edit images added as image paragraphs.

Opening the Visual Editor

Click the <1Visual Editor> link below the image paragraph to open the editor.

Visual Editor Basics

Adding and Configuring Objects

Use 1 or 2 to add Text Box, Text Guide, and shape(callout, flowchart, and design guide shapes are supported) objects, and use Ctrl+V or the “Figure” menu to add image objects. Select an object in the editor menu and click the editor canvas, and the selected object appears. Drag it with the mouse to place it anywhere you want.

When you click an object to select it, its options appear on the right. The main options are as follows.

Shape Objects

Select 1 to round the corners of a rectangle object.

You can enter text not only in flowchart shapes but also in rectangles and ovals. Double-click the shape or press the Enter key to start typing text right away.

Text Objects

You can set the following options for Text Box and Text Guide objects. Text Box does not have the Outline Color and Second Line Color options.

Line Objects

Line objects consist of Line, Elbow, Curve, and Arrow. You can set “Arrowhead Begin Type” and “Arrowhead End Type” for all line objects.

Callout Objects

Callout and Callout Line objects support the following options.

• You can set the size of the callout with Font Size.

• Enter the callout number.

• For Callout Line, you can select a Second Line Color.

Image Objects

Resizing

Cropping

Use the <1Crop> menu to crop an image. Crop with the mouse, or adjust the crop size in the options.

You can crop an image 1 pixel at a time with the arrow keys on the keyboard.

1. Select the image.

2. Select the <Crop> menu.

3. Crop the image to the size you want with the arrow keys.

   • Use the Left(←) and Right(→) arrow keys to crop the left side of the image. To crop the right side, hold down the Ctrl key as well.

   • Use the Up(↑) and Down(↓) arrow keys to crop the top of the image. To crop the bottom, hold down the Ctrl key as well.

Reference Shape Objects

Use a reference shape to add a document. Videos also appear in the window where you choose a document; expand a video and select a clip to make the reference shape point to that clip. Clip groups can only be expanded, not selected. Double-click a reference shape in the Visual Editor to open the document or clip it points to in a preview. Clicking the reference shape takes you to that document.

Selecting Objects

You can select objects in the following ways.

• Click the object you want to select.

• Hold down the <Ctrl> or <Shift> key and click objects to select multiple objects.

• Press <Ctrl + A> to select all objects.

• Drag with the mouse to select multiple objects.

Copying and Pasting Objects

You can copy and paste objects in the following ways.

• Copy the selected objects with Ctrl + C and paste them with Ctrl + V.

• Hold down the Ctrl key and move an object with the mouse to copy and paste it.

Resizing Objects

• When you resize an object by dragging a corner with the mouse, hold down the <Shift> key to make the width and height equal.

• When you resize an image by dragging a corner with the mouse, the image keeps its width-to-height ratio.

Bringing Objects Forward and Sending Them Backward

In the Visual Editor, you insert various objects such as images, shapes, and text boxes, and you can place objects on top of other objects. When objects overlap, an object placed earlier is hidden behind an object placed later. You can change this stacking order.

Select an object, and then use “Bring Forward” and “Send Backward” to set the order of the placed objects.

Alignment

After you select multiple objects, you can position them in various ways.

Grouping

Select multiple objects and choose “Group” from the “Group” menu to combine them into a single object. Select a group and choose “Ungroup” to split it back into individual objects. You can also use the Ctrl + G and Ctrl + Shift + G shortcuts.

Rotation and Flipping

Select an object and choose “Rotate Right” or “Rotate Left” from the “Rotate” menu to rotate the object by 90 degrees. Choose “Flip Horizontal” to flip the object left to right like a mirror image, or “Flip Vertical” to flip it upside down. Text inside a shape stays readable when you flip it, and choosing the same menu again restores the original look. When you flip a group, the whole group is flipped as one. When only callouts are selected, the “Rotate” menu is not available.

Saving Options

Saves the 1options of the object you are viewing. These option values are used as defaults when you create an object of the same type.

Blurring Images

As shown in the image below, you can use the blur effect to obscure a specific area of an image.

Icon Objects

In the Visual Editor, you can resize icons and choose a background shape and color to place behind an icon.

You can resize an icon with its bounding box, but once you set a background, resizing the background shape does not change the size of the icon.

After you set a background shape for an icon, clicking another icon replaces the icon inside the background shape with the new icon.

Inserting Charts

You can insert bar charts and line charts in the Visual Editor.

Click the 1red square icon to open a screen where you can enter labels and values.

Math Equation Support

You can insert equation shapes written in LaTeX in the Visual Editor.

Click the 1red square icon to open a screen where you can enter an equation.

Editing Visual Documents with AI Tools

An AI tool connected through MCP can read, edit, and create pages in a visual document. As in the Visual Editor, the document owner and co-authors can edit pages, and only the document owner can create pages. The AI tool can also upload an image file, such as a screenshot, and place it on a page.

To tell an AI tool which page to edit or which folder to put a new page in, open the context menu of the page or folder in the page list of the Visual Editor and select “Copy ID”. This menu is available even if you are not the document owner.

While a user with the MCP role has the Visual Editor open, changes that an AI tool makes to pages appear in the editor without refreshing.

• The page you are viewing is redrawn with the changes.

• Pages that the AI tool creates appear in the page list right away.

• A page with unsaved changes is not overwritten. The editor tells you that the page was changed elsewhere. If you save it, your version overwrites the changes made by the AI tool.

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts in the Visual Editor.