constraining lines in graphics

[FieryPantone]

Muscle-memory tells me I can hold down Shift to draw straight lines with the graphics tools, but whenever I tried this yesterday it simply cancelled the line-drawing operation. FM 2012 – have I so far failed to notice/stumble upon an "improvement" over earlier versions?

It was worth persisting, though, for the awe and amazement on the developer's face: "you mean those are three separate, editable graphics in that diagram? and the connectors are separate too?"

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

it simply cancelled the line-drawing operation

FrameMaker has an odd twist on Shift-drag for a straight line. Press and hold the Shift key prior to starting to draw the line. The penalty for pressing Shift after you start drawing? The line is deleted. Pretty severe penalty, if you ask me, but this behavior has been in place for 8-10 years. Before that, it worked like any windows application.

[FieryPantone]

I've clearly been using FM for longer than I thought :-} though I know I use the graphics tools less these days … thanks for this useful reminder!

[Barb Binder]

It's one of many little oddities we put up with in FrameMaker.