Hi, all.

I had to replace my hard drive recently, and when I reinstalled Inkscape, the Fill/Stroke functions don't appear to be working like they were before.

I usually change fill and stroke by clicking on the color bar at the bottom of the window: Click for fill, Shift+Click for stroke. Before, I could do both at the same time, or do one or both multiple times. Now, I can only change one thing (fill or stroke) once, and have to deselect the object and re-select it before I can make another fill or stroke change.

This has proved to be the case over more than one Inkscape install (I installed it on my new tablet, same issue) and multiple SVG files. I also tried deleting the preferences file, as the FAQ suggests, which didn't help.

I'm thinking this might be a default preferences thing, maybe? Can anyone offer any advice?

Thank you!

-- Andrew

Hhm, that's a new one! 2nd new one this week!

I can't reproduce that. And not only that, but I can't think of any reason why it would be happening.

You've tried this in multiple different files? Particularly a new blank file?

What do you see happening? I mean, can you give use the exact steps you take, and tell us what happens after each one, including what the status bar says?

For example, after you change the fill, what does the status bar say? When you try Shift-click on the palette, immediately look at the status bar. Sometimes the info in the status bar is only showing for a few seconds, so you have to be kind of ready to glance down, after you click whatever.

The status bar will be your key to what's happening.

Yep. I've tried it a few times now, over a few weeks, and always get the same thing.

For what it's worth, though: I'm using Inkscape 0.48.5 r10040. There is an extension I need to use (TeX Text) that has not been updated to be compatible with 0.91. All of this worked properly on my old hard drive, though, even on 0.48. (I didn't realize there was a new version of Inkscape until I went to reinstall it after the wipe.)

I just tried it on a new file. I created a new rectangle, and set the fill color to a random one in the color palette. Then I click on a different color (as if to change the fill I just set), but nothing happens. Then I shift-click (to change the stroke color) and nothing happens. The same thing happens if I set the stroke first: I can only make one change, to either border or fill, at a time. If I want to make a second one, I have to deselect and reselect the item.

When I did so, I watched the status bar:
1. After selecting the item, it says "Rectangle in Layer 1. Click selection to toggle scan/rotation handles."
2. When I mouse over colors to change the fill it says "Color: [Colorname], Click to set fill, Shift + click to set stroke."
3. I click a color at random, and the status bar goes back to "Rectangle in Layer 1. Click selection to toggle scan/rotation handles.", and does not change from that no matter how many other colors I mouse over and click on, with or without the Shift key depressed.
4. I deselect the item, and re-select it, and we are back at Step 1.

How very strange!

What about other features? For example:

1 - Select an object.
2 - Click on the palette to change the color.

Can you immediately drag the scaling handles? Can you click the object to produce the rotation handles? Can you move the object by mouse drag? What about by arrow keys? I'm just wondering if it's just the palette that doesn't respond to a second click, or is something else involved?

What about if you use the Fill and Stroke dialog to change the colors, instead of the palette? (I don't mean for a permanent solution, just for troubleshooting.) Can you change the stroke color, or add a stroke without deselecting, using F/S dialog?

Have you noticed any other circumstances where you have to deselect an object before a feature or tool will work?

I can't think of any preferences that would cause this. It doesn't make sense to me that simply getting a new hard drive would cause this, unless it IS a preference somewhere. Well, I'll preuse Inkscape Preferences. Maybe I'll notice something.

Have you tried reinstalling Inkscape? You can reinstall the same version, if you don't want to upgrade.