How to Use the Pick Tool in CorelDRAW

The Pick Tool is the most fundamental utility in CorelDRAW, serving as the primary instrument for selecting, moving, resizing, and transforming objects on your canvas. Mastering this tool is essential for navigating your workspace efficiently and manipulating vector elements with precision. This guide covers how to activate the tool, execute various selection techniques, and perform essential transformations such as scaling, rotating, and skewing.

Activating the Pick Tool

To activate the Pick Tool, select the top icon on the main Toolbox on the left side of the screen, or press the shortcut key Spacebar (which toggles between your active tool and the Pick Tool).

Selecting Objects

  • Single Object: Click directly on an outline or inside a filled object.
  • Multiple Objects: Hold Shift and click on each object you want to add or remove from the selection.
  • Marquee Selection: Click and drag a rectangular bounding box entirely around the objects you wish to select.
  • Touching Selection: Hold Alt while dragging a marquee box to select any object the box touches, even if it is not fully enclosed.
  • Select All: Double-click the Pick Tool icon in the Toolbox, or press Ctrl + A.

Moving and Positioning Objects

  1. Click and hold the center or outline of a selected object.
  2. Drag the object to the desired location.
  3. To constrain movement to horizontal or vertical axes, hold Ctrl while dragging.
  4. To create a duplicate while moving, drag the object to a new location and right-click once before releasing the left mouse button.

Sizing and Scaling

When an object is selected, eight black square handles appear around its perimeter:

  • Proportional Scaling: Click and drag any of the four corner handles.
  • Stretching (Width or Height): Click and drag the handles located on the top, bottom, or sides.
  • Center Scaling: Hold Shift while dragging any handle to scale the object relative to its center point rather than the opposite handle.

Rotating and Skewing

  1. Click an already selected object a second time. The square sizing handles will change to curved rotation arrows at the corners and bidirectional skewing arrows on the sides.
  2. Rotate: Click and drag any corner arrow. Hold Ctrl to constrain rotation to 15-degree increments.
  3. Change Pivot Point: Drag the center circle icon (rotation center) to a new position to rotate the object around an external axis.
  4. Skew: Click and drag the side arrows to slant the object horizontally or vertically.

Pick Tool Variations

Click and hold the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Pick Tool icon to reveal two alternative tools:

  • Freehand Pick: Allows you to draw an irregular lasso around objects to select items closely surrounded by other elements.
  • Free Transform: Enables dynamic rotation, angling, scaling, and skewing using interactive cursor dragging across the canvas.