MacDraft Pro
Release Notes

New Features / Improvements

• Full support for macOS Ventura.
• New Extended Pen style, for creating sharp edges.
• Added the ability to print the grid, via the Print dialog.
• Cross Cursor menu item moved to the View menu.
• Updated the folder structure in the Library palette.
• Objects selected using the Layer Select tool, now select the object as well as make the layer active.
• Added 7 new toolbar items. Home View, Library, Scale and Units, Interface Colors, Linear Duplication and Circular Duplication.
• Added a keyboard shortcut for opening the Library panel (Command + Y).
• Moved the Alignment tools to the Properties panel.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue when in Palette View mode, palettes were not becoming active, making it difficult to set colors and make changes to objects in the document.
• Fixed an issue where Border Position could be unselected by clicking the same button.
• Fixed a problem with rotated patterns becoming corrupted.
• Fixed an issue when items that do not fit in the toolbar, due to screen width, become unuseable.
• Fixed a problem where the preference toolbar would become hidden.
• Fixed an issue where preferenced text settings were used, but ot shown when selected.
• Fixed CPU and memory drain issues.
• Fixed an issue where lines drawn by double clicking with an angle, did not display the correct angle in the Properties panel.
• Fixed a crash issue when selecting and dragging a grouped line, together with its linked object.
• Fixed crash issue when clicking in empty category in the Template Chooser.
• Fixed an issue where tools could not be selected after editing Resize Options.
• Fixed Show/Hide Area and Show/Hide Perimeter issues when trimming Bezier curves.
• Fixed a display issue when using Palette View in full screen mode.
• Fixed an issue where some line thickness items didn’t display correctly in the pop-up menus.
• Fixed an issue where clicking the Escape key to return to the Arrow tool, would close the current palette.
• Fixed an issue when multiple lines were selected and the Line Style pop-up didn’t display the correct value.
• Fixed an issue with rotated lines at different zoom levels, becoming offset slightly.
• Fixed an issue where the Library window remained above all other system windows.
• Fixed an issue when the library panel did not become active during drag, but required a click first.
• Fixed an issue when aligning a group of objects from their datum point to a reference point, they were not connected.
• Fixed an issue where library items were not placed in alphabetical order, if you changed the name.
• Fixed an issue where tools could not be selected after using palette mode and changing some settings.
• Fixed various spelling and grammatical errors.
• Fixed various file related crash, loading and stability issues.
• Fixed various UI and workflow issues.

New Features / Improvements

• New interface for Big Sur/Monterey
• Apple M1 architecture support
• New Document Dialog
• SF Symbols for improved UI
• Increase max document size by 10 times to 1785 x 1785 inches
• Swap dark and light mode in app preferences
• Added floating palettes back – now choose between palettes or single screen
• Export PDF panel for choosing what you want to export
• Text flow between text boxes
• Improved spell check across whole document
• Folder structures back into the Libraries pop-up menu
• Custom symbol libraries at the top of the main list, just below the All Libraries
• French localisation
• Trim arcs and curves
• Custom stroke thickness
• Extend to arcs, curves. Extend the arcs to arcs
• Subscript and superscript
• New Preferences panel and options
• New control styles across Properties and Tool Options
• Apply swatches using swatches panel

Bug Fixes

• Cursor info display when editing Beziers, walls, polygons etc
• When using the Command + ALT key to dragging a handle the Snap to Object
• Circular duplication center handle selection fix
• Dimensions now link to the inside and outside of walls
• In Dark mode the separators for the Properties panel are a bit too light.
• Rulers corrections
• Alignment of controls on Properties panel
• Crash on using Select Segment tool from Parallel Line section that appears at the right panel if switch to single screen mode
• Freeze on subtract oval from circle or for two ovals
• Application freezes when merging overlapped circle & ellipse with add tool
• Crash on run application if corrupted file is in recent documents list
• The required corrections in Welcome to MacDraft dialog
• Crash on trying to extend arcs to curves (bezier, spline, freehand) on scaled document
• Crash after trim two bezier curves or bezier curve and arc in a scaled document
• Horizontal guide shifts down if moved in any direction
• Corrupted view of the Report array in any theme
• Various other crash, stability and UI fixes

New Features / Improvements

• Parallel Line options now available in the Properties panel
• Set the thickness of individual parallel lines.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the document file size is increased when copying and pasting an image.
• Fixed an issue where files do not export to dwg if a metapolygon object contains a show area/perimeter object.
• Fixed an issue where the fill color of dimension takes up the whole drawing area if you change the scale on a specific page preview size and then undo the changes.
• Fixed a issue with vertices linked in the same point do not restore their previous positions and shapes after align if you perform an undo.
• Fixed an issue where MacDraft freezes on attempt to drag and drop huge objects.
• Fixed an issue where it was impossible to close an alert message in the report dialog if previously renamed report was deleted.
• Fixed an issue with the library content becoming corrupt when added to the document and resized.
• Changed the way the Parallel Line options appear when the tool is selected. The options now overlap the document instead of pushing it down.
• The opacity slider now updates live as you change it.
• Fixed an issue with placing the cursor in a textbox for editing. The cursor is now placed where the mouse is clicked.
• Fixed a issue where Export PDF was not exporting objects at the correct size.
• Fixed an issue where tools were not activating after entering a value in a text field.

New Features / Improvements

• MacOS Catalina (10.15) support.
• Set a custom Angle Snap value.
• Change the size of End Marks using a percentage value.
• New 5K screen resolution support.
• All new Smooth Freehand tool perfect for use with the Apple Pencil and other drawing aids.
• Select objects on different layers quickly by holding the CTRL + ALT keys when selecting.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where dragging from the handle using the ALT + CMD key didn’t work.
• Fixed an issue with selecting flipped arcs.
• Fixed an issue with text shifting gin exported DWG files.
• Fixed an issue with pages being blank on PDF export.
• Fixed an issue where layers scales were corrupting files.
• Fixed an issue where resizing rectangles after flip and rotation was corrupting the object.
• Fixed an issue where the Absolute and Relative option in Move was not being remembered.
• Fixed an issue with the template chooser not displaying and causing the application to freeze.
• Fixed the size that the application opens new windows at for different display sizes.
• Fixed an application freezing issue when dimension tolerances were set.
• Fixed various issues where dimension text fills were being shifted away from the text.
• Fixed an issue with Rounded-Corner-Rectangle editing points were corrupt and hidden.
• Fixed an issue when resizing elliptical arcs after they are flipped, resize in the opposite direction.
• Fixed an issue where the Show Size cursor element was not displaying the correct number of units/places for angles.

New Features / Improvements

• The zoom menu items and toolbar item now zoom into the selected object.
• You can now zoom in to the maximum level at larger drawing sizes.
• Extra large zoom option has been added
• You can now export your reports
• Choose how many color/pattern/gradient widgets are shown in the Attributes pop-up (allows for larger previews)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where duplicating with an offset was not staying on the grid snap value set.
• Fixed a visual issue with frames in the template chooser.
• Fixed an issue where if “Underline” was set as default, you couldn’t turn it off.
• Fixed crash related issues with .md60 files.
• Fixed issue with zooming not working if system preferences are set to commas as separators instead of decimals.
• Fixed various issues with the Select Special panel.
• Fixed issues where MacDraft would not remember the screen/window size.
• Fixed issue where MacDraft would not save the screen/window size on secondary screens.
• Fixed issue with incorrect ruler coordinates when restoring from max zoom.
• Fixed a crash issue when turning off a layer below the one that is being imported.
• Fixed an issue where you were not able to set the zero points of the rulers by dragging from the corner.
• Fixed file related issues when opening older files
• Fixed text related issues with dimensions on older files.
• Other minor bug fixes and improvements for application efficiency.

Only Supports Mac OS 10.11 and above

New Features / Improvements

• 64 Bit Compatible.
• New User Interface
  • Dark / Light Mode
  • Single Screen
  • Tools Panel
  • Properties Panel
• Retina Support
• New Text System
  • Spelling and Grammar
  • Clipped Text
  • Emoji and Symbol Support
• AutoSave
• Full Screen Mode
• Document Tabs
• New File Formats
  • Improved MD70 file format
  • Support for opening old MD60 files
  • Latest DWG Support
• Improved Walls / Parallel lines
• Improved Bezier Curves
• Usable Gray Space
• Share & Collaborate
• Improved Snapping
  • Snap between layers
  • Smart Snap Imrpovements
  • Snap to Guide Lines
• Turn text into vector graphics
• New Square Grid option
• Swatches Panel
  • Manage all colors, gradients and patterns in one place
  • New, Edit and duplicate swatches
• Properties Panel
  • Edit selected objects in one place. All options for the selection will be available in this one panel.
• Calculate Perimeter
• Alpha Gradients
• Improved Patterns
  • Larger pattern sizes
  • Paste an image at correct size and the pattern dialog will turn into a MacDraft pattern
• Improved Reports
• Align to Page/Document
• Contextual Menus
• More Templates
• Improved Library
• Improved Welcome
• Faster document control
• Improved power and speed with the new 64 bit architecture

Manual Update
The MacDraft manual has been re-written to incorprate all the new features and options, including the interface changes.

Bug Fixes

• A whole host of legacy bugs have now been fixed or removed as the new program has been written with modern and up to date code from scratch.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where grid snapping was not aligning to the grid.
• Added a "Center Working Drawing" option in the View menu, to make it easier and faster to center the document view.
• Fixed an issue with selected text being invisible.
• Fixed an issue where palettes were not having their state saved.
• Fixed an issue with text shifting in DWG files saved using MacDraft.
• Fixed a crash issue when rotating disassembled dimensions.
• Fixed an issue with the "Load Layer" warning displaying when attempting to open some older documents.
• Fixed an issue when adding guides with a position.
• Fixed Export PDF... to now allow transparent backgrounds.
• Fixed Export PDF... so that it doesn’t include items in the gray space.
• Fixed an issue where certain DWG files were not opening
• Fixed other smaller performance related issues.
• Fixed various issues with localized versions.
• Fixed an issue where the line weights panel was empty.
• Fixed crash issues when adding library items to the document, by rewriting the library code for modern systems.
• Fixed an obscure issue with file corruption on Save As...
• Fixed crash issue when adding dimensions from the library.
• Fixed other 10.13 specific issues.

New Features / Improvements

• Smart Snapping Feature:
  • Objects can now snap to each other using smart handles.
  • This option can be turned on and off at any time
  • Snap to centers, edges, corners and bounds.
• Replaced the Show Size palette with live cursor information:
  • Position information shows on the cursor as you are dragging
  • Size of object displays live on the cursor as you resize
  • Size of the object displays live on the cursor as you are drawing
  • This option can be turned on and off at any time
• Helper palette:
  • Selecting items in the Tools palette and Dimension palette displays help content in the Helper palette
  • Helper palette displays steps by step guide on how to use the tool
  • The Helper palette includes modifier keys
• Documents guides:
  • Add document guides from the rulers by dragging them out.
  • Add document guides precisely using a menu item.
  • Objects can snap to the guides when positioned.
  • Guides can be turned on and off
  • Guide snapping can be turned on and off.
• Custom background and grid color
• Centered drawing area:
  • Document is centered in the window
  • Zooming is made easier and centers on the document by default
• Dead Zone feature:
  • The grey space around the document area can now be used
  • Store objects and items in the dead space.
  • Dead zone content is excluded form print.
  • Create bleed documents and full page spreads with the dead zone.
• Welcome Screen:
  • Take a tour slider, showing all the key areas to look at when learning the product.
  • Video tutorials, links to all the latest video guides, tutorials and lessons.
  • Forum access and link to Register your Product
• Template chooser:
  • Now choose templates to start with from the main window.
  • Store your own custom templates in My Templates and access them from the template chooser
• Recent documents added to the Welcome panel
• Custom preferences for template behavior:
  • Decide how your new documents will open
  • Select custom templates to open whenever a new document opens.
• Updated interface elements and options:
  • Added steppers in Resize palette.
  • Updated the toolbar and some palette icons.
  • Added new features into the toolbar.
  • Tidied up the View and Layout menu for consistency.
  • Option added for printing background color.
  • New Save As Template... option in the File menu
• Improved Speed and Power
  • Updated document window with modern window technologies to load faster
  • Improved speed and power from the updated drawing technologies
• License information is now stored at system level, which means all users on the machine can run the product

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with text shifting with Print to PDF / Export PDF
• Fixed an issue where the Dimension cursor disappeared when dragging to scroll the document window.
• Fixed a load layer bug where a dialog appeared saying the file content could be loaded.
• Fixed an issue with tools not selecting correctly after the keyboard shortcut has been used.
• Fixed various document specific issues with content not displaying correctly.
• Fixed an issue with Parallel Lines options dialog not behaving correctly
• Fixed various file related crash issues.
• Fixed zooming issue when using the zoom in and out options from the view menu.
• Fixed automatic scrolling issues by allowing dragging outside the document using the Command key only.
• Optimized for the latest operating system.
• Fixed issue where application crashes when user selects row and columns in Report window and places cursor outside of the window
• Fixed issues with missing Spotlight and Quicklook
• Fixed issue with size of drawing area being increased if close Print Active Layer dialog while object is in Dead area.
• Fixed issue where recent documents are restored if Mac is restarted
• Fixed issue with 3 Point Circle tool.
• Fixed issue where Zoom-in line weights should not affect selection frame.
• Fixed refresh issue when switching "Grid Lines" ON/OFF
• Fixed issue where report is printed incorrectly if increase column width or decrease paper size.
• Fixed issue when scrollbars do not work in Symbol Libraries dialog
• Fixed issue when Extrude Parallel Polyline tool doesn’t work correctly.
• Fixed issue with incorrect title being suggested by default in Print dialog if Save document as PDF.
• Fixed issue by making dimensional text background transparent by default

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with Zooming out not zooming out correctly.
• Fixed window not automatically scrolling when selection or drawing tool is moved down and right.
• Fixed document not automatically scrolling left or up when using the bezier tool.
• Fixed an issue with keyboard shortcut reverting a particular tool to the default tool in the tool palette.
• Fixed Rotate90Left & Rotate90Right toolbar icons becoming obscured by the Title Bar when set as small icon.
• Fixed rulers flicker when using the scroll wheel on a mighty mouse and when moving objects using the arrow keys.
• Fixed rulers flicker when the cursor is moved over the Library palette.
• Fixed issue with Show Size palette are not displaying values correctly for ΔAo
• Fixed refresh issue when resizing images spread over several page document.
• Fixed Fill palette not correctly conveying edited color when set as default in MacDraft preferences.
• Fixed an issue with copying to clipboard which did not copy correctly.
• Fixed an issue where objects could not be drawn to the edge of drawing area if rulers were showing.
• Fixed an issue where objects could not be moved to the edge of drawing area if rulers were showing.
• Fixed mirrored text getting corrupted when rulers are showing.
• Fixed Recovery folder with the last MacDraft document appearing in the Trash after shutdown.
• Fixed an issue preventing certain older files from opening.
• Fixed arc dimensions shifting when printing or saving to pdf via the print dialog.
• Fixed a crash bug when adding edit points to an open ended parallel line.
• Fixed an issue of origin not being moved when rulers were showing.
• Fixed an intermittent problem where the cursor did not show after returning from customizing the toolbar.
• Fixed a bug with arc and elliptical arc tool that did not draw an object.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to move dimension object with arrow key corrupted the object.
• Fixed a crash bug when grouping certain objects in an older file.
• Fixed several file specific issues with opening older files..
• Drag and drop to library palette reverted back to Command + Drag & Drop.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with older MacDraft files not opening correctly.
• Fixed an issue with clicking in rulers to move the origin where by it did not move to exactly where clicked.
• Fixed an issue with vertical dimensions on a 6.0 document not showing.
• Fixed a bug with unit conversion.
• Fixed a bug with Show Size not working with parallel line tool..
• Fixed an issue with zooming out using command key where zoom out was not to correct part of drawing.
• Fixed an issue with GoTo Layer button not working..
• Fixed a bug where altering the values of radial arcs in the resize palette did not work correctly.
• Fixed a bug where constrained arcs did not draw correctly.
• Fixed a bug where report element past certain point could not be selected for editing.
• Fixed an issue where objects disappeared when zooming and scrolling old MacDraft document.
• Fixed an issue where MacDraft Symbol Libraries did not open correctly.
• Fixed bug with Rotate 90 degree tool not working correctly with the Option key.
• Fixed very obscure crashing bugs.
• Fixed several issues with rotating patterns and Gradient fills.
• Fixed minor feedback issues when creating/dragging objects.
• Increased the pattern grid size from maximum of 32x32 to 64x64 in the edit pattern dialog.

New Features / Improvements

• Gradient Fills and Strokes.
• Single Key Tool Shortcuts
• Star Tool.
• Mavericks Compatibility.
• Ability to create and store new colors, patterns and gradients rather than replace existing.
• Live feedback when creating objects and whilst dragging.
• Drag items into the Library without holding the command key.
• ESC key returns to Arrow Tool.
• Duplicate Menu has been restructured.
• Objects drawn using the Freehand Tool can now have patterns and gradients applied to fills and strokes.
• Other Minor improvements to the interface and speed of the application.
• Ability to click on the document window title whilst holding down the Command key to show file location path on disk.
• Support for AutoCAD AC1027 (2013/2014) dwg files.

New Features / Improvements

• GateKeeper incorporated to allow running of the app under Mac OSX 10.8 or later.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where grouped objects did not rotate correctly.
• Fixed a bug where pasting objects containing text across to document/layer at different scale did not paste correctly.
• Fixed a bug where MacDraft Quit unexpectedly when attempting to add a layer that contained special characters in the name.
• Fixed a bug where duplicated objects did not move on the same grid as the original object when zoomed in.
• Fixed a bug where locked objects got corrupted after flipping that had linked dimension associated with it.
• Fixed an issue where saving to dxf/dwg was not done at the scale of the MacDraft document.
• Fixed an issue where dimensions read from dwg file were not translated correctly.

New Features / Improvements

• Support for AutoCAD AC1024 (2010/2011/2012) dwg files.
• Improved functionality in reading of dwg files.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where MacDraft stopped responding when attempting to add object after undo group operation.
• "Rename Item" is added into the options pop-up menu in the Library Palette.
• "Rename Layer" is added into the options pop-up menu in the Layers Palette.
• Fixed an issue with Pen Styles not showing in the Option menu under Mac OSX Lion.
• Fixed issue with export to pdf from DWG files.
• Suppressed an unnecessary dialog appearing when opening read-only dwg/MacDraw II files.
• Fixed partial issue with opening and saving of legacy file which crashed MacDraft on subsequent opening of the same file.
• Fixed minor bugs.

Bug Fixes

• File names containing non-Roman characters now open correctly.
• Fixed an issue where not all the sample libraries were loaded at first launch.
• Long layer names in the layers palette are now correctly truncated.
• MacDraw II files now open correctly.
• Fill patterns in MacDraw II files are correctly translated.
• Top level folder in the library palette is now correctly named.
• Fixed the numeration issue of layers after the first layer is deleted.
• Fixed an issue where drag & drop did not work between documents in Mac OSX 10.6 or later.
• Fixed a crash bug caused by copying dimension objects in a previously closed document.
• Fixed several file specific issues where previously saved files failed to open.
• Fixed an issue where files saved with smoothed polylines failed to reopen.
• Fixed minor spelling mistakes, abnormalities and bugs.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a monitor resolution problem on a non-apple monitors, where no drawing area was visible.
• Files created in versions prior to 6 using decimal feet now print correctly
• Fixed an issue with the Resize palette not showing after switching applications.
• Parallel line now duplicates correctly after adjusting dimensions and duplicating.
• Duplicating a dimension on a parallel line and undoing now works correctly.
• Dragging an object from Library Palette on a large document no longer results in maximum drawing size being exceeded.

New Features / Improvements

• Customizable scales
• Customizable Toolbar
• Library Palette
• Layers Palette
• Image menu
• Feedback for clipped text
• New Coordinate System
• Increased maximum Drawing size
• New ruler layout
• Improved Resize palette
• Improved Tool selection and operation procedure.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug which caused MacDraft to crash on opening a document created with older version of MacDraft that contained imported images.
• Fixed an issue where under certain conditions all new objects created in an older document lost their attributes which was caused by corrupted preferences file.

Bug Fixes

Maintenance release to fix very obscure bugs and incompatibility issues .

Bug Fixes

• Various bug fixes to improve compatibility between files saved on older systems and leopard.
• Objects exported as dxf/dwg did not align correctly.
• Objects corrupted after dragging and dropping from Media Assistant Lite.
• Objects changing color after dragging and dropping from Media Assistant Lite.
• Not possible to paste from clipboard to MD document object which was copied from Media Assistant Lite.
• End marks in the dimension palette are not refreshed in new document.
• After pasting to MD document, object’s info is not updated.
• Angle snap default that was 5 degrees.
• Hide page break was set to default which should not have been.
• Object become invisible after creating new document with saved Scale/Units and Layer SetUp settings
• Documents created in 5.5.x does not show pict/tiff objects when opened in 5.6.x
• Layer state not preserved.
• Unnecessary "00" appear when trying to changes number of dwg units per metre after opening dxf/dwg file.
• It is not possible to resize objects with calculated area.
• Legacy files do not open after re-save.
• 5.5.11 files re-saved in 5.6 lose custom color.
• Picture objects not displayed after loading layer.

New Features / Improvements

• MacDraft 5.6.4 has no new features.
• Leopard compatible.
• Uses installer to install instead of drag and drop.

Manual Update
The MacDraft PE manual has references to functionality no longer supported in version Version 5.6.4 and should be ignored. These are :

• PICT or enhanced PICT documents.
• Saving a document in PICT or enhanced PICT format.
• Opening a document saved in PICT or enhanced PICT format.

Bug Fixes

• Various bug fixes to improve compatibility between older systems and leopard.
• Files created in older version of MacDraft some times do not open or open incorrectly
• Files, transferred or renamed under Windows cannot be opened.
• Holding down the control key when dimensioning does not make dimension line hairline.
• Some fonts are not preserved while transferring Symbol libraries between applications running under different operating systems.
• Old MacDraft File does not open with correct font, even installed.
• Text in group doesn’t restore the correct size after Undo Resize command.
• Object type isn’t refreshed in the Resize palette after show/hide its area.
• Dimension text disappears when older 4.3 file is opened in 5.6.3/4
• Object area value will be found while searching for dimensions using Select Special dialog.
• Adding edit handles to object with displayed area after performing Undo Add Handle causes crash.
• Area can be deleted when its parent object linked with locked object.
• Area value is not updated if it was hidden before resizing object and displayed again.
• Values in edit fields of Resize palette are not properly refreshed while duplicating objects by Cmd-Option-drag.
• Undo doesn’t work properly for meta-polygons.
• Tolerance text disappears from dimension after zooming
• Polyline end caps don’t work according to the options set in Parallel Line Setup dialog.
• Ellipses and elliptical arcs are imported with incorrect size from Media Assistant Lite if pasted from non-1:1 scale drawings.
• Default parallel line width is read incorrectly from older format drawings in non-default scales.
• Distance between the parallel lines not as specified.
• Text becomes invisible when Text tool popup menu is expanded while text object itself is in edit mode.
• Dimension outline displays incorrectly while drawing.
• Palettes don’t hide after closing document if another one is minimized.
• Sometimes, pixmap placed in Clipboard from Photoshop causes MacDraft to crash.

New Features / Improvements

• MacDraft can now save in various autocad release formats, namely 2000, 2004 and 2007.

Bug Fixes

• Some minor bug fixes.

New Features / Improvements

• Intel compatibility: MacDraft 5.6 is universal binary and will work on both intel and PPC based machines running 10.3.9 and above.
• File Format change: In order to bring MacDraft up to date, file format has been changed to give greater flexibility for the future so more up to date features can be added. Version 5.6 will open 5.5.x files but 5.6 file format is not backward compatible.
• Updated DWG functionality, providing compatibility with AutoCAD 2007. (DWGdirect © 2019 by Open Design Alliance Inc. All rights reserved.)

Bug Fixes

• Undo on a group that did not work correctly
• Freezing bug when scroll full right with maximum drawing size
• Marquee selection that worked incorrectly with smoothed closed polylines
• Grouping of smoothed closed polylines which caused edit handles of object to be at wrong locations
• Custom patterns corrupted on opening MacDraw II file
• Eye dropper tool does not apply object data to groups
• Groups are resized incorrectly using the percent option in resize palette
• Changing line pattern on polygons on reflected in the attributes panel
• Entering of Custom Circle units problem in set scale/units dialog
• Most PICT files don't import at 0,0 Show
• Clipboard minimum size too small
• Invisible Dimensions if the object is at the top of the document
• Grouped rotated ellipses behave incorrectly when ungrouped
• The text display of an angular dimension is displaced after it is linked
• Does not release from the Zoom mode when you Command key click on document
• Elliptical arcs do not display correctly after they have been flipped and edited
• Grouped objects warp in shape when nudged
• Document does not open as saved when document contains part pages.
• Cross hair symbol does not undo if deleted
• Library items dragged out of Media Assistant Lite lose grouping
• Command Click no longer works for terminating spline curves Round pen style makes it difficult to move rectangles
• Dimensions extend in symbol libraries
• Print shrink when printing documents created by older versions of MacDraft
• Crash on opening saved symbol library with a group containing arc and radial Dimensions

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crashing bug when reading old document containing layers with different scales.
• Fixed a crashing bug when the clipboard contained data from office application such as PowerPoint.
• Reading of DWG files with some constructs is improved.

Cut down version of MacDraft known as MacDraft P.E. (Personal Edition) released for home users. MacDraft will now be referred to MacDraft Pro (Professional).

New Features / Improvements

• Export Picture: MacDraft now offers the ability to export pictures at the user’s desired resolution.
• Support for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed very obscure random crash bug.

Only supports Mac OS 10.2.4 and above.

New Features / Improvements
New features have been added to Microspot MacDraft 5.5 to enhance performance and improve image and text qual-ity. Features include Quartz Graphics with transparency, ATSUI text, import picture as well as the ability to use the resize palette with pixel maps and paragraph text. These features combined make MacDraft 5.5 a superior product for CAD and graphic design.

• Quartz Graphics: MacDraft now uses Quartz Graphics, the native graphics engine for OS X. The result is improved filling of curved shapes, superior line quality that now makes it possible to see the difference between hairlines and one-point lines on screen.
• Transparency: Transparency has been added and can be applied to lines, fills, double line fills, text and pictures with an opacity range of 0-100%.
• ATSUI Text: ATSUI (Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging) text allows for the inclusion of the Unicode character set. This maintains superb quality of text even when rotated.
• Import Picture: Import Picture has been added to allow the import of PICT, TIFF, GIF, JPEG/JFIF and Windows BMP formats. The pictures can then be resized and rotated to any angle and made transparent. The memory efficiency of picture handling has improved resulting in smaller files and faster operation.
• Resize Palette: The resize palette now works with pictures and text as well as shapes.
• Multiple Undos: 100 levels of undo have been added allowing the user to easily correct mistakes or try variations on their drawing.
• Compatibility with Adobe Illustrator: MacDraft files can now be made compatible with Adobe Illustrator by convert-ing files to PDF using the export to PDF command. The file can then be opened and edited in Adobe Illustrator.

Bug Fixes

• Reading of DWG files with some constructs is improved.
• When applying a mirror tool to a ninety degree arc to mirror it about a horizontal line, the widgets appear in the right place but the arc itself is misplaced.
• A very obscure and only occasionally reproducible crash on opening 1-bit raster images.
• Pasting of shape into and then out of a symbol library causes its size change.
• Files with text that were created with the PC Draft versions released after February, 19, 2003 are now opened properly.

New Features / Improvements

• Automatic .dwg scaling.
• Further improved the DWG/DXF import by using the OpenDWG Toolkit libraries.
• Support for Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar).
• Minor bug fixes.

New Features / Improvements

• Added linked dimensions.
• Linked and unlink vertex tool in accessories palette.
• Further improved the DWG/DXF import by using the OpenDWG Toolkit libraries.
• Added Balloon help on most menus and tools.
• Added an angular grid, use the shift key turns this off during entry.
• Added Navigation services for open and save dialogs
• Can open Microspot Librarian or Microspot Media Assistant files from the open menu.
• Attribute popup menus from bottom of window
• Magnification feedback now has popup at bottom of window
• Show cursor position area now popups palette menu
• Option close closes all documents
• Select layer tool hilites when clicked to show you are in that mode
• All previously modal dialogs made movable modal
• Can show areas on Metapolygons
• Can resize groups by X and Y as well as percent in the resize palette
• Added crop marks if required to edge of printed paper as Dreams used to
• Move Object dialog has Apply button as well as Move button
• Cross hairs when resizing objects if cross hairs are turned on
• If you double click a file in the Finder will bring that document's window to the front if it is already open.
• Save grid snapping values in preferences, especially if grid snap is set to none
• Duplicate with control key down will now not duplicate locked objects.
• Control-option-click with arrow tool selects layer of object clicked on.
• Option key down on entering dimensions toggles format to 'arrows inside'.
• Control key down on entering dimensions make the dimension line a hairline.
• MacDraft 5.0 files are interchangeable with PC Draft 4.3.5 and later.
• Palettes
  • 2.1. Added a new Alignment Palette
  • 2.2. Attribute palette shows current settings
  • 2.3. Attribute palette has new parallel line fill which can be hidden with zoom box
  • 2.4. Arrow head popup menu selects whole line if cursor in middle of line item and draws with correct feedback
  • 2.5. Dimension Palette now has zoom box to hide bottom items so can be used on a 640x480 screen
  • 2.6. Symbol library palette and window now moved in unison so that switching between modes does not cause palette/window to move around the screen unexpectedly.
• Menus
  • 3.1. Added Palettes to Windows menu
  • 3.2. Added option to Tile and Stack Windows
  • 3.3. Expand and Contract object menus
• Tools
  • 4.1. Repeated paste tool
  • 4.2. Edit Datum tool
  • 4.3. Rotate tool
  • 4.4. Hand tool
  • 4.5. Inclusive and exclusive marquee selection tools
  • 4.6. Tool Options menu item
  • 4.7. Eye dropper tool works with parallel fill attributes
  • 4.8. Eye dropper is now undoable
• Drawing
  • 5.1. Created 3 line types (square, blade, and round)
  • 5.2. Can now draw double lines off double lines without having to break up first
  • 5.3. Bezier has rubber deletion facility of freehand polygon
  • 5.4. Bezier gives feedback with mouse up. Also only shows first and current bezier tangents
  • 5.5. Backspace deletes last point of polygons, splines or beziers
  • 5.6. Shift key unlocks constrained lines on entry
  • 5.7. Shift key constrains Rects, Elipses and Rounded Rectangles when resizing
  • 5.8. Calculate arc bounds differently if filled or not filled
  • 5.9. Pictures and text can be flipped
  • 5.10. Pictures support no fill option and filled backgrounds
  • 5.11. Curved dashed lines now drawn much better.
• Text
  • 6.1. Text services at bottom of Text menu for spell checkers and grammer checkers
  • 6.2. Text can be vertically aligned
  • 6.3. Text size now up to 1024 point
  • 6.4. Text size menu now reflects the selected text
  • 6.5. Text popup menu off text tool
  • 6.6. Zoomed in small rotated text drawn MUCH better
  • 6.7. Select a rectangle and start typing inserts a new text object. Rectangle is automatically linked to this new text object.
  • 6.8. Click on selected text object to start editing
  • 6.9. Handles work on caption text tools to resize font size
  • 6.10. When changing scales, any text objects can either be scaled or not.

Bug Fixes

• Arrange menu in Layer dialog did not work first time
• Now saves document and palette window size and position if saved on second screen
• Now zooms document and palette windows correctly on multiple monitors
• Show area menu greying has been corrected
• If show area on an object, the info palette showed nothing
• Holding shift key down AFTER editing bezier straightens handles
• Command click in Edit datum mode exits that mode
• Command click with eye dropper and marker tool goes back to arrow tool
• Dimensioning did not print on a second page of a high res printer
• Area fills were missed out after certain lengths on a high resolution printer
• Corrected inaccuracies in bounding rectangles
• Metapolygons calculate extents correctly
• Speed up in redraws
• Linear duplicate framed a rounded rectangle when clicking two directions radio button
• Edit Datum only greyed in when one object selected
• Resizing polygons left ghosts if you had smooth text on.
• Zoom line weights did not differenciate between 0.75, 0.5 and hairline if zoomed in.
• Dashed arcs and circles draw MUCH better.
• Easier to select an arc segment when zoomed in.
• Find/Replace. The replace with Use mouse will not find items with a blank string
• Duplicate with no offset will not move view at high magnifications.
• Do not unconstrain angle constrained lines unless user types in a different angle.
• Added "including original" text into the copies item in the linear and circular duplicate dialog
• Removed "by center" and "by datum" radio buttons in duplicate dialog as did the same thing
• Document Shift Page Up and Page Down does Page Left and Page Right.
• Using the arrows keys after a duplicate now updates the duplication offset for further duplications.

New Features / Improvements

• Made MacDraft MacOS 9 compatible.
• MacDraft saves and reads PCDraft exchange format.
• MacDraft reads and writes DWG files if the DWG File Exchange library is present.
• Export file command in File menu using QuickTime Graphic Exporters to save as JPEG, BMP etc.
• Selecting New from the File menu selects New Document.
• Added Register and Upgrade Information menus items in Help menu.
• Added Command U back to Ungroup. Command-Shift-G is still valid.
• Command-Shift-D duplicates with no offset.
• MacDraft requires a serial number that matches the version.
• The Reopen Application Apple Event implemented so MacDraft will open a new document if no document is open on double-clicking the application in the Finder.
• MacDraft will now read future versions of MacDraft files but not display unknown objects. They will be saved back when written back to a file.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed overflow bug which resets to origin when zooming out from a large document at a large scale.
• When zooming windows on multiple monitors, the window will zoom to the size of the monitor that it is on, not to the main screen.
• If saving a document which is not on the main monitor, MacDraft will now open it again in the correct position and not on the main monitor.
• Added "open" and "kind" resources.
• Grey out Select All Text menu if entering text.
• Does not crash after reading DXF files.

New Features / Improvements

• The MacDraft PDF documentation can now be accessed from within MacDraft using the system wide Help menu.
• DXF importing is now much more robust and able to cope with files created with Revision 14 of the DXF specification.
• Opening files (especially PICT) is now much faster.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crashing bug that could sometimes occur when opening a MacDraft Symbol Library.
• When creating PICTs (either via the Clipboard, Drag & Drop or saving to a PICT file) the colors of objects saved in the PICT were subtly different to those in the original document. This meant that if that same PICT was later re- imported into MacDraft, those colors would probably not match "equivalent" colors in MacDraft’s standard color table, and hence could not be selectable from the Fill or Pen Color pop-up menu. This problem was compounded by the following bug...
• MacDraft documents saved with additional colors to those in MacDraft’s standard color table would lose those colors when the document was reopened. Items that used those colors would then be drawn in black (or random colors). This and the previous bug have existed in all versions of MacDraft since at least version 4.2.2 (and probably earlier). We are amazed that they have gone unnoticed for so long.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crashing bug that could sometimes occur when opening a MacDraft Symbol Library.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed FAXstfTM conflict. If the user cancelled the FAXstf password dialog that is displayed after choosing Print from MacDraft, the program would sometimes crash.

New Features / Improvements

• Added "Select Arrow Too"' and "Select Zoom Too" menu commands to the Palettes submenu. Their command key equivalents are Command-’ and Command-Shift-’ respectively. These commands can also be assigned to a Short-Key of your choice.
• ShortKeys menu. As well as assigning commands to the function keys F5 to F15, you can now also assign commands to Shift-F5 to Shift-F15. E.g. To assign a command to Shift-F5, press Control-Shift-F5. (This feature was actually present in MacDraft 4.3, but was never documented anywhere. Congratulations if you had already found it.)
• When opening documents which use unavailable fonts, MacDraft now retains the original font information for text objects unless the user explicitly changes it. Although any text using missing fonts will display incorrectly, if the document is saved and then opened on a computer where the font is available, it will display correctly. To determine if a docu-ment uses any missing fonts look at the Font menu; missing fonts will be displayed dimmed above the installed fonts.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed crashing bug when attempting to use Command-key equivalents of some menu items when no documents are open.
• MacDraft is now usable if you have no printer driver chosen.
• When doing free rotations in minutes or seconds it now possible to step back to degrees or minutes using the Command key. This feature went missing in MacDraft 4.3.
• When opening documents saved on other computers, MacDraft could get confused about which fonts to use, even if the same fonts existed on both computers.

There are many improvements and new features in MacDraft 4.3. For a full description of these, please read the printed "User Guide Addendum". The following is a brief description of the main changes. Existing users who wish to get started straight away should, at least, read section 7 of the addendum for important changes to the Command-Key equivalents of MacDraft.

This section deals with features that are not mentioned in the addendum, or have changed since it was printed. The addendum refers to a sample Librarian file called "Furniture Library"; this file has been renamed to "MacDraft™ Libraries Sampler". Added a Close All command (Command-Option-W). This will close all of the open MacDraft document windows. The Align command has been renamed to Align Again to better clarify its meaning. This command allows you to align objects using the settings previously defined in the Alignment Options dialog.

New Features / Improvements

• Drag and Drop support. Objects can now be dragged in and out of MacDraft document windows, both from other MacDraft windows and other applications.
• ShortKeys Menu. This menu allows you to assign your most commonly used menu commands to the function keys (F5 - F15).
• Rotate 90° Tool. This new tool allows a quick means of doing 90° rotations to the selected objects.
• Attributes Tool. This tool allows you to copy and apply attributes in the same way as using the Copy Attributes and
• Apply Attributes menu commands.
• Marquee Zoom. The zoom tool now allows you to drag out an area to zoom in on.
• Cancellable actions. Most drawing actions (ie creating and modifying objects) can now be aborted using Escape or Command-Period.
• Improved layout of many alerts and dialog boxes.
• Alignment Options now supports a wider range of options.
• "Command-Click" shortcuts that were used to exit the current drawing tool have been removed. You can now use the new Escape or Command-Period keyboard shortcuts. This now allows the Command key to be used to temporarily turn off the grid snapping while using the drawing tools.
• PICT support has been dramatically improved, MacDraft documents saved as PICT should no longer lose any infor- mation(*) when reopened in MacDraft (assuming that they haven't been edited somewhere else first). Full MacDraft PICT compatibility is required, as it is used by Drag and Drop for external data. (*)The two known outstanding exceptions to this are - Areas and Point to Point dimension lines. Areas will lose their links to the parent object, and Point to Point dimension lines will be broken into Text and line objects. We will be addressing these problems in a future release of MacDraft.
• The icons used by the Finder have been improved and now include small versions. (You may need to rebuild the desktop database to see the changes, by holding down the Command and Option keys when the Finder launches at the end of startup.)
• On-screen display of rotated text has been improved to remove unwanted visual artifacts. It is also drawn up to twice as fast as previous versions.
• The state of the Absolute/Relative mode in the Move dialog is now remembered for subsequent openings of the dia- log.
• Preview images are now added when saving in MacDraft or PICT format (requires QuickTimeTM).
• The standard Open dialog supports file previews (requires QuickTime).
• MacDraft now makes more use of the system’s Temporary memory to reduce the chances of running out of memory.
• DXF reading code has been improved to better support files from PCs. Please see the separate file for further DXF info.
• When auto-scrolling a MacDraft window during a drawing operation, the maximum scroll speed is now pinned to something more manageable on modern computers.
• The Escape key can now also be used in places where Command-Period is used as a means of cancelling.
• Invisible files are no longer displayed in the standard Open dialog.
• The selected format is now remembered between uses of the Open dialog, and it has been defaulted to "MacDraft" instead of "All".
• The pattern editor can now be used on 16 and 32 bit monitors. It has also been enhanced.
• Saving files (especially PICT) is now much faster.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed crashing bug under Mac OS 8 when the System Wide Appearance setting was off.
• Now disallow any shapes that have an attached "Area Calculation" from being added to other shapes. Previously it was possible, using the Add Tool, to add a shape that was showing its area - this resulted in the area becoming de- tached from the original shape (which in fact had been deleted) and the program would crash if the area was clicked- on.
• Opening MacDraft 3.0 files that contained an empty text object caused a crash when the object was part of a group.
• Switching between the different Unit Standards often resulted in objects being the wrong size. i.e. something that was drawn as 1" in decimal inches did not get changed to 2.54cm when the units were changed to Metric cms. There was a similar problem when changing from decimal feet to another units setting.
• Objects pasted between documents with different "Unit" formats are now scaled correctly - this was not always the case previously, especially when one of them was using decimal feet.
• Paper sizes were being calculated wrongly for some printer drivers (especially the ImageWriter).
• Numerous minor bugs have been fixed.
• Eliminated all known memory leaks