Setting background color/pattern of Inkscape workspace to distinguish transparency

inkscape
blahdiblah picture blahdiblah · Feb 17, 2012 · Viewed 81.1k times · Source

How can I set the appearance of the background area in Inkscape so that I can tell the difference between an image with a white background and an image with a transparent background?

Many other image view/editing programs have a checkered background for exactly this reason, but I couldn't find anything like that for Inkscape.

Answer

Mike picture Mike · May 2, 2014

In InkScape 0.48:

File > Document Properties > Page > General > Background

Move R, G, and B to 0. Adjust A (Alpha) to your preference (experiment to set to your liking).

Note that this approach will set the color you choose as the background for the saved/exported image.

In InkScape 0.92:

File > Document Properties > Page > General > Background > Checkerboard background

Since version 0.92 (January 2017) you can instead choose a checkered background. This won't effect the background of the saved image, but will override the background shown in InkScape.

Related questions

Removing transforms in SVG files

I have been struggling with this for a while, and can't seem to find an answer (that works) anywhere. I have an SVG file which looks like this: <svg xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" ... width="72.9375" height="58.21875" ...> ... &…

Read More
Inkscape-- convert text to object, dynamic offset. Shift+Ctrl+C failed?

I met a problem when I try to 1> convert a text line into object, apply Path > Object to Path (or Shift+Ctrl+c), 2> then appy 'Path>Dynamic offset' (or Ctrl+J). The text line (let's say "…

Read More
how do I substitute one colour for another, in every object, of an eps file?

I have a vector image that I need to edit and I have inkscape. What I want to do is to substitute one set of coulours of the palette by another. For example, my image has a palette with several …

Read More