Pencil tool not complying to width (v.6)

[David.P]

Hi forum and Tracker support team,

I just tried to write some notes, using the pencil tool, to a PDF file on a Windows 10 tablet with PDF-XChange Editor v.6 Build 322.7 (can't update to v.7 at the moment in this case).

During writing, the line is draw with the width as set in the pencil tool properties (e.g. 6 pt). However, as soon as I release the pencil, the line width of the note snaps back to minimum (actually infinitesimally thin, i.e. 1 pixel regardless of page zoom), and also can't be changed to a larger width afterwards. If I try and change the line width of the freehand comment afterwards, only the width of the drawings' bounding box seems to change, but not the line width itself.

Strangely, on my desktop PC (also with Windows 10 and PDF-XChange Editor v.6 Build 322.7), the pencil tool works correctly, including display of any line width.

Thanks for any ideas what could be the cause of this,

Regards
David.P

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hi David,

Could it be that you've turned on the "Thin Lines" feature on the tablet device?
By default the shortcut for that is Ctrl-5 and pressing it a second time will toggle the widths back to normal.

Regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Hello Stefan,

that sure enough was the reason! Now all is set.

Thank you,
Cheers
David
--
PS/edit: one more question regarding touch -- while it is easy to move things around on the page, I don't seem to be able to resize comments using touch -- neither by finger nor by pencil. It either does not react, or it shows the context menu instead of resizing. Am I doing something wrong, or is this maybe a limitation of v.6?

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hi David,

Glad to hear the original issue is resolved.
As for the resizing on touch devices - I do not have one at hand to try out myself, but it could indeed be an issue with V6 that has already been fixed.
Are the reasons you can't update to V7 on that device technical?

Regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Hi Stefan,

I shall try the touch performance on v.7 as soon as I have migrated over from v.6.

The only thing that still keeps me from doing so is the transfer of the extensive v.6 customizations on my devices to the respective v.7 installations.

But I'm almost done doing it this way.

Cheers
David

[Willy Van Nuffel]

Just an additional question about the "thin lines" switch (CTRL + 5):

"Is there a special reason why this option does still not have a check box (ON/OFF) somewhere in the preferences ?".

Regards.

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Not a special reason, But a generic reason.
Simply put, it is a command, as it changes the appearance of the current document (without altering the output), as such its toggle is in the commands menu under customize toolbars instead of the preferences menu.
This would be somewhat like having a checkbox for the hand or select text tools in the preferences menu.