Getting started
Click Start → All Programs → Macromedia → Macromedia FreeHand 10.  Macromedia FreeHand will begin running and a window will pop up. 

To create a new document, choose New.  A blank document will appear.

To open an existing project, click Open.  Find the folder that contains your project, click on the name, and click Open.  The project will appear. 

Work space overview

Main toolbar
The Main toolbar contains the basic commands you use when beginning your FreeHand project.  It contains buttons that allow you to create a new document, open an existing document, save a document, etc. 

Toolbox
Here is where you will find the tools you will use to create your project.  Tools include  Pointer arrow,  Subselect arrow,  Page tool,  Lasso,  Eyedropper,  Text,  Pen,  Bezigon,  Pencil,  Line,  Square,  Polygon,  Ellipse,  Spiral,  Perspective,  Freeform,  Scale,  Rotate,  Reflect,  Skew,  Trace,  Knife,  Hand, and  Zoom.

Inspectors
An inspector panel allows you to display and alter the attributes of objects and pages.  The inspectors include Object, Stroke, Fill, Text, and Document. 

Panels
FreeHand panels are “floating panels” and are able to be moved around the screen.  The panels include Layers, Styles, Swatches, Color Mixer, Tints, Navigation, and Halftones.  (The Navigation and Halftones panels are not in view when you first open FreeHand.  To view them, choose Window → Panels → Navigation/Halftones from the menu bar.) 

Artboard
This is where you place your artwork.  Objects within the black lines will appear on printouts.

Status toolbar
The status toolbar contains page selector buttons as well as pop-up menus for magnification, page view, drawing mode, and units. The toolbar displays messages about the task in progress or the menu command highlighted

Toolbox Extras
When you open Macromedia FreeHand 10, you will notice a tools window located on the left side of the screen. Notice several of the tool options have small arrows in the lower right corner of the button. Each of these tools have different options. To view these options, double click on the tool button you wish to use. The options for that tool will appear in a separate window. Change the options as you wish and click OK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding colors to the swatch
When you first open Macromedia FreeHand 10, you will notice that there are only two colors in the color swatch window: black and white. You can add more of your own colors to the swatch using the Mixer window. There are several ways of doing this. You can click on any of the four buttons on the left side of the window (CMYK, RGB, HLS, or System color picker) or on the Tints tab. As you play with the numbers, the color you have chosen will update in the bottom right hand corner of the window. Once you have your desired color, click on the Add to swatches button. A window will pop up allowing you to name the color. Rename it and click Add. The color is now available on the color swatch for you to use throughout your document.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using paths
Macromedia gives you several tools to use to draw paths.  The tools are located in the tools window on the left side of the screen.  The tool options for drawing paths are the pen, bezigon, pencil, line, rectangle, polygon, ellipse and spiral. 

Once you have selected your tool, you may draw a path on the document.  The shape tools draw paths with either straight or curved sides, depending on the shape.  The pen may be used to draw a straight or a curved path while the pencil draws only curved and the bezigon tool draws only straight paths.  Double click on the last point of the path to make it an endpoint. 

Adding/deleting points on a path
You may add points to a path already draw by using the pen tool and clicking directly on the path.  You may remove points from a path by choosing the white Subselect arrow from the tools window, selecting a point on a path and hitting the delete button on your keyboard.  You may also delete a segment of your path by clicking on the segment with the Subselect arrow and hitting the delete button. 

Editing paths
You may use the Freeform tool to change a path that is already drawn.  Simply click on a point already on the path and move it, or click on a line segment of the path to move it.  You may also change the type of specific points.  To do this, select the white Subselect arrow from the tools window.  Click on the point on the path you wish to edit and choose Windows → Inspector → Object from the menu bar.  The object window will now appear.  On the right side of the window you will see buttons labeled Point type.  Click on the choice of point you would like.  You may now edit the point on your path.  The shape of a path can be changed by editing its anchor points.  You can control curves by dragging the direction points at the end of the direction lines that appear at anchor points. 

Adding text to paths
Using the black pointer arrow, select the path you wish to add text to.  From the menu bar, choose Text → Attach to path.  A blinking cursor will appear on your path and you may begin typing. 

 

Using layers
Layers make it easier to work with very complex drawings.  They allow you to separate elements of your work and change things you want to change without affecting other parts of your drawing. 

If the layers panel is not already open, press F2 to open it.  All FreeHand documents contain a Foreground, Guides, and Background layer.  You have the ability to add more layers to your document by clicking on the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the layers window and clicking New.  To add an object to a layer, click on the name of the layer you wish to modify and draw. 

You may hide layers that you’re not working with by clicking on the check mark to the left of the layer.  The images in that layer will disappear.  To bring them back, click on the place where the checkmark should be. 

You may also lock layers so that they cannot be edited.  Do this by clicking on the lock to the left of the name of the layer you wish to lock.  Now you will be unable to make any accidental changes to that layer. 

Using templates
To avoid design inconsistency, it is possible to create templates for documents that share common design elements.  You can use these templates later for creating new documents.  A template file saves many elements of a FreeHand document including guides, layer information, object styles, paragraph styles, symbols, brushes, and colors. 

To save a document as a template, choose File → Save As from the menu bar.  Enter a name for your template file.  Choose FreeHand Template from the Save as Type pop-up menu.  Choose where you would like to save your file and click Save. 

To change the default template choose Edit → Preferences from the menu bar.  Click Document.  For New Document Template, enter the file name of the template you would like to use.  Click OK. 

Using styles
Styles are another useful way of maintaining consistency throughout your project.  Macromedia FreeHand allows you to create and save different styles to use as part of a template. 

To display the styles panel, choose Window → Panels → Style from the menu bar.  To create a new style, click on the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the style window and click New.  There will now be a new style in the style window.  To edit a style, right click on the style name, and choose Edit…  Make any necessary changes and click OK.  The style is now available for you to use anywhere in your project.

To apply a style to an object, click on the object and choose the style you wish to apply from the style window.  Keep in mind that after you create an object using a style, any changes you make to that style will also be made to the objects you created. 

Saving your work
When finished working, choose File → Save As from the menu bar.  Choose the folder you wish to save in, name your document, and click Save.