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Setting background color/pattern of Inkscape workspace to distinguish transparency

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.

Solution

  • 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.