Line tool is not drawing lines

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •A new layer appears in the Layer Panel but nothing shows on the canvas
• •The line is selectable but invisible
• •The line is far thinner than expected
• •The line ends do not reach the points you clicked

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   Stroke weight is zero or near zero.

   Set a stroke weight in the Properties Panel. The valid range is 0.1px to 500px — at the bottom of that range a line is effectively invisible.

2. 2

   No stroke color is set.

   Lines render from the stroke, not a fill. Assign a stroke color, and check its alpha is above zero in the color picker.

3. 3

   The Line tool is not active.

   Press L before dragging. Line start and end points can also be typed as absolute X/Y coordinates in the Properties Panel afterwards.

4. 4

   The cap style is changing where the line appears to end.

   Butt caps end exactly at the endpoint; Round and Square caps extend beyond it by half the stroke width. Set Butt when the endpoint must be exact.

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