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Block

Line

A single drawn rule — the hairline that separates one part of the page from the next.

What it is for

A Line is a thin rule drawn across the band the block takes. In the flow of the page it spans the full width of the column it sits in, and you can shorten it, align it, and change how heavy and how solid it looks. Use it to separate a heading from its text, to mark a signature line, or to tear off a slip.

Choose something else when you want a line under one block's text: give that block a bottom border in its Box section, which stays attached when you move it. For a filled panel or a frame use a Rectangle. For a line that belongs to a label and its value (an underlined form row) use Label + value, which draws its own rule.

Add and edit it

Choose Line from the Shapes group of the block palette, or search for "line", "rule" or "separator". Select it on the page and edit it in the side panel; double-clicking a Line does not open anything. Drag it by its handle to move it, and use its menu (⋮ on the block bar, or right-click) to duplicate, move or delete it.

In the flow of the page you set only the Height; the width is the column's. Pin the block (the Anchor button) to place and size it at an exact spot on the page, and drag its handles.

Settings

  • Thickness (millimetres, 0 or more; default 0.4). How heavy the ink is. Only the ink: it never changes the room the block takes.
  • Color (default black). A light grey reads as a quiet separator; black is a hard division.
  • Style: Solid (default), Dashed or Dotted. Dashes and dots scale with the thickness.
  • Length: Full width (default), Fixed (mm) or Percent. Picking one of the last two shows a value box. A length longer than the space available is cut back to the space available.
  • Align: Left (default), Center or Right. It only matters once the rule is shorter than the full width.
  • Height (millimetres, in the position section). The band the rule is drawn in the middle of. Raise it for more breathing room above and below the rule.

Thickness and Height are different things: Thickness is the ink, Height is how much room the block takes. A 0.3 mm rule in a 4 mm band is a hairline with room around it. The general sections (Box, Visibility) also apply.

Variations and combinations

Full-width separator. A grey 0.3 mm Line, 4 mm high, between a heading and the paragraph under it. The example is line-1.json. With order.number = "SO-1042" the page shows the heading "Order confirmation", a grey rule across the whole text width, then "Thank you for your order SO-1042. We will ship it within two working days."

Short centred signature rule. A black 0.3 mm Line, Length Fixed (mm) 60, Align Center, with the signer's name centred under it. The example is line-2.json. With signer = "Mara Ozols" the page reads: a line of introduction, 15 mm of room (a Spacer), a 60 mm rule in the middle of the page, and "Mara Ozols" under it.

Tear-off line. A dashed 0.4 mm grey Line at Percent 80, centred, 6 mm high, between an instruction and a slip. The example is line-3.json. The rule covers 80 % of the text width whatever the column width is.

Vertical and horizontal

Length and Align work across the width, so they are for horizontal rules. A Line that is pinned to an exact place and drawn taller than it is wide is drawn as a vertical rule instead, which is handy between two columns.

Output differences

  • PDF and web page (HTML). The rule is drawn as set: thickness, colour, style, length and alignment.
  • Word (.docx). A rule becomes a paragraph border. That border always runs the full text width, so a shortened or centred rule prints at full width in Word. Thickness, colour and style carry over (Word's thinnest visible border is a quarter of a point). A vertical rule becomes a left border on a paragraph.

Troubleshooting

  • The line is too faint or too heavy. Change Thickness and Color, not Height.
  • The line is not shortened in the Word file. Expected: see Output differences. Use a table border or accept full width in Word.
  • There is too much empty space around the line. Lower Height, or check margins in Box.
  • I cannot see the line at all. Check the colour: a very light colour on white may not show, and so may a very small Thickness.
  • Align does nothing. The rule is at full width, so there is no slack to align within.