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This article or section documents something not included in the current version of Scratch (3.0). It is only useful from a historical perspective. |
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It has been suggested that this page's contents be merged with the page Hidden Features (1.4). You can discuss this on the page's talk page. (May 2022) |
In the Scratch Forums, Scratch Team member natalie published and stickied a forum thread titled Scratch Secrets.[1] It listed many unknown tips and tricks, many of which improve a Scratcher's programming skills and/or speed. Since natalie's post, the list has expanded.
Some of them are related to Shift Secrets (1.4).
Tips
Here are some of the lesser known Scratch tips:
Sprites
- See also: Sprite
Select "Show" to show a sprite that's off-screen or hidden.
- Finding a sprite — To show a sprite that is off-screen or hidden, right-click on its thumbnail in the sprite list and select "Show".
To make a sprite from a costume, right-click the wanted costume and select "turn into new sprite".
- Costumes into sprites — To turn a costume into a separate sprite, right-click on the required costume and select "Turn into new sprite". Keep in mind, this will remove the costume from the current sprite, and transfer it to a new sprite, rather than duplicating it so each sprite has a copy. To let each sprite have a copy, paint a new sprite (just a dot will do), and drag the wanted costume over the sprite's thumbnail.
To carefully rotate a sprite, drag the blue line over its thumbnail. - Easy sprite rotation — To carefully rotate a sprite, drag the blue line on its thumbnail. In addition, if wanted to quickly set it back to 90 degrees, just double-click the sprite thumbnail.
To delete a sprite from its thumbnail, right-click on it and select "delete".
To delete a sprite with the scissor option, click on the scissor icon in the upper middle-right menu and click on the required sprite.
- Deleting sprites — To delete a sprite from its thumbnail, right-click on it and select "Delete". Alternatively, select the scissors from the upper middle-right menu and click on the required sprite to delete. To delete many sprites, hold down ⇧ Shift while clicking. Another method is to drag sprites off the viewing area and drop them in the block palette and they are automatically deleted.
To rearrange sprite thumbnails, drag them to the wanted order. - Rearranging sprite thumbnails — Drag the thumbnails around to the wanted order. To rearrange costumes, drag the thumbnails to the required order.
- Rearranging costumes — Drag the thumbnails to the correct order.
To "carve" graphics from the background, right-click on it and select "grab screen region for new sprite". - Taking graphics from the background — To "carve" graphics from the background, right-click on it and select "grab screen region for new sprite".
Easy way to copy, delete, etc.
- Using the Toolbox — To paste, copy, delete, shrink sprite, or grow a sprite, just click one of the buttons and click on the sprite wanted to effected. The proper names for these tools are Stamp (copy), Scissors (delete), Shrink Sprite (same), Grow Sprite (same).
Blocks and Scripts
- Moving blocks to another sprite — To move a script to another sprite, drag the stack over the receiving sprite's thumbnail and release once a white halo is seen. The halo normally appears to the leftmost slot, if the block is so large it spans two slots.
To move a script to another sprite, drag them over the receiving sprite's thumbnail and release. - Straightening scripts — To place all scripts into a vertical line, right-click the Scripts Area and select "clean up".
To place your scripts in a vertical line, right-click the Scripts Area and select "clean up". - Receiving help — To receive help about a block, right-click it and select "help".
To find help for a block, right-click it and select "help". - Blocks inside others — Some blocks can fit inside others - blocks with curved edges can fit inside holes with typeable contents or some drop-down boxes, for example.
switch costume to [costume v] if <(size) < (mouse x)> then go to x: (timer) y: (loudness) end
- To place a block in a gap, drag it over the wanted area and release.
- Updating default values in blocks — To update the default values of specific blocks in palettes, leave the palette and enter it again, or just click on the palette name again.
To update default X and Y values in some blocks in the Motion palette, leave it and enter it again.
Paint Editor
- See also: Paint Editor
- Cropping images — To remove part of an image, select part of it with the selection tool and push ← Backspace or Delete. To crop it, press ⇧ Shift and ← Backspace or Delete.
To crop an image, select part of it and press ⇧ Shift, ← Backspace or Delete - Copy and paste — to copy part of an image, select part of it with the selection tool, then press Ctrl and C. (Like many other programs this is a shortcut to copy.) Move the created selection to your desired location. To paste, click outside the selection, or change to a different tool.
- Image rotation — To rotate part (or all) of an image, select it and push one of the rotation buttons.
To rotate part (or all) of an image, select it and push one of the rotation buttons. - Precise rotation — To rotate an image by a given amount of degrees, shift-click one of the rotation buttons and input a number.
To rotate an image by a given amount of degrees, shift-click the buttons and enter a number. - Precise size edits — To grow or shrink an image to a given percentage, shift-click one of the size buttons and input
a percentage.
- Continuous stamping — To continuously stamp an image without multiple clicks, hold Shift while the mouse is down.
- Easy squares — To draw a square, hold ⇧ Shift while drawing a rectangle.
- Easy circles — To draw a circle, hold ⇧ Shift while drawing an oval.
- Easy lines — To draw a vertical or horizontal line, hold ⇧ Shift= while drawing a line.
- Opposite color selection — To import a color from the palette into the color storage piece, hold ⇧ Shift while selecting
a color or click the arrow to the right of the color storage and select the second color.
- Selecting colors outside the editor — Hold the eyedropper tool and move it out of the editor.
- Editing the thickness of the circle and the rectangle tools — To do this, simply change the thickness of the brush on the pen tool.
- Undoing — To undo an action, simply press Ctrl and Z on the keyboard.
Reporters, Variables, and Lists
- See also: Reporter Block, Variable, and List
- Showing Stage Monitors — Check the boxes on the left of each value block.
- Changing displays — Double-click the display for it to change to the next.
To swiftly change a display, double-click the stage monitor. - Importing/Exporting Lists — Right click the list, then select the option of choice. The list will be saved as a .txt file.
Keyboard Shortcuts
It should be noted that some of these are repeats from above.
- Deleting multiple sprites — Hold ⇧ Shift while using the Scissors tool to delete more than one sprite in one go.
To delete multiple sprites in one go with the scissors tool, hold ⇧ Shift while doing so. - Saving — Ctrl and S saves the project. That is also the save shortcut for many other programs.[citation needed]
Other
- Dragging images into Scratch — One can drag images into Scratch by selecting them and dragging them in, where they will appear as costumes on the selected sprite.
- Animated GIFs — One can drag animated GIFs into Scratch, where they will become a series of costumes on the selected sprite.
- Web browsers, Word, and other programs (on Windows) — One can drag images from many locations into Scratch, where they become costumes.
- Quick project opening — One can open a Scratch project by dragging one in.
