Understanding the Pointer Shapes

[Previous] [Next]

The drawing or editing tool you use determines the mouse pointer's shape. Paint's default tool is the Pencil, and the pointer shape corresponding to that tool is the pencil shape. At other times during your work in Paint, it won't be quite so clear from the pointer shape which tool you've selected. Table 34-1, shows the variety of pointer shapes Paint uses.

Table 34-1. Mouse Pointer Shapes Used in Paint

Pointer	Used with These Tools
	Free-Form Select, Select, Text, Line, Curve, Rectangle, Polygon, Ellipse, Rounded Rectangle
	Eraser
	Fill With Color
	Pick Color
	Magnifier
	Pencil
	Brush
	Airbrush

When you work with text in Paint, the mouse pointer is replaced by an insertion point and an I-beam. These look and function exactly like the insertion point and I-beam in WordPad and other text-processing programs.