| I want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| See how the finished piece will look | Realistic preset |
| Edit comfortably, day to day | Flat Colors preset |
| Tell two close shades apart | Symbols + Colors preset, or Symbols at a lower opacity |
| See the chart the way it'll print in black and white | B&W Symbols preset |
| Count stitches or find the center | Turn on Grid, Center Lines and Rulers |
| Know how big the design will be on fabric | Measure the rulers in centimeters or inches |
| Judge colors without outlines in the way | Turn off Backstitches for a moment |
| Preview it on the fabric you'll actually use | Pick a fabric color and turn on the texture |
| Speed up a slow canvas | Flat Colors, and hide helpers you don't need |
View Options
Choose what you see while you work: colors, symbols or a realistic stitched look, plus grid, fabric, backstitch and rulers. None of it changes your PDF.
- Where to find it
- Top right → View (eye icon)
Keyboard & modifiers
- Escape
- Close the View panel
Basics
What do you want to see while you work? Laying in big color areas, you want plain colors. Checking two close shades, you want symbols. Showing a friend, you want it to look stitched. View Options switch between these in a click.
None of it touches your stitches or your PDF. It only changes the screen, and the PDF chart has its own settings. The one exception is fabric color, which belongs to the pattern. Stitchmate remembers your view between sessions.
Open it with View (the eye icon) in the top-right corner of the editor. Close it with Escape.
What do you want to see?
View presets
Most of the time a preset is all you need. Each one sets the look, symbols, grid, center lines and fabric texture together:
| Preset | What you see | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Realistic | Shaded stitches on textured fabric, no grid | Admiring the result, screenshots to share |
| Flat Colors | Solid color blocks with the grid and center lines | Everyday editing |
| Symbols + Colors | Flat colors with a symbol on every stitch, grid on | Telling close shades apart, checking before export |
| B&W Symbols | Black symbols on white, grid on | Seeing it as a printed black-and-white chart |
Every preset shows backstitch. Tweak something small, like the grid, and the panel still marks the preset you started from.
Want just one thing different? Customize… under the presets lists every setting with its own switch. The back arrow returns you to the presets.
Tip: For cleanup work, use Flat Colors and press Shift+C for ConfettiScope. Stray stitches stand out without symbol clutter. Keep the FLOW view open in the Check tab to watch the score climb.
Symbols
When two shades look almost the same on screen, a symbol on each stitch tells them apart. Symbols also help when you're zoomed out, and they show you what the printed chart will look like.
- Symbols: Off, Colored (symbols over the stitch colors) or B&W (black symbols on white). Turning symbols on switches the look to Flat.
- Symbol Opacity: how strongly the symbols show, 0–100%. The default is 80%; the two symbol presets use 100%. Around 50–60% you see the color and can still read the symbol.
- Symbol Size: how big the symbols are inside each square, 50–120%. It's the same range as the PDF, so you can try a size on screen first, but it only changes the screen. The PDF has its own Symbol size.
- Empty squares: Blank or Dots. Dots mark the squares with no stitch, so blank areas are easy to count. The progress tracker follows this choice.
Which symbols your chart uses is set by its symbol style, not here. The style belongs to the pattern, so the editor and the PDF always match.
While you're adjusting colors, symbols hide on their own so you can judge the change, and come back when you Apply or Cancel.
Render style
This is how the stitches themselves are drawn.
| Style | What you see | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|
| Realistic | Shaded stitches that look like thread | You want to preview the finished piece |
| Flat | Solid color blocks | You're editing: quick to draw and easy to read |
| Lines | Crossed stitch marks, like a traditional chart | You're used to reading charts that way |
New users start on Flat. Picking a render style turns symbols off. Diamond painting, fuse beads and C2C crochet don't offer Lines, since their pieces fill the whole square and Lines would look the same as Flat.
Backstitches
Outlines help you judge definition and detail, but they get in the way when you're working on colors underneath. Switch Backstitches off to hide every backstitch line, and back on when you're done. It's on by default, and hiding it doesn't remove anything. Diamond painting has no backstitch, so the switch isn't there.
To draw or edit backstitch, see the Backstitch tool.
Grid
The grid is for counting and placing things precisely, the same way you'd count on a paper chart.
- Grid: shows the lines between stitches, with a bold line every 10 stitches by default.
- Center Lines: a crosshair through the middle of the pattern, for symmetrical designs and for counting from the center the way many stitchers start.
For more control, click Grid in the top-right corner of the editor (or Settings under Grid in the View panel). There you can change:
- Grid: line color and opacity, line widths, and Block size: bold lines every 5, 10 or 20 stitches.
- Rulers: see Ruler settings.
- Center lines: color, opacity and thickness.
- Symmetry lines: how the mirror lines look while Brush symmetry is on.
Reset to defaults puts everything back.
Tip: Hide the grid for a moment when comparing colors. Grid lines can make subtle shade differences harder to see.
Fabric
A design can look completely different on cream Aida than on black. Pick your fabric color here to see the pattern on what you'll actually stitch on, and turn on Fabric to see the weave texture under your stitches. For needlepoint and diamond painting it's called Canvas.
The fabric color list has Zweigart Aida colors and a search field. It sets the color you see through empty squares and around the design.
Unlike everything else on this page, fabric color is saved with the pattern. It's the same setting as in the import settings, and the PDF cover preview and shared images use it too, unless you pick another color in the export settings.
In B&W Symbols the fabric is always white and these settings are grayed out.
Rulers & scrollbars
Rulers number the rows and columns along the edges of the chart, so you never lose count. They stay at the edges as you move around. While they're on, a dropdown under Rulers in Customize… sets how they count:
- Count from corner: 1, 2, 3… from the top-left, the way a printed chart is numbered.
- Count from center: 0 on the center lines, counting outward each way. Handy if you start stitching from the middle.
When you select an area, the rulers mark its edges and number them, so you can read its size and position at a glance.
Scrollbars can go if you'd like a cleaner screen; you can still move around by dragging and with your trackpad. Tablets and phones don't have them.
Both are on by default.
Ruler settings
Click Grid in the top right, then Ruler settings:
- Measure in: Stitches (the default), or a length. See below.
- Ruler numbers: On stitches puts each number on the stitch it counts, like a printed chart. On grid lines puts it on the line after that stitch, so it reads as a distance from the edge.
- Count: from the corner or from the center, as above.
Measure in centimeters or inches
Want to know whether the design fits your frame, or how big to cut the fabric? Set Measure in to the length option and the rulers show the design's real size on fabric instead of counting stitches.
- It reads Centimeters or Inches, following Measurement Units in Settings. Change it there to switch.
- The size comes from the pattern's fabric count (halved for evenweave or linen stitched over two), or from the drill or bead size. The panel spells it out, for example "5.5 stitches to the centimeter on Aida 14 count."
- Numbers land on round values: 1, 2, 5 cm, or halves and quarters of an inch.
- A selection's edges are measured in the same unit, so you can check how big one motif will be.
On phones and tablets
Tap View (the eye icon) in the top bar. The same presets and Customize… settings open from the bottom of the screen. Settings under Grid has the grid controls, Rulers measure in, and Ruler numbers.
Tips & gotchas
- Your PDF is safe. Nothing here changes the PDF chart. Only fabric color is part of the pattern.
- Overlay images never export either. They are for your screen only, toggled with U.
- ConfettiScope only shows. It highlights stray stitches but doesn't change any. The cleanup tools do that.
- Something "disappeared"? Check the layer's eye icon in the Layers panel, then the View settings. It's almost always one of those.
- Canvas feels slow? Switch to Flat Colors and hide helpers you don't need. Realistic works the graphics card harder, especially on large patterns zoomed in.
- Center lines help with symmetry. With Brush symmetry on, they show where the mirror falls.
- Ruler lengths look wrong? Check the fabric count in the pattern's settings. The length comes from it.
Guides and free tools
How to read cross stitch patterns: symbols and key
How to read cross stitch patterns: what the symbols mean, how the key works, the grid, stitch types, multi-page charts, and paper vs digital. Beginner guide.
Aida Count Explained: 11 vs 14 vs 16 vs 18 Count (Stitches Per Inch, cm, and Finished Size)
14-count Aida = 14 stitches per inch (5.5 per cm). Compare 11, 14, 16, and 18 count side by side — finished size in inches and cm, strands, needles, and detail.