I'm not able to get the program to perform the most basic functions such as draw a circle or square or a triangle. Some of the other tools work but not many. I tried uninstalling using iObit Uninstaller and reinstalling from the Inkscape site using exe. The first time around I downloaded using compressed archive in 7z format 64 bit. With the first install I was able to draw an ellipsis and circle but that no longer worked on the second download.

I'm beginning to suspect I will have to reinstall Microsoft Edge which I had uninstalled because it was muscling in on functions that had worked perfectly well before I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 such as Acrobat Reader. 

Are there any other possible fixes that come to mind?

Thank you.

Peter

The most likely reason is that you've managed to get some settings that are causing objects to be drawn invisibly. This could be because they've got no stroke or fill, because of opacity or alpha, because of filters, or a number of other reasons. Try the following to at least determine if that's the problem:

1. Launch Inkscape
2. Select the ellipse tool.
3. Click and hold the mouse in the canvas area, then drag down and to the right a bit. Release the mouse button.
4. Assuming you can't see the ellipse, switch to outline view via the menu: View > Display Mode > Outline.

If you can see a thin outline of the ellipse, then Inkscape is drawing it okay, but something about the settings is making it invisible. Select it, take a screenshot of the whole window (make sure particularly to include the status bar at the bottom) and attach it to your reply and we may be able to help.

On Thu, 2020-06-18 at 14:12 -0400, Peter Hudiburg wrote:
> Hello,
>
> After your initial reply to my request for help you suggested that I
> put the screen into outline mode of view in order to see the outline
> of an ellipsis I drew and send you a picture of my results. I did
> send you a picture showing that outline of the ellipse but I didn't
> receive your reply. So I am sending you another picture of the same
> problem. How can I fix the problem so that I can use Inkscape?
>
> Here is another attached of the outline of an ellipse.
>
> On Tue, Jun 9, 2020 at 7:07 AM <webmaster@inkscape.org> wrote:
> > Dear hudiburg1,
> >
> > A new post on the topic "My inkscape is not working properly" by
> > Xav:
> > ---
> > The most likely reason is that you've managed to get some settings
> > that are causing objects to be drawn invisibly. This could be
> > because they've got no stroke or fill, because of opacity or alpha,
> > because of filters, or a number of other reasons. Try the following
> > to at least determine if that's the problem:Launch InkscapeSelect
> > the ellipse tool.Click and hold the mouse in the canvas area, then
> > drag down and to the right a bit. Release the mouse button.Assuming
> > you can't see the ellipse, switch to outline view via the menu:
> > View > Display Mode > Outline.If you can see a thin outline of the
> > ellipse, then Inkscape is drawing it okay, but something about the
> > settings is making it invisible. Select it, take a screenshot of
> > the whole window (make sure particularly to include the status bar
> > at the bottom) and attach it to your reply and we may be able to
> > help.
> > ----
> > Link:
> > http://www.inkscape.org/forums/questions/my-inkscape-is-not-working-properly/#c13874
> >
> >
> > All the best,
> >  Inkscape.org Website

However you sent your first reply, it didn't make it to this thread. Did you perhaps reply to the notification email? That won't work - you need to come to the forum and post, as you appear to have done with your most recent submission.

Regarding the attachment: what I requested was a screenshot, rather than the SVG file, so that we could also see some details of your Inkscape setup. Nevertheless, on opening the file in Inkscape I can see that the ellipse has the opacity set to zero - making it transparent. Setting that to 100% won't be enough on its own, however, as it also has no fill and the stroke is unset, so even at full opacity there's not actually anything visible to draw.

Please try the following:

1. Make sure you're looking at the normal view (View > Display Mode > Normal), not the outline view.
2. Edit > Select All to select everything in the drawing. You should see a selection box around the invisible ellipse, and the status bar at the bottom of the screen should indicate that the ellipse is selected.
3. In the bottom-right section of the window, find the "O:" field. Right-click on it and select 100%.
4. Left-click on one of the colour swatches that run near the bottom of the window to set the fill colour. Try something bright for now, such as red.
5. You should now be able to see the ellipse.
6. Hold Shift and click another swatch to set the stroke colour. Something that contrasts with the fill, such as black.
7. The stroke may not be very obvious. Right-click on the number next to the Stroke box at the very bottom left of the window, and select a larger value.

Please report back as to whether or not that worked.

Thank you very much Xav! :) I have just installed the last version of Inkscape and had the same issue.

Solved with point 3.