I've found it frustrating (limiting) that I can't see more than 3 decimal places for coordinates (and thicknesses, etc.). I googled about it more than a few times thinking "there must be a way..." Usually, what I read was that Inkscape will respect/retain higher precision if the user types such a number into the field. The 3-decimal display is just a compromise between visual simplicity and reasonable precision most people would like to see.

That sounds reasonable. But, it feels rough not able to see (in any way) the more-precise value if it's typed in. It seems like a hover pop-up (in the input field for that value, of an existing object) would be a good compromise between easy-on-the-eyes default display, and deliberate "no, show me!" I can understand you don't want excessively-detailed value display as a default. But, there should be some way to see a precise value if more than the default 3-places is entered. I should be able confirm that somehow (without browsing the .svg xml). A hover "tip" value? Or, object properties? (I expected to find it there, but a hover access would be easier to access.).

Another idea would be to make displayed decimal places configurable? I like how Sketch Up! does it. They don't ask for decimal places (which is dry, math-oriented). They ask "1/4-inch? 1/8? 1/16? 1/32?" That directly corresponds to 2-places, 3-, 4, and 5, respectively. It's easier to comprehend the precision needed when stated as subdivisions of a ruler. E.g., 5-places sounds tedious until you realize it's just 1/32" (no more tedious than many rulers that show those lines). 

It would still be confusing that internal/project precision is defined in one area (output svg?) area, but the display precision would be configured elsewhere. I think a hover "tip" display of the value would be better than configurable display precision. (Or, show it in the object properties, at least. It seems rough to not be able to see it anywhere.).

[EDIT: I added a comment to the gitlab "issue" which Tyler referred to two posts below.]

I don't know how helpful you might find this, but an extension was made to be able to get coordinates of multiple selected nodes. https://gitlab.com/kaalleen/inspect-nodes/.

This version allows you to input how many digits are shown after the decimal. I personally use this extension to check whether two or more nodes that are supposed to be snapped to each other do, indeed, have the exact same coordinates.

Seems like a preferences setting would be useful.

You can add your comments to this request: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/7334

Someone replied to me on GitLab saying: "simply change the scale of the document to e.g. 0.1, then you get more precision for free." Could someone tell me how to do that? (I didn't want to clutter that feature request with an apparently basic question.).

Thanks in advance.

The Document Properties dialog has a scale setting. That numeric value can be changed to move the decimal point... moving it one point to the left will make everything 10x larger in relation to the real world, but within Inkscape, you won't see a difference. 

It's no different than you working with values 10x greater... you can regard the first digit to the left of the decimal as .1 and scale back down later. 

TylerDurden

you can regard the first digit to the left of the decimal as .1 and scale back down later. 

Thank you. That's pretty clever & works. That would be a way to view position/size values with more precision (shifting decimal places left).  But, it's confusing too because you have to translate the sizes as 10x less. A lot of "which way am I going here" while looking at numbers. 

I saw another clever way to work in smaller subdivisions of an inch than 1/8" (1/8 is three decimal places. 1/16 is four.). That post recommends working in units of points. Apparently points directly correlate to the inch. 4.5 pt is 1/16". So, working in units of points (a unit smaller than an inch) you make more decimal places available. That's kind of cool, but hard to constantly translate in the mind.

I anticipate less-technical people having to orient themselves to my drawing. So, these workarounds would be harder to communicate than the drawing itself. :) I've landed on storing the actual values in guides which don't truncate/round to 3 decimals. I can tell people to find the real value there. (That led to guides being exceptionally busy to look at. I opened another issue about grouping guides by layer, or something like that so it wasn't all or nothing.

Hopefully, the display decimal places will eventually be more customizable (or hovering over an input field will reveal the more precise value).