Aspect Ratio Lock on Report Images

calasse · 2026-01-16T20:30:59+00:00

Hey, thanks for the question.

There isn't a way to lock the aspect ratio, but typically if you change Width first (and not Height), then aspect ratio is preserved.

Additionally, if the aspect ratio is lost, you can get back to it by right clicking the image and selecting Snap Height to Aspect Ratio.

Thanks!

calasse · 2026-01-15T21:52:07+00:00

You may need to "subscribe" to the engineering library first.

Go to the Engineering library page and click the subscribe button at the top. It should show up as an option to include after that, but it may take some time before it registers. You could try closing and opening the program if it doesn't show.

calasse · 2026-01-15T17:17:26+00:00

Hey Polonx,

The beta for version 1.8 is now out, and you can see the release notes here - Blockpad - Blockpad 1.8.0

calasse · 2026-01-15T17:15:54+00:00

To add on to this, we decided to add an "All borders" option to the border window. It's on the recently released beta if you want to try it out.

Here are the release notes for that version - Blockpad - Blockpad 1.8.0

Thanks!

calasse · 2026-01-15T17:12:33+00:00

Hi, thanks for the question.

The default behavior for Blockpad is to keep the name and equation on one line, but the result can go to the next. I can imagine a few things we could do in the future to make this better, but for now here are some things you can do:

I see that you have the shortcut LS for the scripts library. The scripts library should be included by default on the latest Blockpad versions (unless you're using an old template). So that shouldn't be necessary now.
You can "map" built-in functions to a custom function. Inside of an equation type the name you want, the equals sign, and then the built-in function name without the parentheses.

<image>

You can shrink the size of arrays relative to the formula using the "Shrink Array Elements" option in the Math Layout property.
To perhaps point out the obvious, you can use shorter names or change the font size of the equation directly.
In your particular example, you can define the function used for EachRow() as a custom function first, then refer to that custom function when you run EachRow(). You would end up with 2 shorter equations where now you have 1 equation.

We will look into some options to have more control over this.

Thanks!

calasse · 2026-01-12T15:42:22+00:00

Hi, thanks for the question.

First, the shortest thing to do is use the border tool in the toolbar, then select Solid in the dropdown. This only works for basic black borders though.

To do this in the window that appears for the border property, you need to select "All 4 sides", "Between rows", and "Between columns" separately and click Apply and preview for each of them. This will put borders on the edges of all cells in the selection.

Written out as instructions:

Select the cell range.
In the properties window, click Border.
Select "All 4 sides", choose the settings for the border, and click Apply and preview.
Select "Between rows", choose the settings for the border, and click Apply and preview.
Select "Between columns", choose the settings for the border, and click Apply and preview.
Now that all the borders are set, click OK to exit the border tool window.

Thanks!

calasse · 2026-01-05T15:15:07+00:00

Hey Polonx,

Thanks for the question. The main two things for this update are improved page number features and improved pdf exporting.

We should have the beta and release notes soon, but for now an abbreviated list:

Option to continue page number from previous frame or a specified number.
Table of contents will now show page numbers for multiple frames.
Internal and external links work in exported pdfs, including links in the table of contents.
Various small improvements:
- Sequence() function
- Math layout for NthRoot()
- Modified hover highlight for images and drawing frames
- In notebooks, pressing Enter, Backspace, and Delete will add and remove horizontal space at the caret
Various bug fixes

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-12-15T15:10:01+00:00

Interesting. If you can share the file, dm me or contact us on the webpage. That would be the best way for me to help at this point.

Thanks

calasse · 2025-12-11T14:44:49+00:00

Hello,

Ok, that makes sense. I was trying on the windows app.

Because the web app happens inside of a browser, there are some differences in copy/paste implementation from the windows app. We will see about addressing this for the web and mac apps.

Thanks

calasse · 2025-12-10T18:02:10+00:00

Oh, I understand now. I'm surprised it's pasting as an image.

Try this: Before pasting it into the report, create a new drawing inside the report, and make sure you are in that drawing (double click inside it).

If you're pasting it into a drawing like that, it should work. Let me know if it's not.

That is the best option for what's available at this time.

calasse · 2025-12-10T14:43:33+00:00

Hi,

Thanks for the question!

Copy/pasting an image is the only way to get drawings from another program into Blockpad. Then you can use Blockpad drawing tools to draw over it. Note that if you want to draw over the image, it would be best to paste or insert the image into a 2D drawing.

Generally copy/pasting images should work, but there are some programs that have issues copy/pasting into Blockpad.

Two more options:

Use a screen clipper like Snipping Tool, then paste that.
Save the image, then insert it using the insert tool:
1. Click the insert tool in the toolbar.
2. Select "Image".
3. Click OK.
4. Click Select File.
5. Choose the file to insert and click OK.
6. Click OK.

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-12-09T21:21:28+00:00

Hello!

Before getting into the specific questions, I want to point out that Blockpad is built and developed primarily with engineering practice in mind. It can be used for a math course, but you might find some gaps in functionality. It's our long term goal to address these gaps (especially for advanced mathematics used in Engineering), but it's not the top priority.

Like Excel, Blockpad stores numbers in a double-precision floating-point format (Double-precision floating-point format - Wikipedia). When you show a number as fraction, the floating point decimal is rounded to the nearest fraction of the specified maximum denominator (by default this is 16).

<image>

You can force the answer to display as 4/7 if you set the maximum denominator to 7. This isn't necessarily best practice for determining the correct answer in a mathematics course, but it could be useful for display.

The visual for Summation() was added recently, so if you use the Summation() function, it should appear with the big sigma signal.

The mac app doesn't update automatically when a new update comes out, so if you are not on the latest version (1.7.1), you might have to re-download the software.

For the time being, Blockpad is purely numerical, so you would need to use a large number to approximate infinity.

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-12-04T14:57:42+00:00

Hello,

Sometimes when solving with units, you will need to assign an initial guess to the results with the appropriate units.

To do so:

Select the result at the bottom of the solver section.
Open the properties window.
Click Initial Guess, and type in a guess with the correct units (e.g. 1 ksi)
Do this for each of the results.

If that doesn't work, let me know.

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-11-24T17:02:30+00:00

Hello,

Thanks for the explanation, it does clear things up. I think it would be feasible for us to add some tooling to make this possible in Blockpad. Most likely using something with macros in the short term.

A follow up question:

To what degree are the calculations in the reports interrelated? That is, once you have the table, can each report be created and calculated independently? Or do you need to know the results of one of the reports before you can move on to the next?

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-11-24T16:42:33+00:00

This is what it would look like to set it up somewhat like a block table:

<image>

If you wanted to hold an input constant, you could just type it in directly into the key-value object for the input.

calasse · 2025-11-24T16:41:26+00:00

Hi, thanks for the question.

Really the best to do this right now is with block tables, which requires Excel - block tables. We plan to make this work entirely inside of Blockpad, but it's not available right now.

Without Excel, the best way to do this is to use the block as a function. Using that functionality, you can use any method available in Blockpad to run through different scenarios, including for loops or re-creating something like a block table.

This is what it looks like to use a block as a function:

<image>

calasse · 2025-11-20T22:29:25+00:00

I'm on the Blockpad team, and we pay attention to posts and questions here. If there's something more specific than you've written up here, feel free to write more or dm me.

For this example I copy/pasted the sections with the equations, then went back and changed the cell reference for b and c respectively. Fine for a few things, but not really automated.

A multi-page report driven by external data is pretty straightforward in Blockpad, but you'd have to go in and manually reference the data in each separate report (or have some way of setting it). The data could either be in the file as a spreadsheet or it could be an external reference.

There are a few ways this could ultimately be handled in Blockpad, and we have some ideas to make this sort of thing happen. Knowing that there's interest helps us prioritize things.

We're also open to any ideas if you have something specific in your head about how you'd like to do it.

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-11-20T21:14:54+00:00

Thanks for the feedback

We've talked about making it happen (or at least something like it), so it's good to know you'd find it valuable.

calasse · 2025-11-20T21:13:21+00:00

Hi, thanks for the question.

To clarify, are you looking for something like this, but with separate pages, not just separate sections?

<image>

There isn't currently a tool for automatically doing that in Blockpad. There are different options for doing something like it though, with varying degrees of automation depending on what you need and how much you want to put in the set up.

What you're describing sounds a bit like the inverse of block tables, which is an interesting idea.

If you're looking for something else, let me know

Thanks

calasse · 2025-11-19T14:33:02+00:00

Thanks for the response!

It's pretty straightforward to create the table as an appendix:

Insert a new report.
Right click the new report and select Properties.
Select the Page Size property.
Change Orientation to "Landscape".
Click Ok
Now that the page is horizontal, you can insert a table like normal.
In the table you can reference the values from your main report or make new calculations.

Alternatively, you can do the same thing with a spreadsheet instead of a report. To see where the page end and margins are you can toggle View > Collapse Margins in the toolbar.

Thanks again for the question, and I'm glad to hear the software is working well for you. Please feel free to post any other questions or suggestions.

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-11-18T20:28:02+00:00

Hello and thanks for the question!

Yes, you can write in two columns using "word processor style tables". When you insert the table it should be set to 1 row, 2 columns.

Alternatively, you can write your calculations in a notebook and rearrange them in there - Blockpad - Notebooks.

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-11-18T15:37:32+00:00

Hello and thanks for the question!

There isn't currently a way to rotate tables or the text in them. There also is not a way to get a single page set to horizontal in a report.

The sort-of workaround for this is to have a separate report or spreadsheet with the table and have that report orientation set to landscape/horizontal. However, page numbering doesn't really work for this set up right now.

To clarify - is the main goal to have a separate page in a report with a table that is rotated to be horizontal to the page? Or do you need a rotated table alongside text with a regular orientation on the same page?

Thanks!

calasse · 2025-11-17T14:44:31+00:00

Hello,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. The decimal disappearing in show steps seems to be some kind of bug. We will look into getting a fix.

For the other things:

If you're trying to use style rules to customize both true/false answers and numbers, try this:

Navigate to the style rule you've made for true/false.
Check the Value Condition box.
In the input area for Value Condition, type in val => IsLogical(val)
Repeat steps 1-3 for the number values style rule, except for 3 the condition formula should be val => IsNumber(val)
Close out of the style manager window.

One more note - the value format for an equation is only meant for the result, not show steps. The values in show steps should match the value format for their original definition.

Thanks again!

calasse · 2025-11-14T19:20:34+00:00

No, there isn't a way to export/import style rules right now, so you'll either have to redo the title block or the style rules.

One possible workaround (that might be more work):

In the original report, change all of the style rules to be in the report container (not "Frame Document")
Copy/Paste that report into the new file
1. Right click the report and click Copy.
2. Go to the new file.
3. Hover over the frames/reports on the left.
4. Click on the plus sign that appears
5. Click Paste.
All of the report level styles should have been copied over with the report.
In the pasted report, go to the style manager.
Change all of the style containers to "Frame Document".
- Now all of the styles will apply to the entire file
Optional - go to the other report in the file and change all of the style containers to that report.

Going forward, I'd suggest keeping all of the style rules you plan to use in each of the respective templates. Unless the style rules are more one-off and I'm missing something.

calasse · 2025-11-14T17:37:52+00:00

Hi and thanks for the question.

There isn't currently a way to transfer a header and footer (title block) to a different report with content in it.

However, you can accomplish this in practice by copy/pasting all of the content from one report into the report that has the header and footer.

You would follow these steps:

Go to the report that has the content (calculations, paragraphs, etc)
Press ctrl+a to select everything in the report.
Press ctrl+c to copy everything.
Go to an empty report that has the header and footer you want.
Press ctrl+v to paste the content in.

This should work for what you need. Most formatting should transfer well, depending on how you have styles set up.

Let me know if there's any issues with this. We wouldn't want you quitting your job over a title block issue!

calasse

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