: Remove side symmetrically in Inkscape I wish to draw a rectangle with no fill, but only a stroke. I would like to erase a certain portion of one side, going out from the middle. I have attached

@Heady304

These are the steps to create a box with a symmetrical opening in Inkscape:

Cut out method


Draw two boxes, one for the resulting end box, another for defining the opening.


Select both objects and choose Object - Align and Distribute... to align to the Center on vertical axis (choose another axis for opening on the sides), relative to "Biggest object":


Cut out the small object from the big object with Path - Difference.
Enter Edit path nodes mode to select four inner nodes:


Delete the segment between these nodes (make sure you had not set the node edit mode to preserve shape):






Working with nodes

Another approach is working with nodes. This will not let you define a fixed width of the object in the way a second box allows but it is also fit to create a symmetrical opening.


Create close box.
Select Path - Combine to break nodes.
Select two nodes in Edit node mode.
Insert new node two (or more) times.


Select Object - Align and distribute.
Select all nodes on base line.
Choose Distribute nodes horizontally for symmetry.


Select nodes between opening.
Delete segment between two selected nodes.

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