I updated to the latest Inkscape (0.48.2 r9819) yesterday and now I'm unable to draw objects with the ellipse or rectangle tools. When I try to drag them across the drawing, nothing appears until I release the mouse button, at which point I get a selection box with the usual tool handles (both for the box and specific to the object) but no object appears.

The usual methods for editing an object's appearance work as usual, as in: I can paste a style or make changes to the line or fill properties, but no changes actually appear in the selected object (ie: it remains invisible) and as soon as it is de-selected or another object is selected, it disappears leaving no trace it was ever there (which, I suppose, it wasn't).

Normally I'd suspect bad defaults, but I can't find anything that corrects the problem, and the fact that I can't paste a new style onto the object makes me conclude I'm either unaware of what might need correcting, or there's a bug.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Hmm, interesting. Just a few wild guesses:

- The fill and/or stroke might be completely transparent (i.e. Opacity 0.0%). That way you wouldn't see anything, and it would be quite difficult to select the object again (direct selection seems to be impossible, but for instance "Select All" should do the trick).
- Something weird with (locked) layers?

Anyway, best way to check whether there is an ellipse (or rectangle) or not, is by changing the display mode to outline (click View → Display mode → Outline).

OK, so I went to check it out and IT WORKS FINE NOW.

This is sort of maddening, it hasn't worked for over 24 hours, through multiple program restarts and a machine reboot. I'm absolutely at a loss.

Please forget I even brought it up. For now. ^_^

I had a similar problem, and I checked at the bottom and there is a cross (x) near fill and stroke, so I clicked that and it works, my rectangle come up with filling color

Whew, you found an old one!

It's a bit curious though. That X button is meant to remove the fill

Here's a tutorial which covers all the various reasons for this: https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/ind ... article=18