How to Use the Sequence Manager to Re-order Embroidery Designs

The Sequence Manager in DRAWings PRO XII is located at the upper right edge of your design area. It provides a visual representation of your design’s embroidery order and allows you to easily modify the sequence to suit your specific project needs.

Below is a step-by-step guide to mastering the Sequence Manager.

1. Understanding Auto vs. Manual Mode

By default, DRAWings PRO XII uses intelligent mechanisms to find the optimum sewing sequence.

1. Observe Auto Mode: When the Auto function is enabled, you will only see a single icon representing the whole design. The program groups objects by type (e.g., cut, paint, embroidery) and determines the best order automatically.
2. Switch to Manual Mode: To take full control over your sequence, disable Automatic optimization by clicking the Auto button on the standard toolbar. It will switch to a Manual button.
3. View Individual Shapes: Once in Manual mode, the Sequence window will expand to display individual shapes within your design.

Useful Tip: Even in Auto mode, you can specify certain optimization preferences to guide the software. However, for absolute control layer-by-layer, Manual mode is required.

2. Selecting Design Objects

In Manual mode, the objects positioned highest on the Sequence Manager list are the ones that will be embroidered first. Each icon has a numeric value indicating its exact position.

1. Single Selection: Click on any icon in the Sequence Manager. It will be selected, and a highlighted rectangle will appear around the corresponding object in the main design area.
2. Sequential Multi-Selection: Hold down the Shift key, click the first icon in the series you want to select, and then click the last icon. Everything in between will be selected.
3. Specific Multi-Selection: Hold down the Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) key and click on individual icons to select them one by one.
4. Deselection: Hold the Ctrl / Cmd key and click on an already selected icon to remove it from your current selection.

Useful Tip: You can combine these shortcuts! Select a large block of icons using the Shift key, and then hold the Ctrl key to individually click and remove specific icons from that block.

Right-Click Selection Menu: If you right-click on any sequence icon, you can access quick selection tools:

• Select All: Selects every icon in the manager.
• Select None: Deselects all icons.
• Inverse Selection: Selects all the icons that are not currently selected and deselects the ones that are.

3. Reordering Your Embroidery Sequence

Once your desired icons are selected, you can change their sewing order.

Method A: Drag and Drop (Best for simple changes)

1. Click and hold your selected icon(s).
2. Drag them up or down the list to your desired position and release.

Method B: Move Before / Move After (Best for complex designs) When working with designs containing many parts, dragging can be tedious.

1. Select the sequence icon(s) you wish to move.
2. Scroll up or down the list to find your target destination.
3. Right-click on the destination icon.
4. From the menu, choose Move Before or Move After to drop your selected items exactly where you need them.

Advanced Reordering Options:

• Join Together: If you have selected multiple non-sequential icons, right-click and select Join together. This brings all the selected icons next to each other, placing them alongside the icon you right-clicked on.
• Reverse: Select two or more icons, right-click on the selection, and choose Reverse to flip their sewing order.

4. Grouping by Color

To clean up your workspace visually, you can group individual shapes by their thread color.

1. Locate the Palette icon on the title bar of the Sequence Manager (this only appears in Manual mode).
2. Click the icon to group all sequential objects/shapes with the same color into a single block.
3. Click it again to revert back to showing individual icons.

Useful Tip: The “Group by Color” function will only combine objects of the same color if they also share the same fill and outline types. If a blue satin stitch object is followed by a blue fill stitch object, they will remain separate.

5. Managing the Sequence Window

The Sequence Manager is a permanent fixture in your workspace—it cannot be closed entirely, but it can be adjusted for your comfort.

• Resizing: Hover your mouse over the left edge of the Sequence Manager window until a double arrow appears. Click and drag left to enlarge the window, or right to make it smaller.
  • Note: If you shrink the window too much, the sequence numbers and color indicators will be hidden to save space.
• Minimize/Maximize: Click the small arrow/pointing icon on the header of the Sequence Manager to collapse the window. Click the same icon (which will now point the opposite direction) to expand it back to full size.