Help Please How to make inner box clear?

[DRF]

Hi 

Im working on a MacBook Air and I'm new to Affinity please can someone help.

I'm trying to make a square outlined box like the one I've made below but so the inner centre piece is transparent.

Like when you draw the donut its centre piece is transparent,

So that when I put lettering on the inside its not against a white background as it as and so I can export it as a PNG file

Can you please help 

Thank you 

[MEB]

Hi DRF,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

That's basically drawing a rectangle with no fill. Select the Rectangle Tool and drag a rectangle. Set the stroke colour well in the Context Toolbar (right above the work area) to blue and the Fill to None. See clip below.

 

[retrograde]

Or you could select both shapes and perform a "combine" boolean operation from the boolean toolset in the upper tool shelf. 

[MEB]

Hi DRF,

I forgot to mention the boolean operations. If you already have drawn the two rectangles you can also select both dragging a marquee selection around them or shift-clicking them on canvas then go to the menu Layer ▸ Geometry ▸ Combine (or Subtract if the smaller rectangle is over the largest one in the layers stack) or click the respective buttons in the main toolbar in the Geometry section (see screenshot below).

 

 

Thanks @retrograde.

[DRF]

Thank you both MEB & Retrograd  very much I'll look into the boolean option. MEB your post works perfectly too

[R C-R]

It may not make any difference for your purposes, but be aware that using the boolean operations will convert text into individual shapes with tons of nodes & you will no longer be able to edit it as text. Also, using the combine operation on both the text & rectangle will apply the same stroke to every shape, including each letter, which depending on the stroke alignment setting will either thicken each letter or (for the inside alignment) reduce the size of the rectangle:

 

So in general, MEB's first reply is usually the way to go.

[carl123]

11 minutes ago, R C-R said:

It may not make any difference for your purposes, but be aware that using the boolean operations will convert text into individual shapes with tons of nodes & you will no longer be able to edit it as text. Also, using the combine operation on both the text & rectangle will apply the same stroke to every shape, including each letter, which depending on the stroke alignment setting will either thicken each letter or (for the inside alignment) reduce the size of the rectangle:

 

So in general, MEB's first reply is usually the way to go.

This may confuse the OP  (it did me, initially!)

The boolean operations recommended in this thread are referring to 2 rectangles not to any text object

[R C-R]

32 minutes ago, carl123 said:

The boolean operations recommended in this thread are referring to 2 rectangles not to any text object

I was referring to the post by @retrograde, where I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that "select both shapes" meant the rectangle & the text.

[DRF]

Hi Guys thank you for your input. The way MEB showed has worked perfect for what I need but being new to Affinity its good to get these hints and tips about what can be done so thanks again David

[retrograde]

4 hours ago, R C-R said:

I was referring to the post by @retrograde, where I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that "select both shapes" meant the rectangle & the text.

 

No I was referring to the two rectangle shapes, not the text.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, retrograde said:

No I was referring to the two rectangle shapes, not the text.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought you meant the single rectangle shown in the OP's post plus whatever text was added.