In Microsoft PhotoDraw, the gray area that surrounds the picture area is called the scratch area. You can use the scratch area to store design ideas or copies of objects for future use. Because the scratch area isnÆt part of your final picture, objects in the scratch area don't print. Similarly, PhotoDraw discards objects in the scratch area when you save your picture in a flat file format like GIF.
If you plan to use objects on the scratch area later, you should save a copy of your picture as a PhotoDraw .mix file. The MIX file format saves everything in both the scratch and picture areas. It also keeps objects on the workspace separate so that you can continue to work with them after you reopen your file.