I have a map canvas and I want to have a portion of that canvas printed. I adjust the canvas window in QGIS to show what I want to print and then add the map to the composer. The results are very hit and miss. It never quite does what I want, in most cases I get more of the canvas than is displayed in the qgis window.
I then have to fiddle endlessly with the scale and extents to get what I want.
There must be a easier way! ;)
Try the "Move Item Content" button - green box inside a grey box. You can use the mouse wheel to zoom in an out dynamically and move the map around using the left mouse button.
Well this is pretty much how it works. The shortcut you are look for, in the composer, you can set the scale, which a great level of control. This is in the item properties tab when the map is the item of focus. Then switch to the move content button which is to the right and you can drag the map.
