Mini-inspector bar?
 

I have one drawing open, and it has a miniature inspector-bar right above the canvas, which lets me quickly change properties of the selected shape.

I have another drawing open and it does not show this bar. How do I show it? How can I make this the default for all my drawings?

Thanks

Command-R to show the rulers, which also shows the mini-inspector bar. Create a template with the rulers showing, save it as your default and you'll always get the mini-inspector bar.

Hope that helps,

Yes, thank you! [I did not think it would be tied to "Rulers"]