Alignment & snapping

Alignment guides and snapping keep your canvas objects lined up with each other, the scene, and the origin as you move them.

When to use

• You want objects to line up cleanly without nudging each one by hand.
• You’re arranging a board and want edges and centers to click into place.
• You want to seat an object exactly on the scene, another object, or the canvas origin.

Select more than one object

1. Shift + click — click one object, then Shift + click others to add or remove them from the selection. It works across types (a layer plus a note plus a text box).
2. Shift + drag — on empty canvas, hold Shift and drag a rectangle to marquee-select everything inside it.
3. Long press + drag (touch) — on a phone or tablet, press and hold, then drag to marquee-select.

Alignment aids

• Snap to other objects — while you drag, edges and centers snap to nearby objects, the scene, and other groups. Thin guide lines flash to show the alignment, and the snap distance scales with your zoom.
• Toggle smart alignment guides — press Tab to turn the guides on or off (it’s ignored while you’re typing in a field).
• Snap to a corner or the origin — a layer’s corners snap to the scene’s corners, to other layers’ corners, and to the canvas origin (0, 0) when you drag one close, so you can seat an object exactly.

Working with groups

To combine objects into a movable, labeled unit — and to nest, add, remove, lock, or ungroup them — see the dedicated Groups guide. Alignment guides behave the same whether an object is loose or a group member.

Tips

• Line up first, then group. Use the snapping guides to arrange objects, then group them to lock the arrangement in.
• Tab is a quick declutter. Turn guides off when you want free-form placement, back on when you need precision.

Related

• Groups — combine, nest, and manage objects as one unit.
• Editor & canvas objects — the objects you select, move, and align.
• Tools & shortcuts — the full keyboard reference, including Tab.