Design Aids

Snapping

Snapping is computer-assisted alignment.

When you drag an object, as you closely approach a position of alignment with another object or the page, the object will “snap” (jump) to the alignment position, and snapping guidelines will indicate the alignment position used.

Hold / CTRL to temporarily disable all snapping except for Snap to Full pixels. This allows to quickly move objects only on whole units keeping designs pixel perfect.

Snapping options

Clicking directly on the Snap icon in the Toolbar will toggle snapping on or off. Clicking on the small arrow beside the icon reveals a menu of snapping options.

(1) Use Snapping  – toggle snapping on/off

(2) Use Snap Zones – only snap to the edge(s) being dragged

(3) Snap to Grid  – snap to the (optional) page grid, if visible

(4) Snap to Guide Lines – snap to guide lines, if created and visible

(5) Snap to Full Pixels – snap to avoid decimal pixel position

(6) Snap to Anchor Points – use anchor points of the selected path for snapping

(7) Snap to Shapes – snap to shape bounding boxes and center

(8) Snap to Pages – snap to page edges and center

(9) Show Grid – show/hide grid

(10) Show Guide Lines – show/hide guide lines

(11) Show Symbol Labels– show labels on master symbols on the canvas

Use Snapping

Turn snapping off, or turn enabled snapping features on again. / SHIFT +F10 or View > Snap to > Use Snapping

For example, if only grid snapping and shape snapping are enabled, only those options are turned off/on by Use Snapping.

Use Snap Zones

Toggle Use Snap Zones to enable/disable snapping of the the side nearest to the cursor (where the cursor is grabbing the object) and ignore other snapping possibilities.

For example, if you want to snap the top side of the shape, grab the top side and drag it, if you want to snap left – drag the left side instead.