Object Snapping Overview

Object snapping is a very powerful way of accurately aligning objects, lines and points on lines to any other object so they exactly touch. So, for example, if you want several lines to start at exactly the same point, or want a line to exactly join the edge of a circle, then using snap to objects is the answer. You can even use this to align the centers of objects and lock objects and handles onto the edge of the page.

When you drag an object with object snapping enabled, the point under the mouse pointer will snap to the nearest outline or any other 'point of interest' on any visible shape just as if it were magnetic. The 'point of interest' is the outline or any handle on the outline, and other positions such as the center of objects, it also includes the edges of the page.

For example, you can exactly align the corner of a square to the center of a circle by picking up the corner of square and dragging this near the center of the object. When the object has snapped, the mouse pointer will show a magnet and the magnet indicator on the Status Line (see Status Line Overview) will light up.

The snapping distance stays the same on screen no matter what zoom factor is used to view the drawing. So, if two potential guide objects are very close together and you have difficulty controlling which of them things snap to, zoom in on the two guide objects so that you can see the separation between them more clearly. You can then consistently snap to either object. For details on altering the magnetic snapping distances, see Changing the magnetic snapping distances.

If you want to drag an object by a corner and lock the corner onto another object using object snapping, you may find that the handle moves, rather than the whole shape. To stop this happening, turn off edit handles
. See Enabling edit handles. Edit handles are very useful as you can use the Selector Tool to change handles, so remember to turn them back on again.

Object snapping is enabled using Snap to Objects on the Window menu. See Enabling object snapping.

Movie—click below (not working in this version)

Using object snapping

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Related Topics

Object snapping

Guidelines overview