Align Elements

When you have created a number of elements on a diagram, you might want to organize them in groups so that they form a column or row with a uniform edge. You can do this quickly and easily by selecting the group of elements and aligning them all against the left, right, top or bottom edge or center of one element in the group. You can also space three or more elements evenly in a row or column, at an average of their previous separations.

The selected elements are aligned with respect to the 'context' element, which is the element that has a hatched border drawn around it. You can set a given element as the 'context' element by right-clicking on the element, or by deselecting then re-selecting, using 'Ctrl+click'.

Access

Ribbon

Select a set of elements, then

Layout > Alignment > <alignment button>

Context Menu

Select a set of elements, then right-click on a selected element and choose:

Align Left
Align Right
Align Top
Align Bottom
Align Centers |Vertically or Horizontally
Space Evenly | Across or Down

Keyboard Shortcuts

Select a set of elements (ensuring that the 'context' element is correctly set), then

Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow (align left)
Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow (align right)
Ctrl+Alt+Up Arrow (align top)
Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow (align bottom)
Alt+'-' (space evenly across)
Alt+'=' (space evenly down)

Align multiple elements

Step	Action	See also
1	Select a group of elements by dragging a selection box around them all with the cursor (or select them one by one by holding down Ctrl and clicking on each element).
2	Right-click on the element in the group to align others to. The context menu displays.
3	Select the alignment function you require. All selected elements are aligned with the one beneath the cursor.

Step

Action