Setting Guidelines on a Graphic

Add Guidelines

You are in Design or Test mode, and you want to add a horizontal or vertical guideline to the canvas.

On the View tab, check the Display Guidelines check box to enable the guidelines.

A gray border displays along the left and top side of the drawing board providing a visual indicator that the guideline feature is enabled.

Do one of the following:

To Add a Horizontal Guideline. Place the cursor over the top boundary of the graphic drawing board pane until the cursor turns into a vertical double-headed arrow and the tooltip displays Add Horizontal Guideline.

To Add a Vertical Guideline. Place the cursor over the inside-left boundary of the graphic drawing board pane until the cursor turns into a horizontal double-headed arrow and the tooltip displays Add Vertical Guideline.

Click and drag the dotted guideline onto the graphic canvas to the position you want, and then release the mouse button.

A guideline appears on the graphic canvas.

Repeat as necessary.

Copy and Paste a Guideline

You have a graphic open and the guidelines are visible. You want to copy and paste a guideline to another location on the graphic.

Select the guideline you want to copy and paste.

The selected guideline displays in green.

Press CTRL and move the guideline.

The guideline is copied and pasted.

Delete a Guideline

Select the guideline you want to delete.

The guideline now displays in green.

Right-click the green guideline, and from the menu that displays, select Delete.

The guideline is deleted.

NOTE: You can also select and delete multiple guidelines by pressing CTRL and then selecting the guidelines you want to delete.

Display or Hide Guidelines

On the View tab, from the Workspace group, do one of the following:

Check the Display Guidelines check box to display guidelines.

Clear the Display Guidelines check box to hide guidelines.

Lock a Guideline

Select an unlocked guideline from the Workspace pane.

Hover over the guideline until the pointer changes to either a vertical or horizontal two-headed arrow, depending on the type of guideline you are locking.

Right-click the guideline.

Select Locked.

The guideline is locked and cannot be moved until it is unlocked from the Element Tree view.

NOTE: You can also select multiple unlocked guidelines and lock them.

Move Guiedelines

Drag an existing guideline to the desired location on the grid, and then release the mouse button.

The guideline moves to the desired location.

Unlock a Guideline

Guidelines can be locked from within the graphic canvas; however, when it is locked it cannot be moved or selected on the canvas. The guideline must be unlocked from the Element Tree view or the Property view. When the guideline is locked, you cannot move a selected guideline. When the guideline is unlocked, you can move it.

Navigate to the Element Tree view and select one or more guidelines to unlock.

When you select a guideline from the Element Tree, the associated guideline displays in green on the graphic canvas.

Check the Locked check box associated with the selected guideline.

The guideline is unlocked and can be moved.

NOTE: To select more than one guideline, press CTRL and then select the guidelines you want to Unlock.