Perspector Newsletter, April 2008

To align shapes so that their edges are lined up, you can use the alignment commands.

Hold down SHIFT and click each shape you want to align, so that they are all selected. Then choose one the alignment commands from the Perspector Drawing toolbar, in the Draw menu:

For example, Align Bottom will arrange shapes like this:

The Perspector Insider blog discusses alignment in more detail.

Distribute shapes

To arrange shapes so that they are evenly spaced out, you can use the distribution commands.

Select all of the shapes you want to arrange. Then choose one the distribute commands from the Draw menu:

Distribute Horizontally arranges shapes so that there is an equal horizontal distance between the shape centers. The left-most shape and the right-most shape will not be moved, and vertical positions are unaltered:

Distribute Vertically works like the horizontal command, but uses vertical distances. The top-most and bottom-most shapes aren't moved:

That covers the basics of alignment and distribution.