In the template editor, the middle of the toolbar holds the tools to move around the canvas and to place and scale elements exactly. Much of it also works with the keyboard.
- Zoom: makes the view larger or smaller.
- Align button: lines up selected elements with the canvas or with each other.
- Cursor button: sets what happens when you drag on the canvas.
Tools in the toolbar
Zoom
The zoom button shows the current zoom level, for example 90%.
- Hover over the zoom level in the toolbar. A menu with values from 50% to 200% opens.
- Choose a value. The canvas now shows at that size.
You can zoom further, from 10% to 1000%: hold Ctrl while you turn the mouse wheel, or pinch on your trackpad. The zoom centers on the mouse pointer. Scrolling without Ctrl moves the view.
Align
The align button lines up selected elements with one click.
- Select one or more elements on the canvas or in the layers panel.
- Hover over the align button in the toolbar. A menu opens.
The menu doesn't open?
The align button is greyed out as long as no element is selected. Select an element first.
- Choose an alignment. The elements jump to their new place.
- Center horizontal: to the middle between left and right.
- Center vertical: to the middle between top and bottom.
- Relative to top, right, bottom or left: flush with the top, right, bottom or left edge.
What the elements line up with depends on the selection:
- With one element selected, it lines up with the canvas.
- With several elements selected, they all line up with the element you selected first. That element stays where it is.
Align places elements once. To keep elements connected to each other for good, use the anchoring tool.
Cursor modes
The cursor button shows the icon of the mode that is active, an arrow at first. Hover over it to switch the mode.
- Select (default): a click selects an element. Dragging moves it. Dragging a handle changes the size of its frame.
- Canvas Drag: dragging moves the view. The elements stay where they are.
- Scale: dragging a handle scales the element and keeps its aspect ratio.
The difference shows most with text: with Select you only change the frame, and the Max Font Size stays the same. With Scale, the Max Font Size grows or shrinks with the frame. This is the reliable way to get a text to the size you want. The stroke width of shapes stays the same in both modes.
With the keyboard
- Press an arrow key to move the selected elements by 1 pixel. This is the same at every zoom level. The layout grid and snapping have no effect here. Elements in a Column or Row layout don't move.
- Hold Space and drag on the canvas to move the view. This works in every cursor mode. Let go to stop.
- Hold Shift while you drag a handle. The element scales as in Scale mode.
- Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) once you are already dragging or resizing an element. The element does not snap to other elements or to the canvas. In a Column or Row layout, the size then changes evenly around the element's center.
- Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) without dragging. The anchoring tool is on until you let go. So if you press Alt before you start dragging, you connect elements instead of moving them.
For an exact position, type X and Y under Position in the Position & Size section of the properties panel. All shortcuts of the editor are listed in Keyboard shortcuts.