Navigation:  Customizing Write > Using guides

In addition to the grid discussed in the previous section, there is another positioning aid for frames and drawings: guides.

You can add horizontal and vertical guides (see below for more information) and enable the "Snap to guides" function. As soon as you move frames and drawings near a guide with the mouse, the object automatically snaps on it – as if the guide were magnetic. Something similar happens when you resize an object with your mouse.

Enabling the function "Snap to guides"

To enable or disable the "Snap to guides" function, proceed as follows:

Alternatively: Choose the ribbon command View | Grid and guides by clicking on the arrow of the icon and selecting the entry Snap to guides directly in the dropdown menu. A check mark in front of it indicates that the option is enabled.

Note: Even if this option is disabled, the guides can still be displayed and changed, but they will not have any effect on the repositioning of objects.

Temporarily disabling this function: If the option Snap to guides is enabled, you can temporarily disable it at any time by holding down the Alt key while moving an object with the mouse.

Showing guides

The option Show guides in the above dialog box allows you to specify whether guides should be displayed on the screen.

Alternative 1: Click on the arrow of the icon and select Show guides in the dropdown menu.

Alternative 2: File | Options, on the View tab, in the Document window section.

By default, this option is enabled.

Tip: If the option Show guides is disabled, but the option Snap to guides is enabled, the guides become invisible, but they still retain their function.

Note: Guides only appear on the screen and are not displayed in the printout.

Adding guides in a dialog-box-controlled manner

To set up a new guide, proceed as follows:

Note: Guides can only be seen on the screen if the option Show guides (see above) is enabled.

Adding guides with the mouse

Alternatively, guides can also be added with the mouse:

Tip: If the required ruler is not displayed, enable the options Horiz. ruler and/or Vert. ruler on the ribbon tab View.

Repositioning and deleting guides

To reposition or delete a guide, proceed as follows:

Dialog box: Choose the ribbon command View | Grid and guides to open the dialog box and switch to the Guides tab. To remove a guide, select it from the list and click on the Delete button. To reposition a guide, delete it and then set a new guide at the desired position.

Mouse: In object mode , guides can simply be grabbed with the mouse and dragged to another position. Furthermore: If you slide a guide into the horizontal or vertical ruler, it will be deleted. The same thing happens if you press the Del key while dragging a guide.

Locking guides

To prevent guides from being inadvertently moved with the mouse, they can be "locked".

To do so, choose the ribbon command View | Grid and guides and enable the option Lock guides in the dialog box.

Alternatively: File | Properties, on the View tab, in the Locking section.

Guides can no longer be moved with the mouse. Their position can only be changed via the dialog box of the ribbon command View | Grid and guides.

Using the "Snap to page margins" function

If you enable the option Snap to page margins via the ribbon command View | Grid and guides, the four page margins of the document behave exactly like guides.

Tip: If the page margins are not displayed, choose the ribbon command File | Options, switch to the View tab and enable the option Page margins.

Temporarily disabling this function: If the option Snap to page margins is enabled, you can temporarily disable it at any time by holding down the Alt key while moving an object with the mouse.

Using the "Snap to other objects" function

If you choose the ribbon command View | Grid and guides and enable the option Snap to other objects, the program automatically creates "magic" guides for the edges of each object on the current page. These guides make it a lot easier to position objects perfectly aligned and evenly distributed.

These "magic" guides are usually invisible. They only become visible when you drag an object near such a guide with the mouse. As soon as the guide appears, the object automatically snaps to it. Something similar happens when you resize an object with your mouse.

Some examples of such guides:

▪If you drag an object to a position where it is roughly left-aligned with another object, a guide will appear representing the left edge of the other object. If you let your object snap to it, it will be exactly left-aligned with the existing object.

▪The same applies to the right edge of objects.

▪If you drag an object to a position where it is roughly centered with another object, a guide will appear representing the center of the object. If you let your object snap to it, it will be aligned exactly centered with the other object.

▪If you drag an object to a position below two other objects, you will also see a horizontal guide at the position where this third object would have exactly the same relative distance as the other two objects. (The three objects would then be distributed evenly.)

All of this works in both directions (horizontally and vertically) – for example, an automatic guide is generated for the top and bottom edges of each object.

Temporarily disabling this function: If the option Snap to other objects is enabled, you can temporarily disable it at any time by holding down the Alt key while moving an object with the mouse.

Changing the tolerance of guides

By default, a frame or drawing snaps automatically to a guide when it is moved with the mouse to within 8 pixels of the guide. However, you can change this tolerance at any time. If, for example, you increase the tolerance to "20", the mouse cursor will already snap to the guide if it is within 20 pixels of the guide.

To change the tolerance, use the ribbon command View | Grid and guides (click directly on the icon itself) to open the dialog box and enter the desired value in pixels in the option Tolerance on the Guides tab.