Adobe Illustrator CS4 - Manual (Page 215)

208 USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS4
Selecting and arranging objects
Pastes the object into the center of the active window.
Edit > Paste In Front Pastes the object directly in front of the selected object.
Edit > Paste In Back Pastes the object directly in back of the selected object.
Move an object by dragging
1 Select one or more objects.
2 Drag the object to a new location.
If a selected object is filled, you can drag from anywhere on the object. If a selected object is unfilled, if you are
viewing artwork as outlines, or if the Object Selection By Path Only preference is selected, you must drag from the
object’s path. (See “
Duplicate selections using drag and drop ” on page 222.)
You can use the Snap To Point command in the View menu to have the cursor snap to an anchor point or guide
when you drag an object within 2 pixels of the anchor point or guide.
Move an object using the arrow keys
1 Select one or more objects.
2 Press the arrow key for the direction in which you want to move the object. Press Shift+arrow to move the object
ten times the value specified by the Keyboard Increment preference.
The distance the object moves each time you press an arrow key is determined by the Keyboard Increment
preference. The default distance is 1
point (1/72 of an inch, or .3528 millimeter). To change the Keyboard
Increment preference, choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General
(Mac OS).
Move an object by a specific distance
1 Select one or more objects.
2 Choose Object > Transform > Move.
When an object is selected, you can also double-click the Selection, Direct Selection, or Group Selection tool to open
the Move dialog box.
3 Do any of the following:
• To move the object left or right, enter either a negative value (moves left) or a positive value (moves right) in the
Horizontal text box.
• To move the object up or down, enter either a negative value (moves down) or positive value (moves up) in the
Vertical text box.
• To move the object by an angle that’s relative to the object’s x axis, enter either a positive angle
(counterclockwise movement) or a negative angle (clockwise movement) in the Distance or Angle text box. You
can also enter values between 180° and 360°; these values are converted to their corresponding negative values
(for example, a value of 270° is converted to –90°).
4 If the objects contain a pattern fill, select Patterns to move the pattern. Deselect Objects if you want to move the
pattern but not the objects.
5 Click OK, or click Copy to move a copy of the objects.