The layout tools described in this section help you to build perfect presentations, without having to deal with lots of design complexity. These tools help you automatically "snap" items to grid or tile lines when you add them to your presentations (snap to grid), align and distribute items relative to the canvas or to one another, and group individual items that you want to manage as if they were a single item.
Note: Items that you need to "layout" on your slides include visuals, slicers, shapes, images, buttons, and dynamic assets.
Grid and Tile Lines
Grid or tile lines on your canvas give you visual cues to help you lay out the visuals, text boxes, shapes, and so on. By default, placement is guided by snapping your dropped items to the grid or tile lines so that objects are evenly laid out:
- If your presentation has a Tiled layout, content items that you add to the canvas are always snapped to the tile lines.
- If your presentation has a Fixed layout, content items that you add to the canvas are typically snapped to the grid lines, but this functionality is controlled by the Snap to Grid functionality.
Snap to Grid
If your presentation has a Fixed layout and you want complete control of the placement of your items (you do not want your dropped items to snap to the grid), de-select Snap to Grid in the overhead ribbon (blue arrow):
When you want to return to "snapping to grid," simply select the Snap to Grid option again.
Align and Distribute items
Once you have added your items to your canvas, you can drag them around to appropriate locations and then, if necessary, make use of the Alignment and Distribute options to space those objects evenly either with reference to the slide or, where you have multiple objects selected, with reference to one another. In addition to the grid or tile lines and snapping functionality, the align and distribute options help you to create a professional look-and-feel for your presentation.
Tip: Alignment options are available on the ribbon (orange arrow, above) or on the right-click menu. Distribute options are only available on the right-click context menu where three or more items are selected on the canvas.
- For more information, see Align and Distribute items in Present Lite
Group items
Where two or more items are selected on the canvas, they can be "grouped" and the group can then be resized, aligned, moved, copied, cut, or pasted as if it were one item. This is useful where you are applying styling changes throughout or have items that make sense together, such as an info icon (shape) and the info text (text field) that it relates to.
Tip: The Group option is only available on the right-click context menu where two or more items are selected on the canvas.
- For more information, see Group items in Present Lite