Layout tools in Present Pro

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 to manage your design view; setting up guides, rulers, and setting details of your grid where that is relevant. They also help you to control the arrangement of items on your slides, managing where they are positioned relative to the canvas or to one another. Lastly, you can 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 such as dynamic web panels or dynamic text.

Manage view

The layout tools that control your view are accessed from Present Pro's Design ribbon (green arrow):

  • Click here for details of the overhead ribbons

Display

The Display option (yellow arrow) sets your view of the canvas when you are using the app:

  • Fit to page: Shows the whole canvas in the available area.
  • Fit to width: Shows the canvas so that its width fits into the available area. You might need to scroll vertically to see some content that is off-page.
  • Actual size: Shows the canvas at its actual size. You might need to scroll vertically or horizontally to see some content that is off-page.

Tip: This option does not change the size of your presentation's slides; it changes your view in the editor! If you want to change your canvas size, see Resetting the Canvas Size

Guides and Rulers

If your presentation has a fixed layout, you can add both vertical and horizontal guidelines and also rulers along the top and left sides of the canvas to help you when you are laying out the items in your presentation.

Grid options

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.

Note: When you create a Tooltip, it is created with a fixed layout.

Show and hide grid

If your presentation has a Fixed layout, you can show and hide the grid by clicking the Grid option (purple arrow).

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, above).

When you want to return to "snapping to grid," simply select the Snap to Grid option again.

Configure the grid

Adjust the default size of the grid by opening the Snap to Grid drop-down menu and selecting your required grid size.

Arrange items

The layout tools that control the arrangement of your items are accessed from Present Pro's Slide ribbon:

Set stacking order

Items that you add to a slide are added as if they were being placed on a "stack," with the most recently added items at the top of the stack on top of any items that were added in the same position previously. If your items overlap, you may want to change the order in which they are stacked; perhaps sending an illustration to the back of the slide so that it becomes the slide's background picture, or bringing some metrics to the front of the visual they relate to so that they overlap it.

Tip: Where you have at least one item or group selected on the canvas, the stacking order can be changed either using the Order options on the Slides ribbon or using the same options on the right-click context menu.

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 (yellow and green arrows, above) or on the right-click menu. Distribute options are only available where three or more items are selected on the canvas.

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.