Cannot align objects in a drawing canvas

Anonymous
2010-07-08T15:31:05+00:00

I have several clipart objects in a drawing canvas and I want to align them with each other and within the canvas. The alignment options are all greyed out regardless of whether I have "align to page" or "align to canvas" selected.

This happens in Word 2010 on both Windows 7 and Windows Vista

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-09-02T09:38:03+00:00

Summarising:

1 - Inside the canvas you cannot align objects

2 - You have to move object outside the canvas in order to align them, BUT:

3 - Outside the canvas you cannot use connectors...

A bit frustrating for people who work every single day with word...

Was this answer helpful?

30+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

88 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-06-01T18:26:35+00:00

    Thank you for the work around you offered.  I doubt anyone with any weight at MS reads this kind of post.  What is the point of having a canvas when it is easy only for single items?

     I might as well then work with freeware or shareware.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-27T16:06:56+00:00

    Workaround:

    1. Put your objects into the canvas, place them roughtly where you want them. Near enough is good enough.
    2. Don't put the connectors in yet (you can do, but you'll lose the connections and will have to reconnect them again later)
    3. Select and cut to clipboard all the items you want to align.
    4. Select elsewhere in the document, outside the drawing canvas
    5. Paste the shapes into the main document. It will look ugly and may sit on top of text. Don't worry about that.
    6. Select objects you want to align with each other, and align them outside the drawing canvas. Get everything aligned.
    7. Select and cut the objects back out of the main document. (you may have to shift click each one)
    8. Select the canvas
    9. Paste the shapes back into the canvas.
    10. They're all nicely aligned now and may be connected to your heart's content.
    11. If you want to move any of them you may need to repeat the exercise
    12. NOTE: by cutting from the canvas and pasting to the main document you sacrifice the connectors. You'll need to reconnect them each time you do this.

    A bit labour intensive, but it does work.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-03-26T12:13:04+00:00

    Masashi Nezumiya, thank You for your code*.

    Save a lot of time for me!

    (* http://nezumiya.net/en/archives/87#comment-196)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-12-02T16:59:05+00:00

    Well it is fixed in Office 2013. You can align and group objects just fine. Too bad there is not a legacy fix for older versions of Office.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments