Cannot align objects in a drawing canvas

I just installed Word 2010 last week on advice that it would overcome some of the issues that I was having with Word 2007 as part of a beta test to provide feedback to the IT department of my company -- now I have even worse issues.  

I draft legal patent document daily and I must have the ability to do complex professional line drawings very quickly.  I am another one who has been singing the praises of the original drawing canvas for many years to everyone in my office and beyond.  Now, with the latest and greatest version, I cannot do the most basic functions like aligning and distributing objects.  I cannot afford to be constantly flipping in and out of the drawing canvas just to align items - besides, it seems to be impossible in my case since I draw flow charts all the time (which must be aligned and distributed) using connectors that cannot be used outside the drawing canvas.  

A further fatal flaw is the Distribute functionality - does not work in the drawing canvas at all, and when you move the items outside the canvas to make the option available, the items automatically get aligned (WTF???) and distributed across the extent of the page rather than between the two outside objects.  WTF is that all about???!!!!???  TOTALLY USELESS!!! and no way that I can see of a work-around.

These bugs (they are certainly not features!) are FATAL!!!

The loss of this basic functionality means that Word now becomes useless for my daily needs, and I cannot recommend it for further take-up until this is resolved.  

I'm going back to Word 2003 until this is sorted!

Hi every one,

Any feedback about this bug !?

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I'm in the same situation as Gary W (above).  Per his advice, I called MS tech support (Thanks for the numbers, Gary).  I told 'em this was a pretty bad oversight, and that after using MS products on PCs for over 20 years, I am actually thinking of switching to a Mac.  Grrr...

I downloaded Office 2010 December 29, 2010 before I realized this problem existed.  I use the draw function of Word in my profession and business (construction, engineering and architectural drafting) extensively.  Aligning and distributing drawing objects on a drawing canvas is one of the functions I use most and have used for years.  I find it unbelievable that this problem exists with the supposed latest and greatest version of Word.  Likeyagodmorris says in this forum thread, "it is like someone randomly removing the 'e' key from the keyboard".  This is a necessary and basic function for those who provide drawings and illustrations in their documents.  I have officially reported this problem to Microsoft support (in India).  I am the 9th official case regarding this problem.  The good news is that Microsoft is supposedly working on a solution.  The bad news is that cases prior to mine are up to 3 months old.

WE NEED MORE USERS AND PAID SUBSCRIBERS OF OFFICE 2010 TO OFFICIALLY REPORT THIS PROBLEM TO MICROSOFT SUPPPORT AND CREATE MORE CASES.  THIS IS A MAJOR SCREWUP AND MICROSOFT SHOULD BE JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS TO FIX IT.  PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL MICROSOFT SUPPORT REGARDING THIS ISSUE. ONE OF THESE SHOULD WORK:

MICROSOFT SUPPORT: (800) 642-7676 OR (800) 936-5700 OR**(513) 698-1051**OR EMAIL *** Email address is removed for privacy ***

PLEASE CONTACT MICROSOFT