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 No 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 No comments

88 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-09-02T13:13:12+00:00

    no progress yet. I've only received confirmation that this feature is no longer working (along with many others). I admit there are some cool new features to Word 2010, like being able to remove backgrounds from photographs right in the document, but I'd sooner have my canvas alignment working again.

    You can align objects outside of a canvas but then you have to then group and change wrapping. Inside the canvas you have to 'eye' things up because the alignment no longer works, but then you don't have to worry about grouping. Also, if you change the wrapping on the canvas you can't use the align tools either. (for example, wrap to tight and align to right margin - no longer works). It is very frustrating as I do use Word ALL THE TIME and now my documents are looking a little less professional when things are not lining up nicely on the page.

    keep this thread alive and hopefully there will be a patch/fix soon.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-09-16T12:13:29+00:00

    It's not only alignment but distribution which is off the wall in Word 2010. Having followed this thread, I cut and pasted my objects out to the canvas and directly onto the page. Alignment works but when I try to distribute the objects they get spread out all over the page.

    I have been using Word's drawing functions on a daily basis for 15 years to produce all kinds of diagrams and stuff. I have watched the functionality improve with each release and have been singing its praises to everyone who would listen - and many who would not. 

    I have built my professional reputation partially on my ability to produce complex illustrations in this way. Now however I feel completely helpless, it is like someone randomly removing the 'e' key from the keypad. 

    I hope that someone is taking this problem seriously. In the age of Google docs and the like, Office 2010 is too expensive to justify this kind of bug.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2010-09-16T13:18:11+00:00

    Here! Here! My sentiments exactly.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2010-10-01T22:15:55+00:00

    First, I'd just like to add my vote and say this regression is a serious problem.  Interestingly at least one person noticed this bug during the Office 2010 beta

    http://www.techtalkz.com/ms-office-help/39289-aligning-objects-inside-canvas.html

    Secondly, I mistakenly marked the above comment as a potential solution to this problem. :-)    Finding a bug in the first 10 minutes of using my shiny new copy of Office 2010 + too much coffee made my mouse-ing hand a little twitchy.

    To Microsoft Office developers: Please please please, fix this bug.  And please don't wait for a service pack! 

    To err is human, to fix bugs in a timely matter is to have customers in the future.

    Unfortunately, my experience with reporting bugs to MS about Office is that at best they get acknowledged and rarely get fixed.

    Here's hoping I'm wrong.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments