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

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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...

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-29T16:15:05+00:00

    Got it.  Within canvas even.  Highlight all shapes, left click, select "more layout options", and enter numbers for vertical (for Left align anyway).

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-06-14T15:55:46+00:00

    Dear Suzanne,

    Thank you for your reply in 2010. Please could you read the many messages that were posted since then and give us an updated feedback. You will probably realize that "not being able to align objects on a drawing canvas":

    • is  a major drawback for many people that have used this feature for years;
    • is not a new feature of this version*, it is a major bug that renders problematic the use of Word 2010;
    • could certainly be fixed most readily by Microsoft as the VBA code of Masashi Nezumiya suggests.

    May I suggest that appropriate action should be taken so that this bug is fixed without further delay.

    Thank you in advance for your consideration.

    * see : http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/add-a-drawing-to-a-document-HA010370564.aspx?CTT=1

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-08-04T06:41:10+00:00

    >KineticFlow

    Thank you for your reply.

    I also wrote about "calling macro from buttons on ribbon".

    http://nezumiya.net/en/archives/72

    FYI.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-07-06T16:11:26+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.

    YES!  MICROSOFT PLEASE FIX. 

    To repeat:  You cannot align objects/shapes inside a canvas in Word 2010.

    So why use a canvas at all? 

    One reason is that without a canvas, you cannot use the "lasso" or "select area" tool to select multiple objects at once.  You can use the selection pane, but even there you have to hold "ctrl" and click EVERY.  SINGLE.  OBJECT.  This all adds up to a real PITA for anyone who tries to use MS Word to create a drawing with more than a few objects.

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