Precision & layout
Snapping, grid and alignment
Understand every snap control, adjust precision, and practise how competing targets affect placement.
Try the snapping controls
Snapping helps place corners, wall endpoints, markers, labels and whole objects accurately. The practice area below uses the studio’s snapping calculation. Move the point near the example shop, change a toggle, and watch the target feedback.
Loading practice example…
Read the five bottom-left controls
| Control and shortcut | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Show grid · Shift + G | Shows or hides the visual grid. It does not switch grid snapping on or off. |
| Grid snapping · G | Places coordinates on the chosen metre-based grid spacing. |
| Point snapping · N | Attracts corners, wall endpoints and marker positions. |
| Edge snapping · E | Attracts any position along a space boundary or wall centre line, including curved boundaries. |
| Smart guides · L | Aligns object edges and centres and snaps to visible guide lines and their intersections. |
All modes start enabled, with a visible grid and visible guide lines. They can be combined; enabling one does not turn another off. Hover or focus a button to see its current state and shortcut.
Read the cursor feedback
Set snap distance in screen pixels
- Right-click a bottom-left control, or focus it and press Shift + F10, to open Snapping & grid.
- Open Snap distance and choose 4, 8, 12, 20 or 32 px. The default is 8 px.
- Move near a target to judge the result. Choose a smaller distance in a crowded area, or a larger distance when targets are difficult to catch.
The distance stays consistent on screen as you zoom. Zooming in lets you distinguish nearby real-world targets more easily. Changing snap distance does not change the size of shapes, the grid spacing or existing positions.
Set grid spacing in metres
| Spacing | Example use |
|---|---|
| 0.1 or 0.25 m | Fine adjustments to small features when those increments suit your plan. |
| 0.5 m | General layout work; the starting setting. |
| 1 or 2 m | Broad shop footprints or a regular venue layout. |
| 5 or 10 m | Rough placement across a large site before refining it. |
Open the same context menu and choose Grid spacing. Grid lines become farther apart visually when zoomed out to avoid clutter. That display adjustment does not change the actual snapping increment; the canvas footer distinguishes snap spacing from visible line spacing.
Understand which target wins
- Point targets are considered first.
- Visible guide lines and their intersections come next.
- Object edges follow.
- Automatic alignment to object edges and centres follows.
- Grid placement is the fallback when Grid snapping is enabled.
Only enabled modes participate. Hidden objects and the object being moved are excluded from object targets. Hidden guide lines do not snap. A locked, visible guide still snaps. Existing hole boundaries participate as points and edges.
Use Alt and Shift deliberately
| Modifier | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hold Alt | Temporarily bypasses all snapping. Your toggle settings remain unchanged. |
| Hold Shift for a rectangle or ellipse | Constrains the new bounding box to a square, producing a square or circle. |
| Hold Shift for a line or anchored move | Keeps horizontal or vertical alignment where that operation supports it. |
| Alt + Shift | Bypasses snap targets while retaining the tool’s Shift constraint. |
When moving a whole object, snapping uses its geometry, so its face or corner lines up with the target. It does not simply snap the pointer’s grab position. This is why the cursor itself may be offset from the highlighted target.
What is remembered
Snapping toggles, snap distance and grid spacing persist across floor and mode changes in the open editor. They reset to defaults when the editor reloads. They are working preferences, not public map settings. Guide line positions and visibility are draft content and need Save.