snap to grid

  • Thread starter Thread starter Helen
  • Start date Start date
H

Helen

I am working in Powerpoint (XP) and although I have snap
to grid on and the boxes look aligned on the screen, when
I go to screen show it looks like the boxes are out of
line and the same when it prints. Can anyone advise of a
way around this?
 
With snap to grid, they should align, but if they don't, you can click on
one object, ctrl-click on the other, and use the alignment tools in the
Draw menu (which is on the Drawing toolbar).
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/
 
we've tried that too, it isn't accurate enough and still
looks ok on the screen, but misaligned when you print/show
in screen show
 
Hi,

In addition to David's good advice, there are a couple of things to be aware
of. First, try to make your grid setting as big as you can, as that
increases the likelihood of an object snapping to it. Second, I have seen
instances where even at large grid settings, objects will leave a small gap.
I have been able to get rid of the gap by adding a line to objects. But that
is not always what you want. Third, what you see as a gap (and by this I'm
not saying you don't have a gap) but the appearance of gaps depends on
screen zoom setting. Zoom to something less than 100% and gaps do appear.
Fourth, I just did something for PowerPoint Live and it has a definite gap,
even when snapped to the grid. I got rid of it by nudging objects closer
with <Control + Arrow Key). I intend to cover grid settings in depth at
PowerPoint Live, by the way. When they work, they are amazing!

--
Regards,

Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP
http://www.powerpointworkbench.com/
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego CA
http://www.powerpointlive.com
 
Hi,

I just did some testing. Snap to grid on a large grid works fine. But you do
run into trouble with objects that you remove the border line from. I
created some objects with a line snapped to grid, which were fine until I
removed the line. Then the small gap showed up, or at least here in
upside-down land <g>. It doesn't seem to matter how wide a line is when
drawing, but remove it, and it appears. And I can see the line at 50%, and
at 60%. But it is gone at 70% zoom. 80%+ zoom and it is back.

--
Regards,

Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP
http://www.powerpointworkbench.com/
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego CA
http://www.powerpointlive.com
 
Hi,

I just did some testing. Snap to grid on a large grid works fine. But you do
run into trouble with objects that you remove the border line from. I
created some objects with a line snapped to grid, which were fine until I
removed the line. Then the small gap showed up, or at least here in
upside-down land <g>. It doesn't seem to matter how wide a line is when
drawing, but remove it, and it appears. And I can see the line at 50%, and
at 60%. But it is gone at 70% zoom. 80%+ zoom and it is back.
Click to expand...

Can you describe how to provoke that in more detail, Glenn?

I thought at first you meant the normal (but not intuitive) problem of things
not lining up as expected because PowerPoint (and most graphic apps) lines up
the object's coordinates, but draws the outline of the shape centered along the
same coordinates, so a 2 pt outline will fall 1 point inside, 1 point outside
the actual shape. Makes it tough to line up two shapes with different line
widths. Hmmm ... a little vba to the rescue here? ;-)

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
Steve,

While I think of it, you are spot on with line width. PowerPoint seems to
ignore the line width and go for the shape coordinates.
Click to expand...

Yup, because that's where the shape is. The line width (stroke as it's called
in some internals) is applied along the outline of the shape.

It's always been that way in PS and several other graphic models, but at one
time it wasn't done this way in PPT. The stroke was applied all to one side or
the other of the shape ... inside, I think. That made more sense in terms of
the way the shape snapped to other shapes and the grid, but I expect it was so
inconsistent with imported/exported graphics and printing that it got to be
easier to go with the flow.


--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
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