How to Use the Alignment Tools in Affinity Designer

Posted on 19th June 2023

Affinity Designer is a vector graphic design software developed by Serif for macOS, Windows, and iOS. It is available in English, French, German, and Japanese. Affinity Designer was launched on 6 October 2014 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

The software is designed for professional graphic designers and artists. It is available on a subscription model, with a one-time payment option also available.

How to Use the Alignment Tools in Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer has a number of alignment tools that can be used to align objects within the design space.

To align objects using the Alignment panel:

1. Select the objects you want to align. To select multiple objects, hold down the Shift key while you click the objects.
2. Click the Arrange menu, then click Align.
3. In the Alignment panel, select the alignment options you want to use.
4. Click the Align button.

To align objects using the Alignment toolbar:

1. Select the objects you want to align. To select multiple objects, hold down the Shift key while you click the objects.
2. Click the Arrange menu, then click Align.
3. In the Alignment toolbar, select the alignment options you want to use.
4. Click the Align button.

To align objects using the keyboard:

1. Select the objects you want to align. To select multiple objects, hold down the Shift key while you click the objects.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Cmd key (macOS), then press the left, up, right, or down arrow keys to align the selected objects.

Alignment is an important concept in Affinity Designer—it helps keep your designs organized and tidy, and can be a huge time-saver when you need to make changes.

There are several alignment tools available in Affinity Designer, each with its own purpose. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to use the different alignment tools, and when you might want to use each one.

To use any of the alignment tools, first select the objects you want to align. Then, click the “Align” button in the top toolbar, and choose the desired alignment option from the menu that appears.

The first alignment option is “Align to Artboard.” This option will align the selected objects to the edges or center of the artboard.

If you want to align the objects to each other, rather than to the artboard, you have several options.

The “Align Left” and “Align Right” options will align the selected objects to the left or right edge of the object with the smallest left or right offset.

The “Align Top” and “Align Bottom” options will align the selected objects to the top or bottom edge of the object with the smallest top or bottom offset.

The “Align Horizontal Centers” and “Align Vertical Centers” options will align the selected objects so that their horizontal or vertical centers are aligned with the object with the smallest horizontal or vertical offset.

The “Distribute Horizontally” and “Distribute Vertically” options will space the selected objects evenly, based on the spacing between the object with the smallest horizontal or vertical offset and the object with the largest horizontal or vertical offset.

Finally, the “Match Width” and “Match Height” options will make the selected objects the same width or height as the object with the largest width or height.

Once you’ve selected the desired alignment option, the selected objects will be aligned accordingly.

Alignment is a helpful tool for keeping your designs organized, tidy, and easy to change. Experiment with the different alignment options to see which ones work best for your needs.

In Affinity Designer, the alignment tools are used to line up objects horizontally or vertically. There are four alignment options:

Align Left: This option aligns the left edge of the selected object(s) with the left edge of the first object selected.

Align Center: This option aligns the center of the selected object(s) with the center of the first object selected.

Align Right: This option aligns the right edge of the selected object(s) with the right edge of the first object selected.

Align Top: This option aligns the top edge of the selected object(s) with the top edge of the first object selected.

Align Middle: This option aligns the middle of the selected object(s) with the middle of the first object selected.

Align Bottom: This option aligns the bottom edge of the selected object(s) with the bottom edge of the first object selected.

To use the alignment tools, select the object(s) you want to align and then click on the alignment option you want to use in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcuts:

Align Left: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+L

Align Center: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+C

Align Right: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+R

Align Top: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+T

Align Middle: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+M

Align Bottom: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+B

You can also use the alignment tools to distribute objects evenly. To do this, select the objects you want to distribute and then click on the distribute option you want to use in the toolbar. There are three distribute options:

Distribute Horizontally: This option distributes the selected object(s) evenly across the horizontal axis.

Distribute Vertically: This option distributes the selected object(s) evenly across the vertical axis.

Distribute Space: This option distributes the space between the selected object(s).

To use the distribute options, select the object(s) you want to distribute and then click on the distribute option you want to use in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcuts:

Distribute Horizontally: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+H

Distribute Vertically: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+V

Distribute Space: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+D

You can also use the alignment tools to create a new object from the selected object(s). To do this, select the object(s) you want to use and then click on the new object option you want to use in the toolbar. There are four new object options:

New Horizontal Guide: This option creates a new horizontal guide from the selected object(s).

New Vertical Guide: This option creates a new vertical guide from the selected object(s).

New Ruler Guide: This option creates a new ruler guide from the selected object(s).

New Smart Guide: This option creates a new smart guide from the selected object(s).

To use the new object options, select the object(s) you want to use and then click on the new object option you want to use in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcuts:

New Horizontal Guide: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+G

New Vertical Guide: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+J

New Ruler Guide: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+U

New Smart Guide: Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Y