guide positions relative to page

[DD]

Hi,

I'm using Xara to layout a sheet of labels.

Having spent some time placing guide lines ( from the ruler ) I now see that the guide lines are correct relative to each other but are not positioned on the page correctly.

Is there some way the shift the page relative to all guides or vice versa ?

The only thing I can think of is reposition each guide separately.

As a simple example I want to do this:

[gwpriester]

Well one way is to drag that small + where the two rulers meet to one of the intersections of your guidelines. This starts the rulers from that point.

Or, you can open the Layer Gallery (F10), Click Properties > Guides and enter your Vertical and Horizontal guideline positions from the dialog.

Or, enable Snap to Grid (Window > Snap to Grid) and then double click on the screen rulers. Snap to Grid will snap the guidelines to the grid setup. For example, if you want a guideline at 1 inch, double click on the 1.

You can double click without Snap to Grid enabled but the results are not as accurate.

This help?

Gary

[PhilM]

Try this:
* Make sure snap to guides is turned on
* Draw rectangles that snap to the guides in their current positions
* Group the rectangles and drag them to the new required position
* Turn off snap to guides and turn on snap to objects
* Drag the guides one by one so they snap to the relevant edges of the rectangles.
* Delete the rectangles (or keep them on a hidden layer in case you need them again)

Remember you can draw on the Guide layer, so you could draw rectangles on the Guide layer instead of using guidelines. Those "guide rectangles" are then editable in all the normal ways.

Phil

[DD]

Gary,
I want to move the guides relative to the page. Your second suggestion is a neat idea, I hadn't noticed the direct numerical entry method to move a guide.

Phil,
I didn't know about drawing to the guide layer, or rather I did but had forgotten. This seems to be what I want as "drawn" guides can be selected, grouped etc and moved relative to the page.

It's a shame "ruler dragged" guides can't be treated the same as "drawn" guides, why not?

I think I need to get into the habit of using "drawn" guides.

Thanks for the replies.

[gwpriester]

Good point about drawn guide objects.

Any object can be pasted onto the guides layer and be used as a guide.

(Just remember to select the active layer before you exit the Layer Gallery or else everything you draw and paste will have a red dashed outline )

To add to what Phil suggests. You can create your rectangles to the exact size, select them all, then in the Arrange menu, center them on the page by selecting the Page option rather than the default Selection option, and then snap your guidelines to the rectangles. But again, remember to set the default back to Selection when you are done unless you wish all alignments to be relative to the page.

Gary

[DD]

Gary,

Thanks for the page centering tip.

Actually your original idea is proving very handy because I am attempting to work to 0.1mm and find it difficult to position a guide on an exact whole mm boundary with the mouse. Aiming for 2.0 and getting 1.9 or 2.1 whilst moving the mouse a tiny distance.

But a quick check on the figures in the guide layer properties shows me all the numbers, where whole mm are obvious, and lets me correct any values that are not exact mm's...great.

[gwpriester]

Glad to help.

Another tip. If you create any shape and want it centered on the page, Cut (Ctrl x) the object to the clipboard and paste it (Ctrl v) it onto the page.

Xara pastes in the center of the page unless you specifically paste in place.

Gary