Most publications - even simple ones like this business card - are made up of several
different objects, including text boxes, shapes, and other graphics. Knowing how to arrange
these objects is an important part of using Publisher. In this video, we'll take a look
at several different strategies.
Let's begin with these four shapes. Right now, they're all placed kind of randomly on
the page, but I'd rather have them lined up in a row. Of course, I could try to line them
up manually - or I could get Publisher to do it for me.
The first thing you'll need to do is select the objects you want to align. Just hold Shift
on your keyboard while you click - or click and drag to make a selection box. When you
let go, all of the objects will be selected.
Now we can navigate to the Drawing Tools Format tab, and then click the Align command. You'll
have six different options to choose from. I'm going to go with Align Right, which will
line the objects up along the right edge.
That didn't align them to the right side of the page, though. If you wanted to do that,
you could go back to the Align command, and this time, select Relative to Margins. Now
when we choose the very same option - Align Right - everything moves to the right margin
instead. In this example, that's very edge of the page.
There's one more thing I'd like to change that can be done just as easily. Notice how
the shapes are aligned, but they're not quite spaced evenly? To fix that, go to the Align
command again, then choose Distribute Vertically.
Perfect!
Now that I have these shapes exactly the way I want them, I'm going to group them into
one big object, so they always stay together. Just make sure you have each of your objects
selected, then click the Group command.
Now we have a single grouped object that you can move or resize any way you like. See
how it works?
Let's take a look at one more technique for arranging objects. This one's really going
to come in handy for taking the background I have on the front of my business card - and
pasting it here on the back. As you can see, the problem is that it's overlapping the rest
of the card, no matter where I move it. This can happen any time you have multiple objects,
depending on the order they're in.
To change the order of an object, make sure it's selected, then go to the Format tab.
You have two commands to choose from: Bring Forward, or Send Backward, depending on what
you need. If I click Send Backward, the image moves back only one level - basically, behind
the text box; the shapes on the right are still obscured. If I click the drop-down arrow
instead, I can choose Send to Back - and that takes care of it.
Now everything is perfectly aligned and in the right order - without a lot of time and
effort. Take some time to practice, and you'll be able to create complex publications too,
with lots of pictures, shapes, and other objects.