Keep your Lucid documents organized by managing the layout of objects on the canvas. Read this article to learn how to leverage tools in Lucidchart and Lucidspark to create cohesive and navigable documents and boards.

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Select objects

Select a single object

To select an object on a Lucidchart document, click the object.

To select an object on a Lucidspark board, ensure the Select tool is highlighted at the top of the Primary Toolbar on the left-hand side of the board, then click the object.

Select multiple objects

There are a few different ways to select multiple objects on Lucidchart documents and Lucidspark boards:

Click and drag a box around the objects you want to select.
Hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard, then click the objects you want to select (or unselect).
Hold down "Ctrl" (PC) or "Command" (Mac) on your keyboard, then drag a box around the objects you want to select—even when clicking directly on a shape.
Hit Ctrl-A (PC) or Cmd-A (Mac) to select all objects on the canvas.

Position objects

Using object and grid lines

Object lines

When you drag a new object onto your canvas or move an existing object, lines automatically appear to help you align it to other objects. If the edge of the object lines up with another object’s edge, dotted lines appear between the two objects.

A solid line between two objects indicates their centerpoints are in alignment.

Grid lines

Another tool to help with positioning objects on the canvas is the document’s grid. You can toggle on grid lines and adjust the grid size in Document Settings.

Using coordinates and measurements (Lucidchart only)

When you move an object around the canvas in Lucidchart, the object’s X and Y coordinates appear beneath it. You can use these coordinates as a guide to place the object in the proper position on the canvas.

Lucidchart also helps you arrange objects on your canvas by displaying measurements indicating the distance between two objects.

The units of measurement displayed for coordinates and measurements correspond to those specified in Document Settings.

Snap objects

For precise object layout when moving shapes on the canvas, you have the following options in your Document Settings:

Snap to objects: Force objects to align with other objects on the workspace.
Snap objects to grid: Force objects to align with your document’s grid.

Arrange overlapping objects

If you have two or more overlapping objects on your canvas, their arrangement corresponds to the order in which they were added, with the newest object at the front and the oldest at the back.

In the example below, “Paper Tape” is in front of the two “Process” shapes because it is the newest shape.

To adjust the arrangement of shapes on the canvas:

Right-click an object.
Hover your cursor over “Arrange”.
Select one of the following:
- Bring to Front to bring an object to the front of all overlapping objects.
- Send to Back to send an object to the back of all overlapping objects.
- Bring Item Forward to bring an object to the front of the object directly in front of it.
- Send Item Backward to send an object to the back of the object directly behind it.

Align and distribute objects

With Lucid’s align and distribute shortcuts, you can reposition objects on the canvas so they are aligned or evenly distributed.

Align objects

To align a selection of objects:

Select objects on the canvas that you want to align.
Right-click an object from the selection.
- The alignment will be relative to the object you click.
Hover your cursor over “Align”.
Select one of the following:
- Left/Right: Align a group of objects with the left or right-hand side of the object that was right-clicked.
- Center: Align a group of objects with the horizontal midpoint of the object that was right-clicked.
- Top/Bottom: Align a group of objects with the top or bottom of the object that was right-clicked.
- Middle: Align a group of objects with the vertical midpoint of the object that was right-clicked.

Learn more: For additional details about each alignment option, check out this post from the Lucid Community.

Distribute objects

To distribute a selection of objects evenly:

Select objects on the canvas that you want to distribute.
Right-click the selection.
Hover your cursor over “Distribute”.
Select one of the following:
- Horizontally: Spread a group of objects evenly between the object in the group that is furthest to the left and the object in the group that is furthest to the right.
- Vertically: Spread a group of objects evenly between the object in the group that is furthest to the top and the object in the group that is furthest to bottom.

Learn more: To see examples of aligning and distributing objects, check out this post from the Lucid Community.

Lock objects

Once you have an object styled and positioned, you can lock it to prevent accidental edits and movement.

To lock an object:

Right-click an object.
Hover your cursor over “Lock/unlock”.
Select one or more of the following options:
- Lock to lock the size, position, style, and content of the object.
- Lock size and position to lock the object’s size and location on the canvas.
- Lock style to lock the object’s formatting and style (ie: color, font).
- Lock content to lock text or other content inside the object.

When selected, locked content is indicated by a solid red outline, a dotted yellow outline, or “X”s in the corners.

Tip: An individual locked object within an unlocked parent object (such as a container, group, or frame) will move if the parent object is moved. To prevent this, lock the parent object as well.

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