Constrain movement when dragging

[jay fresno]

In other Adobe programs, holding down the Shift key while dragging an object will constrain the movement. This doesn't seem to work in Captivate. I often want to copy an object (Ctrl-drag) and constrain the movement at the same time. Does anyone know a shortcut key to hold down that will constrain movement in Captivate?

[RodWard]

I just tested this in Cp9 and holding down the SHIFT key while dragging the corner of a Caption, Smart Shape or Placeholder object all work fine to constrain the aspect ratio.

I'm on a PC.  Are you?

[jay fresno]

Sorry I didn't make myself clear. I know that Shift-dragging to resize an object will constrain the height/width proportions. What I'm wanting to do is to constrain the movement of an object while dragging it to a new position. For example if an object on the left side of a slide is 10 pixels from the top of that slide and I move it to the right of the slide, I want it to remain 10 pixels from the top.

Shift dragging an object in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and just about any other Adobe program, will constrain the movement of the object while dragging it. But not in Captivate, which is quite a time-consuming nuisance. I am on PC. I'm hoping that maybe another key, other than Shift, might do the job.

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Hi Jay,

I know perfectly what you mean, it even took a while before SHIFT was working to constrain width/height ratio (remember having pleaded for that). SHIFT is working with rotation to constrain to certain angles, but not while dragging an object on the stage.

This is the reason why I almost always use the keyboard if I want to move an object. Very long time ago I blogged about moving and resizing objects with shortcut keys:

Shortcut Keys: Moving and Resizing Objects - Captivate blog

If you are on 9.0.1, the grid utility (if it was ever useful) can easily be replaced by the new rulers and guides. Since the CTRL key in combination with arrows moves a selected object over a distance that is equal to the grid size (default = 16px), you can edit that size and choose another distance. SHIFT key in combination with arrows always moves over 10 px.

Another workaround in CP9.0.1 could be using the new guides with their snapping feature.

[jay fresno]

Thanks for the suggestions. Probably there is no efficient way to copy and constrain movement at the same time. I use Ctrl-drag to copy objects, but when I release the mouse, the alignment of the copy is usually a little bit vertically or horizontally displaced from the original. Then I end up using the Align tools, etc. C'est la Captivate vie.

[Lilybiri]

Sorry for the typo in my previous mail, was on a small screen and my eyes are tired.

If you read the blog post, you'll see that it is easy to put the copy back in exactly the same position as the original. I never use Copy/Paste (to avoid the Windows clipboard) but CTRL-D to duplicate. The duplicate is always moved 10px to the right, and 10px down. With this sequence you have the duplicate in exactly the same position as the original object:

1. CTRL-D
2. SHIFT-Up   same vertical position
3. SHIFT-Left   same horizontal position

[jay fresno]

Good suggestion. Take a few seconds more than if Ctrl-Shift drag would work, but it doesn't.

[jharbourne1968]

@Adobe Sort this out – this needs to be fixed.

[Lilybiri]

If you want to be 'heard' by 'Adobe', please log a feature request (I don see this as a bug). You are here on a user forum.