[johnlawrence]

Does anyone know how to distribute objects in Omnigraffle? I want to distribute 4 identical objects vertically. i position the first one near the top of the canvas and the fourth one near the bottom with items #2 and 3 between. I expect the system to position items #2 and 3 so that they are evenly distributed between where I've postioned the top item and the bottom item. This is how it would work in any other layout/drawing program with which I'm familiar.
The only distribution-type command I can find is "Make Centered Column" under the Arrange menu. This seems to center the 4 objects OK, but it repositions the bottom item vertically (which I don't want) and seems to have its own private logic about positioning the other items vertically - they are certainly not evenly spaced as I would expect.

Am I missing something?

[Joel]

Take a look at the Canvas: Alignment Inspector -- There are controls there for evenly distributing a row or column between the end objects, as well as controls to manage the space in between.

Hope that helps,

[johnlawrence]

I was actually just looking for a way to delete my post. Right after submitting it I found the Alignment Inspector. Duh.

Thanks.

[Brian]

No need to delete the post or thread - other folks may have the same question in the future and search the forums. If the thread goes away, the answer is effectively invisible to them.

(Gonna tweak the thread title a bit to make it a bit more search-friendly)

[enrvuk]

Like me for instance :)

[Jim C]

Is there a way to pin the ends of a group of items being aligned? For example, I want to create a timeline with start and end dates at specific grid locations, with the intervening dates between them. Currently, align move stem to a fixed spacing rather than adjusting spacing with fixed start and end points.

[john.gersh]

To fix the end points, use the second button from the left in the Alignment inspector, the one to the left of the spacing-distance field. The picture on that one has a little red arrow from beginning object to end object. The rightmost button, after the spacing-distance field, distributes the objects with fixed spacing. That one has little red dimension marks between the objects.