You’re dragging something near a guide… SNAP! It snaps right to the edge. If that’s what you wanted, then it’s terrific! But if you were trying to get it close, but not on that point, then it’s a hassle. Undo, turn off View > Grid & Guides > Snap to Guides, then try again. What a pain.
Instead, if you’re using a Mac, try holding down the Control key. Yes, the Control key on the Mac. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to work in Windows. But on the Mac, if you hold that down while dragging something (that is, start dragging, then hold it down), InDesign temporarily disables the Snap to behavior.
And it doesn’t just disable the snap behavior of objects; it also stops panels from snapping to (docking to) the side of the screen or (in CS4) document windows from snapping into others (so they don’t become tabbed windows) and it temporarily turns off Smart Guides.
Why doesn’t this work on Windows? Well, the Control-drag does appear to stop panels from docking to the sides of the screen in Windows. But it doesn’t appear to have any effect on object-dragging, smart guides, etc. I’m not entirely sure why.
(Adobe responded privately that it’s because the Control key is “already used” in Windows, but that doesn’t make sense to me… holding down the Ctrl key on Windows after you start dragging doesn’t do anything special, does it? Seems to me that they could make a way for this to work. Anyone have suggestions?)
This article was last modified on December 19, 2021
This article was first published on January 2, 2009
Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!
Recommended for you
Tip of the Week: Instant Pull Quotes
This tip was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on May 28, 2015. Sign up...
Tip of the Week: Controlling Ruler Guide Visibility With View Threshold
How to make guides automatically appear and disappear based on your zoom level i...
Tip of the Week: Adding Text to a Story
How to create vertical and horizontal guides at the same time to make crosshairs...