Transform panel

About the Transform panel

The Transform panel lets you reorder, flip, rotate, resize, reposition or shear objects precisely. In addition, you can align and distribute objects precisely.

All resizing and repositioning is carried out in relation to a defined anchor point—corner, edge midpoint or center—allowing the selected object or layer's position, width, height, rotation angle and shear to be adjusted.

Options

The following settings are available in the panel:

Tap the pin icon in the top right of the panel to hide the panel automatically when you are no longer focusing on it.
Order—reorders the selected object in relation to other layers. Choose Move to Back, Move Back One, Move Forward One or Move to Front.
Flip and rotate—rotates selected object (layer) by 90° clockwise or anti-clockwise; flips selected object (layer) vertically or horizontally.
Dimensions—for resizing objects.
- Width—adjusts the selected object's width in relation to the selected anchor point.
- Height—adjusts the selected object's height in relation to the selected anchor point.
- Link—When enabled, width and height are adjusted in proportion to each other, maintaining the current aspect ratio. When deselected, they can be adjusted independently.
- Toggle Scaling Units—toggles between the currently set document unit, percentage scaling and DPI for the currently selected placed image or document (hidden for all other objects).
Position—for moving the selected object (layer) in relation to the page.
- X—Horizontal position. Increasing the value moves the selected object (layer) to the right.
- Y—Vertical position. Increasing the value moves the selected object (layer) down the page.
Rotation—rotates the selected object (layer) in relation to the selected anchor point.
Shear—shears the selected object (layer) in relation to the selected anchor point.
Anchor—transforms are carried out from the selected anchor point. Tap on an anchor point to select.
Scale Override—when enabled, the option forces the scaling of stroke width, layer effect radii, shape tools' corner radii and text frame content on the object when it is resized. Tap the down arrow to control which object properties will be exempt from scaling.

Using alignment options

The Alignment Options section offers the following controls:

Align Horizontally—aligns the selected object (layer) to left, center or right; the last option distributes evenly and horizontally.
Align to—sets the alignment criteria for the operation. For example, you can align in relation to Selection Bounds, Spread (i.e. Page), First Selected or Last Selected.
Distribute Horizontally—for the last 'distribute' option, disable Auto to set a fixed 'buffer' Width between objects; if Auto is enabled, selected objects are automatically spread within leftmost and rightmost content.
Align Vertically—aligns the selected object (layer) to top, middle or bottom; the last option distributes evenly and vertically.
Distribute Vertically—as for Distribute Horizontally but distributes vertically instead.

Using constraints

The outer box represents the container (parent object). The inner box represents the nested content (child object).

The Constraints section offers the following controls:

Anchor lines—when gray and dashed (default), the child object is not anchored in the selected direction. When white and solid, the child object is anchored in the selected direction.
Scaling arrows—when white and solid (default), the child object will scale in the selected direction. When gray and broken, the child object will not scale in the selected direction. If white and broken, the child object is forced to scale in the selected direction due to anchoring applied on opposite sides.
Min Fit—when the parent object is resized disproportionately, the child object may scale so it always fits within its parent object (if unanchored).
Max Fit—when the parent object is resized disproportionately, the child object may scale but it will be allowed to be bigger than its scaled parent object, potentially clipping content from view.