Hello friends, The Teacher here and welcome to another tutorial of Word 2016
In this video, we are going to learn about Aligning and Arranging Shapes, Pictures, WordArt
and Text Boxes. If you are a beginner, then you can first watch our video about how to work with Shapes
and Drawing Tools. Let's start by drawing a single shape first, so we move to the Insert Menu and then draw
a rectangle. Keep in mind that you will only see the Format Menu if the shape is selected
If you click inside the page or deselect the shape, then instantly the Format Menu will
get disappeared. It is important to note because Align and Arrange options are available in the Format Menu
However, you can also access Align options from the Layout tab, but if none of the shape
is selected, then all the options will remain disabled. If you click the Align drop-down button, you will find here several alignment options that
can be applied to a single or multiple objects. First we will explore the top six alignment options, but do note that Align to Margin option
is checked by default and you have two other options available in the same section, Align
to Page and another one, Align Selected Objects, which is disabled by default
So what the Align to Margin option is and why it is enabled by default
For instance, let's say that I want to align the shape exactly in the center of the page
horizontally, then I click on the Align Center from the first section of Align drop-down menu
If I want to align the shape exactly in the middle of the page vertically, then I can
go for Align to Middle option from the second section of Align drop-down menu
That was obvious and that is what these options are for, but if I explore other options like
Align Top, Align Bottom, Align Left or Align Right, one thing that you can notice here
is, the shape is getting aligned between the margins of the page
Let's say, if I align the shape first to top of the page and then right side, you can
notice that it is perfectly aligned on top right corner of the page, but between top
and right margin area and that is what Align to Margin option is all about
Such you have 6 alignment options in the first two sections and the combination of
these 6 alignments will be 18 in total. So if you go and pick any combinations like aligning a shape first at bottom, then at
right corner, you can notice that word is placing the shape between the margins
Now if you select Align to Page option and then start applying different alignment combinations
see what will happen then. You will see no major difference if you align a shape to the middle and center of the page
but if you choose any other alignment combination, let's say Top Left Corner, then you can notice
that word is ignoring the margins area and placing the shape exactly to top and right
most edges of the page. So that is the difference between Align to Page and Align to Margin options
Align to Margin is the default option for every new document because you would not like
to place objects outside the margins area, but if you go with Align to Page option and
place objects to the edges of the page, then keep in mind that those objects might get
cropped in the printing. You can switch between these alignment options anytime and can apply different alignment
options for different selected shapes. In simple terms, Align to Margin arrange your objects relative to page area between the
margins and Align to Page arrange objects relative to the entire page
Now let's talk about the third option, Align to Selected Objects. Before I demonstrate you about this option, let me close and reopen Microsoft Word
To explain you about Align to Selected Objects, I insert at least two shapes in the document
of different size and colors
To select more than one shapes or objects in a time, you can hold down the Shift key
and can then start clicking on each shape that you want to select simultaneously
If now I open Align drop down menu from the Format tab, you can notice that Align to Selected
Objects option is enabled and selected by default. Let's say that if now I apply Align Center command, then first shape will get exactly
into the center of the second shape. Keep in mind that when you apply alignment options on more than one object at the same
time, then one object remains stationary and the other object get aligned according to it
Same applies to the other alignment combination except for Center and Middle alignments
As for another example, if I draw one more shape here and select all of them and then
apply Align Left option, then Microsoft Word will align the left edges of all the selected
objects with the left edge of the leftmost object, which in our case is blue rectangle
So this applies to Left, Right, Top and Bottom alignment options where one object remains
stationary and the other selected objects get aligned accordingly. So why this behavior does not imply two Center and Middle alignments
To explain this, I draw an oval here and then a rectangle over it, which is larger
in the width than the oval. So if I select both of the shapes and while having Align Selected Objects option selected
and then Align Shapes to Center or in the Middle to each other, you can notice both
shapes are shifting from their position. For Center and Middle alignment, there are no stationary objects and both shapes can
might shift from their current position. I gave you another example of aligning objects, so you may have clear idea that how these
6 plus 3 alignment options behave. Now let's say that I draw two ovals in this document of different sizes and colors
I select both of them and then apply Align Center and Align Middle commands
Seem perfect but do note that both of shapes are getting aligned with each other, not according
to Page or Margin, as we have already selected Align to Selected Shapes option
Now let's say that if you want to align both of these shapes in the Center and in the Middle
of the Page, then what you have to do is to, first change the option either to Align to
Margin or Align to Page and then again apply Align Center and Align Middle commands and
there it is. Both shapes in exact center and in the middle of the page and also to each other
That is why I had relaunched Microsoft Word because it remembers the last selected Align
option for that particular document. For instance, let's say that in this particular document, I align both of these shapes according
to Margin and if later I open a new document and insert two or more shapes and select them
and then move to Align options, you can notice that the default option still is Align to
Margin whereas it should be Align to Selected Objects. That is what happened if you close and reopen Microsoft Word and then insert two shapes
and select them and then move to Align menu, see the default selected option now is Align
to Selected Shapes. It was important to explain and I tell you why
When you insert and select more than one shape or object in your document, then most of the
time you might want to align one shape according to their sizes but not according to page or margins
That is why in a new document when you select more than one shape, Align to Selected Objects
option automatically get enabled and selected. But in certain documents, you might be inserting several shapes or objects and will be aligning
them according to margins or page. So it is important to choose the right alignment option before you start applying the above
six alignment options. Other times you might be aligning selected objects first and then later aligning the
same objects according to page or margins. Now let's talk about two more options which are available in Align drop-down menu and
that are Distribute Horizontally and Distribute Vertically. It's simple, if you have placed many shapes side by side and want an accurate horizontal
spacing between them, then select all of them and then click Distribute Horizontally from
the Align drop-down menu. Same applies to Distribute Vertically command. If you have placed a few shapes vertically and want to have an accurate vertical space
between them, then select those shapes and then click Distribute Vertically. Interestingly, both of these options will only be enabled if at least one or more than
two shapes are selected. If you will select two shapes, then you can see that both options get disabled
I think algorithm behind this is simple. You can distribute an accurate space between more than two shapes whereas a single shape
can be distributed horizontally and vertically. Secondly, total blank space available in inches between the selected objects is divided by
number of selected objects and that is what Microsoft Word does to distribute an accurate space
As I had said in the beginning of this lesson that alignment options can also be used for
pictures, word art, and text boxes. So you can also practice the same for those objects
In the next lesson, we will talk more about alignment and arranging options by using Gridlines
and Guides which further help you to align objects perfectly and easily inside your documents
I hope you will find this video informative and interesting. Let us know by rating our video and leaving a comment
Do share this video with your friends and thanks for watching and I will meet you guys
in the next video. Bye and take care