Illustrator smart align

March 11 2009 / 13:01

It might just be me, but I've been looking for this feature for years:
When you centre-align 2 objects in Illustrator, these 2 objects will move to towards each other. When one of the two items is already positioned on a grid or you're working with absolute pixel positions, this will get very annoying pretty soon. But there is a way to lock the position of one of the selected objects. This goes as following:

1. Select 2 or more items.
2. Left-click on the item you want to lock (the selection line will become bolder).
3. Align the objects.

The reason most people don't know about this feature is because it feels really unfamiliar to not double-click, not right-click, but left-click the object twice. But once you know, you're life will be better, I promise!