Align Tool

Use Tools → Methods → Align to move tagged artwork to a shared edge, center, or corner. The destination can be a stationary piece of tagged artwork or an Illustrator artboard, and the alignment can be shifted by fixed or percentage-based offsets.

The editor is easiest to understand as three decisions:

1. Which artwork should move?
2. What should it align to?
3. Which point on each side should meet, and on which axis?

For accepted aliases, spreadsheet examples, and the underlying method behavior, see the Align method reference.

Choose What the Artwork Aligns To

Reference Type changes the right side of the editor between Tagged Artwork and Artboard. This choice organizes the editor but is not written as a Darty property. Instead, the active reference fields determine what appears in the generated row.

Tagged Artwork

Use Tagged Artwork when one object should remain stationary while other artwork moves relative to it.

• Target Object Tags identifies the artwork that will move and becomes the row's tagSearch target.
• Key Object Tags identifies the stationary reference artwork and writes keyArt.
• Key Anchor Point chooses the point on that reference artwork and writes keyArtAnchorPoint.

For example, to place the bottom of a tagged triangle against the top of a tagged square, target the triangle, use the square as the key object, choose Bottom for Alignment, and choose Top for Key Anchor Point. The square stays in place while the triangle moves.

Both tag fields offer Use Selection Tags. Select previously tagged artwork in Illustrator, then use the adjacent action to copy its existing Darty tags into that field. The action fills the search; it does not align anything or create new tags.

When more than one selected tag is found, the editor creates an OR search such as front | label. See Darty Tags for search operators.

Artboard

Use Artboard when the destination is an Illustrator artboard rather than another object.

• Artboard Name writes artboardName and is case-sensitive.
• Artboard Number writes artboardNumber using Illustrator's one-based artboard numbering.
• Artboard Anchor Point writes keyArtAnchorPoint; it chooses the point on the artboard that receives the target alignment.

Use either the name or number for a clear, reusable row. According to the method reference, an unknown name falls back to the active artboard, while an invalid number does not produce an alignment. A stable artboard name is often easier to understand later; a number can be convenient when the document structure is fixed.

Switching Reference Type hides the fields from the other reference. Hidden reference values are not included in the row produced from the current configuration.

Choose What Moves

Target Object Tags normally stores the Darty tag search for the artwork that should move. If it is left blank, the Table preview normalizes the target header to *, allowing the method to address all eligible artwork. Use that broad target deliberately.

Apply to Selection provides a safer one-time alternative when you want the current Illustrator selection to move without saving its tags as the row target. It temporarily targets the selection and does not add a row to the Align Table.

Make the Two Points Meet

The two anchor pickers describe opposite sides of the same alignment:

• Alignment chooses the point on the moving target and writes align.
• Key Anchor Point or Artboard Anchor Point chooses the destination point and writes keyArtAnchorPoint.

Each picker offers the nine familiar reference points: the four corners, four edge centers, and center. The combination matters more than either choice by itself.

Examples:

• Target Left to key Right places the target's left edge on the reference object's right edge.
• Target Bottom to key Top places the target's bottom edge on the reference object's top edge.
• Target Center to artboard Center centers the target on the artboard when both axes are used.
• Matching Top Left on both sides places the target's top-left corner on the reference's top-left corner.

The generated align value uses the selected point, such as left, center, bottomRight, or an accepted shorthand documented in the method reference.

Limit or Extend the Axis

Direction writes direction and controls whether alignment affects the horizontal axis, vertical axis, or both.

An edge alignment already implies its natural axis: Left and Right are horizontal operations, while Top and Bottom are vertical operations. Direction is especially useful with Center, where it distinguishes horizontal centering, vertical centering, and full two-axis centering. It can also restrict a corner alignment to only one axis.

Leaving Direction unselected allows the method to infer the normal axis from Alignment.

Decide Which Bounds Count

Use Preview Bounds controls which visible boundary participates in the alignment and writes usePreviewBounds.

• True includes stroke width and effect dimensions in the measured bounds.
• False uses geometric bounds without those visible extensions.
• Unset omits the property so the method can follow its normal behavior and the applicable Illustrator preview-bounds setting.

This distinction becomes noticeable when a thick stroke, shadow, blur, or another effect extends beyond an object's underlying path. Use preview bounds when the visible edges should line up; use geometric bounds when the paths themselves should line up.

Move Away from the Aligned Position

Offsets begin with the position produced by the chosen target point, reference point, and direction, then shift the result away from that alignment.

Absolute Offset

Absolute Offset writes absoluteOffset. Use it for a fixed production distance such as 12px, 4mm, or 0.25in. The value accepts Darty units, making it suitable for a repeatable gap that should not depend on the dimensions of the aligned artwork.

Relative Offset and Inclusive

Relative Offset writes relativeOffset as a percentage-based displacement. It is useful when the offset should scale relative to the aligned geometry rather than remain a fixed measurement.

Inclusive writes inclusive and determines how the artwork participates in that relative displacement:

• True keeps the artwork included within the relative offset.
• False places the artwork outside that relative offset.
• Unset omits the property; the Align method's documented default is inclusive behavior.

For example, a 100-percent relative offset can keep the object inside the reference span when Inclusive is True, or move it fully outside that span when Inclusive is False. See the Offset Align example for the illustrated result.

Absolute and relative offsets can be stored as separate properties. When a workflow needs only one kind of spacing, leave the other blank so the generated row states only the intended displacement.

Skip a Reusable Align Row

Skip controls whether this method should run for the current data row and writes skip.

• True writes skip:true and bypasses the Align method.
• False writes skip:false and explicitly allows it to run.
• Unset omits the property.

Skip is primarily useful after the Align configuration becomes part of a reusable spreadsheet containing data rows that do not all need the operation. See Skip and *.

Build a Useful Align Configuration

A practical order is:

1. Choose Tagged Artwork or Artboard as the reference.
2. Identify the target artwork that should move.
3. Identify the key object or artboard that should remain fixed.
4. Choose the target Alignment point and the destination anchor point.
5. Choose Direction only when you need to center, align both axes, or override the inferred axis.
6. Decide whether visible preview bounds or geometric bounds should line up.
7. Add an absolute or relative offset when the aligned objects should not touch.
8. Use Add Row to capture the configuration, Apply to capture and run it, or Apply to Selection for a one-time test.

The editor will not add or apply a row containing only Target Object Tags. Configure at least one meaningful alignment, reference, bounds, or offset value. If validation fails, the status reports:

Set at least one alignment, key object, bounds, or offset value before continuing.

Control-to-Property Summary

Capture, Apply, and Review

• Tools Method Actions and Apply Modes explains Reset, Add Row, Apply, and Apply to Selection.
• Tools Method Table Preview explains how to inspect, edit, reorder, copy, download, and apply captured Align rows.
• Align method reference documents aliases, accepted values, spreadsheet examples, and sample files.