8.5

With the Item tool selected, you can move, cut, copy, paste, duplicate, rotate, and color
a group. With the Text Content tool or Picture Content tool selected, you can
manipulate individual items as you would any ungrouped item.
To move an item within a group, press Command/Ctrl and select the item with the Item
tool , the Text Content tool , or the Picture Content tool .
If an active group contains the same kind of items (for example, all picture boxes), the
Modify dialog box will include a tab (or tabs) that refer specifically to those items. If an
active group contains a variety of items, the Modify dialog box may display only a Group
tab.
Choose Item > Ungroup (Command+U/Ctrl+U) to break the group relationship.
Resizing grouped items
To resize every item in a group simultaneously, click and drag the group's item handles.
If you press Command+Shift/Ctrl+Shift while resizing a group, all frame widths, line
weights, pictures, and text are resized proportionally. If you press Command/Ctrl while
resizing a group, frame widths, pictures, and text are still resized, but not proportionally.
Duplicating items
QuarkXPress lets you make single or multiple copies of boxes, lines, and text paths.
Create a single copy of a selected item using the Duplicate command (Item menu). You
can also press Option/Alt while dragging an item or group to create a duplicate.
The Step and Repeat feature is useful for laying out design elements that contain a number
of evenly spaced copies of an item. Create multiple copies of an item and specify the
distance between them using the Step and Repeat command (Item menu).
Spacing and aligning items
You can control the position of multiple selected items relative to one another using the
Item > Space/Align submenu or the Space/Align tab of the Measurements palette.
You can choose from among eight spacing and six alignment options in the Measurements
palette, and you can specify alignment relative to selected items, the page, or (for Print
layouts with facing pages) the spread. The Item > Space/Align submenu includes the "Item
relative" and "Page relative" modes described below. The Measurements palette also includes
a third mode called "Spread relative."
The space/align modes are as follows:
•
Item relative mode positions items relative to the uppermost active item, which does not
move. The uppermost item is determined by the location of the item's top edges. If two
or more items have the same top edges, then items are spaced from the leftmost item.
•
Page relative mode positions items relative to the page edges (left, right, top, or bottom).
70 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 8.5: PLUS EDITION
BOXES, LINES, AND TABLES