Line things up — alignment guides, live distances, and Snap
Guides appear the moment edges or centres align, the gap reads out in your units, and Snap gently clicks pieces into place.
Two chairs that are almost in line look wrong from across the room, and a row of cabinets that wanders by an inch shows in 3D. RoomSketch3D lines things up while you drag: dashed guides appear the moment a piece's edge or centre matches a neighbour's, the gap between them reads out live, and with Snap on the piece clicks into alignment.
Step by step
- 1
Drag near another piece
Drag a chair toward the other chair. As their top edges, centres, or bottom edges line up, dashed guide lines appear — all matching lines at once (top, centre, and bottom, or left, centre, and right) — together with a live readout of the distance to the nearest piece in your units, switching to inches or centimetres when you're close. Only nearby pieces show guides, so a busy plan stays clean.
Guides plus a live gap readout, mid-drag. - 2
Read the guides over the pieces
Guide lines draw over the furniture, so a shared centre line is easy to see even across a rug or a table. Alignment stays accurate at any zoom — a line that shows at one zoom won't vanish when you zoom in.
Guides draw on top, so centre lines read clearly. - 3
Turn on Snap
Tap the magnet in the toolbar (Enable snapping). Now pieces gently click into alignment as they get close — to walls, the grid, and each other. Tap it again (Disable snapping) for free-hand placement.
Snap clicks the piece into line. - 4
Guides are a layer
Open Layers and use Show alignment guides to switch the drag guides on or off (the centre / wall-midpoint guides have their own switch). The zoom slider now goes as far in as the scroll wheel or pinch, so you can fine-tune a gap at high zoom.
Layers → Show alignment guides.
Tips
Align a whole run
Place the first cabinet, then bring each next one in along the wall — the edge guide catches, and Snap seats it flush.
Centre a rug under the sofa
Drag the rug until the vertical centre guide lines up with the sofa's; the readout confirms equal overhang.
Arrow keys for the last inch
With a piece selected, the arrow keys nudge it without triggering guides on neighbours.
Common mistakes
Fighting Snap when you want an offset
Turn Snap off for deliberately staggered pieces, then back on.
Reading the readout as clearance
The readout is the gap to the nearest piece; for walkway clearances use the tape measure or Flow Check.
Frequently asked questions
Why do guides only show for some pieces?
Guides appear only for nearby pieces, so the plan stays readable. Move closer to a piece and its guides light up.
Can I turn the guides off?
Yes. Layers → Show alignment guides. Snap has its own toggle in the toolbar.
Do guides work with walls?
Snap aligns to walls and the grid as well as other pieces; the dashed drag guides are for piece-to-piece edges and centres.
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