Stardraw Forums

Aligning Custom Text in Rack Layout Symbol with Snap to Grid Enabled

http://forums.stardraw.com/Topic19303.aspx

By vees-drafting@cornell.edu - 7/31/2025 4:00:11 PM

Hi all,

I’m currently editing a Rack Layout symbol in Stardraw Design and need help with text alignment while maintaining consistent formatting across symbols.

I’m trying to create a custom text layout within the symbol where:
[Manufacturer] and [Model Number] are aligned to the bottom-left of the red bounding box, and
[UID] is aligned to the center-right of the same box.

However, I’m struggling to position the text precisely as needed without disabling the Snap to Grid option, which I want to keep enabled to ensure consistency across multiple symbols in various block schematics.
Attached is an image showing the layout I’m trying to achieve.

Is there a way to accurately position these text fields as described while keeping Snap to Grid enabled to maintain consistency across various blocks?

Thanks!
By Rob Robinson - 7/31/2025 4:51:49 PM

Whether Snap to Grid is enabled or not in the Symbol Editor does not, in fact, matter; when the symbol is inserted into a drawing, it will snap as a whole according to the settings of the drawing, ignoring all of the grid and snap settings of the Symbol Editor at time of symbol creation.

In the Symbol Editor I would suggest using whatever grid and snap settings suit your purpose: they can be changed using the Properties Grid so, for example, you could change No. of Snaps in X to 4 if you want to position your text 1/4 or 1/2 or 3/4 of a grid space in from the outline.

Note also that you can use the Align tools in the Arrange menu to position objects relative to the first selected object e.g. select the Outline, then select the [UID] text and choose Arrange | Align | Middles to center [UID] vertically within the Outline.

I hope this is helpful