Position and Size (Text Box and Shape)

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# Position and Size

Resizes or moves the selected object.

To access this command...

Click on textbox or shape to select, then...

Choose Format - Text Box and Shape - Object - Object and Shape - Position and Size - Position and Size tab.

Open context menu for selected object - choose Position and Size - Position and Size tab.

Position and Size menu icon

Press F4 after selection to open the tab directly.

## Position

Specify the location of the selected object on the page.

Coordinate axes start at column A - row 1.

X-coordinates are negative in a "right-to-left" table.

Coordinates are relative to the origin. Left/top corner of the page content area is the initial default.

### Position X

Enter the horizontal coordinate where the selected base point should be placed.

### Position Y

Enter the vertical coordinate where the selected base point should be placed.

### Base point

The selected base point will be moved to the specified Position Y and Position X.

The base point always returns to the left/top corner on reopening the dialog.

## Size

Specify the size of the selected object.

Resize the selected object to the chosen width and height relative to the selected base point.

### Width

Enter a width for the selected object.

### Height

Enter a height for the selected object.

### Keep ratio

Maintains the width and height ratio when changing the width or height setting in the dialog box.

Only for shapes.

### Anchor

Specify the anchoring options for the selected object or frame. The anchor options are not available when you open the dialog from the Styles window.

#### To page

Anchors the selection to the current page.

#### To paragraph

Anchors the selection to the current paragraph.

#### To character

Anchors the selection to a character.

#### As character

Anchors the selection as character. The height of the current line is resized to match the height of the selection.

### To frame

Anchors the selection to the surrounding frame.

### Base point

Click a base point in the grid, and then enter the new size dimensions for the selected object in the Width and Height boxes.

The selected base point remains fixed in the grid. The object is resized relative to that point.

## Protect

### Position

Prevents changes to the position and size of the selected object.

### Size

Prevents you from resizing the object.

### Position

Specify the location of the selected object on the current page.

#### Horizontal

Select the horizontal alignment option for the object. This option is not available if you chose "anchor as character".

#### by

Enter the amount of space to leave between the left edge of the selected object and the reference point that you select in the To box. This option is only available if you select "From Left" in the Horizontal box.

#### to

Select the reference point for the selected horizontal alignment option. The following options are available:

- Paragraph area: the object is positioned considering the whole width available for the paragraph, including indent spaces.

- Paragraph text area: the object is positioned considering the whole width available for text in the paragraph, excluding indent spaces.

- Left paragraph border: the object is positioned considering the width of the indent space available to the left of the paragraph.

- Right paragraph border: the object is positioned considering the width of the indent space available to the right of the paragraph.

- Left page border: the object is positioned considering the space available between the left page border and the left paragraph border.

- Right page border: the object is positioned considering the space available between the right page border and the right paragraph border.

- Entire page: the object is positioned considering the whole width of the page, from the left to the right page borders.

- Page text area: the object is positioned considering the whole width available for text in the page, from the left to the right page margins.

- Character: the object is positioned considering the horizontal space used by the character.

Beware that the set of options available depend on the Anchor settings. Therefore, not all options listed above may be shown due to the current Anchor choice.

You can see the result of the alignments options that you select in the Preview box.

#### Mirror on even pages

Reverses the current horizontal alignment settings on even pages.

#### Vertical

Select the vertical alignment option for the object.

If you anchor an object to a frame with a fixed height, only the "Bottom" and "Center" alignment options are available.

#### by

Enter the amount of space to leave between the top edge of the selected object and the reference point that you select in the To box. This option is only available if you select "From Top" or "From Bottom" (as character) in the Vertical box.

#### to

Select the reference point for the selected vertical alignment option. The following options are available:

- Margin: Depending on the anchoring type, the object is positioned considering the space between the top margin and the character ("To character" anchoring) or bottom edge of the paragraph ("To paragraph" anchoring) where the anchor is placed.

- Paragraph text area: the object is positioned considering the height of the paragraph where the anchor is placed.

- Entire page: the object is positioned considering the full page height, from top to bottom page borders.

- Page text area: the object is positioned considering the full height available for text, from top to bottom margins.

- Character: the object is positioned considering the vertical space used by the character.

- Line of text: the object is positioned considering the height of the line of text where the anchor is placed.

- Baseline: available only for "As character" anchoring, this option will position the object considering the text baseline over which all characters are placed.

- Row: available only for "As character" anchoring, this option will position the object considering the height of the row where the anchor is placed.

Beware that the set of options available depend on the Anchor settings. Therefore, not all options listed above may be shown due to the current Anchor choice.

You can see the result of the alignments options that you select in the Preview box.

#### Keep inside text boundaries

Keeps the selected object within the layout boundaries of the text that the object is anchored to. To place the selected object anywhere in your document, do not select this option.

By default, the Keep inside text boundaries option is selected when you open a document that was created in a version of Writer older than OpenOffice.org 2.0. However, this option is not selected when you create a document or when you open a document in Microsoft Word format (*.doc).

## Adapt

Specifies, if the size of a drawing object should be adjusted to fit the size of entered text.

### Fit width to text

Expands the width of the object to the width of the text, if the object is smaller than the text.

### Fit height to text

Expands the height of the object to the height of the text, if the object is smaller than the text.

Adapt is only available for Text Boxes. To adapt Shapes to text, use Format - Object - Text.

Adapt is only available for Text Boxes. To adapt Shapes to text, use Format - Text.

Related Topics

Positioning Objects

Rotating Objects

Rotation