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Master Alignment

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[Windows][Mac][InDesign][Alignment]

The panel offers extra tools that make working with objects easier, and above all a live preview. You can set the area the objects have to stay within, mirror them, lay them out in a grid, duplicate them onto the pages you choose, and use many more functions that take object layout another step further. My favourite part: hold Shift for a temporary preview. It’s great. Adobe InDesign 18.5 and newer, Windows and macOS.

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price

Free

* Prices do not include payment processing fees charged by the Gumroad platform.

What it does

28 features

Live preview

Edit a value and the selection moves with it — turn the wheel over the gap field and watch the gaps grow
Point at a button and see its result; move away and the objects go back, click and they stay
Or just hold Shift: the preview is on for as long as you hold it, and the panel needs no keyboard focus
However many values you try, the history keeps a single Undo step

Keeping objects in

A fence around the work: page, spread, margins or bleed
An action that would push an object outside is refused — nothing moves and the value to blame turns red
The status bar says by how many millimetres it overflows
With the preview running, the last value that still fitted stays on the page
Objects that were already outside before the action are left alone

Align and distribute

Six icons for aligning and six for distributing, the same as InDesign's own panel
Distribute to an exact distance, or to an exact gap you type in
Offset: the aligned edge lands that far inside the page, margin, spread or bleed edge
Measure reads the gap between the first two selected objects into the gap field
Align to the selection, a key object, the margins, the page, the spread or the bleed — with the meaning spelled out in words

The arranging InDesign never had

Grid: columns with X and Y gaps, in reading order, and up to six grid presets of your own
Span spreads the objects across an exact width or height and works out the gap
Stack lines the others up left, right, up or down from the key object
Same size by the largest, the smallest or the key object, optionally scaling the picture so nothing is cropped
Reorder: reverse, shuffle, by size, or by the name in the Layers panel — the places stay, only who stands in them changes
Swap exchanges two selected objects, keeping their outer edges and the gap

A safety net, and shortcuts

Snapshot remembers where the objects were and Restore puts them back, whatever you did in between, as one Undo step
The last five snapshots stay within reach, with their time and object count
Favourite actions on keyboard shortcuts 1 to 8 (Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts)
Adobe InDesign 18.5 and newer, Windows and macOS, Czech and English, free

Changelogv0.10.2

0.10.2

Move Same also finds twins inside groups, matches the style by identity as well as by name, and when it finds none it lists which styles the objects on those pages actually have.

0.10.1

Move Same says exactly why it did nothing: a one-page document, a range without other pages, a [None] style, or which name / style it looked for on which pages.

0.10.0

**Keyboard shortcuts for Favourites.** The plugin registers commands Favourite 1–8 (Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts → Product Area "Plug-Ins" → Zalesky Workflow). Give them keys and each runs the n-th pinned button.
**Offset** in the Align row: against the Page, Margins, Spread or Bleed the edge lands this far inside the reference edge. Live Preview works with it.
**Span**: spread the objects evenly over an exact width or height - sizes stay, the gaps change. The status bar says what gap came out; when the objects alone are wider than the total, it says so.
**Grid presets**: the + beside Make Grid saves Columns, Gap X and Y under a name; click a preset to use it, right-click to remove it. Up to six.
**Snapshot history**: the last five snapshots stay as chips with time and object count. Click one to restore it, right-click to forget it. Restore takes the latest.

0.9.3

The LIVE PREVIEW switch is a square button like the others, not a pill.

0.9.2

A **scrollbar** when the panel is lower or narrower than its contents. The top bar and the status bar stay put; the sections scroll between them.

0.9.1

The quick-value buttons (0 / 2 / 3 / 5) are gone, and with them the "Quick values" setting. The arrows, the wheel and typing cover it.

0.9.0

**Align To moved up into the top bar**, next to Keep objects in - both say what the tools work against, and now they stand together. The rows below are actions only.
**Fields stand in one column.** The icon groups of Align, Distribute and Spacing share one width, so Distance and Gap sit under each other; Grid's Columns and Stack's Gap line up too.
The two "Use Spacing" boxes are now **Distance** (Distribute) and **Gap** (Spacing), so you can tell them apart.
**Direction buttons carry an arrow**: Stack Left / Right / Up / Down and Mirror Left ↔ Right / Top ↕ Bottom.
**Key object awareness**: the top right says "key set" or "no key"; with Align To = Key Object or Same Size as the Key and no key chosen, the buttons dim and the tip says how to set one.
**Empty Favourites fold themselves away**; the header says how to fill them, and a one-time tip says it at first start.
**Panel size 90 %** for laptops.
**Quick values go into the gap field you used last** (Distance, Gap, Grid gap X / Y, Stack gap) - the field is outlined in blue.
The status bar shows the standing state on the right: Align To and Keep in.
Measure says which two objects it measured and whether side by side or one above the other.
Fit content moved behind Width / Height / Both so it no longer reads as a fourth size choice.

0.8.0

**Manual** (English and Czech) ships with the plugin: panel menu → Manual… opens it in your browser.
Panel menu → **Open log…** opens the log file; About opens a window. Both used to write only to the status bar, which looked like nothing happened.
Align To explains itself: the text beside the icons says what the choice means, and each icon has a full tooltip.
The log file is `log_master-alignment.txt`.

0.7.0

Renamed to **Master Alignment** (was Smart Alignment). It is a new plugin id, so remove the old one from the UXP Developer Tool and load this manifest; settings and Favourites start fresh.

0.6.2

Fit content scales the picture proportionally so all of it stays visible - nothing is cropped (0.6.1 filled the frame and cut the picture).

0.6.1

Same Size has a **Fit content** switch (Auto-Fit): on, a picture in a resized frame is scaled with it; off, only the frame changes and the picture stays as it was. Empty frames, text frames and groups are not touched by it.
The switch at the top reads LIVE PREVIEW.

0.6.0

**Favourites**: a new first section. Right-click any button to pin a copy of it there, right-click the copy to take it out. The copy is the same button and reads the same fields.
Distribute icons are drawn with two objects, as in InDesign.
**Log file.** Everything the panel does - clicks, live steps, Keep in checks, errors, layout changes, with timings - goes to `master-alignment.log` in the plugin's data folder. The path is in Settings and under "Where is the log?" in the panel menu. Send it along with a bug report.
Align to Bleed and Keep in Bleed say "This document has no bleed" instead of quietly using the page edge.
Live Preview no longer flashes between the old and the new position: the step back and the new step are drawn as one.
A fast run of arrow clicks no longer piles up - one live step runs at a time and the last value wins. A held arrow stops repeating when the mouse is released anywhere.
The wide layout now needs 1400 px (Favourites take room); the default panel is 1500 px wide.

0.5.0

**The panel adapts to its width.** Wide: the three sections side by side. Narrower: one under another, every tool still on one line. Narrow (a docked side panel): the tool's name sits above its row and the buttons drop to a line of their own. Nothing is ever cut off.
**Sections fold away.** Click a header (Align & Distribute, Arrange, Page) to hide what you do not use; the panel remembers it.
**You can see what belongs to what.** Point at a button and the fields and switches it reads light up in blue - Make Grid lights Columns, Gap X and Y; Distribute lights Use Spacing and Align To.
**Buttons that cannot run yet are greyed out**: with one object selected, everything that needs two or more is dimmed, and pointing at it says how many to select. The top right of the bar shows how many objects are selected. (Can be switched off in Settings.)
Tidier top bar and headers; the status bar has its own background.

0.4.1

With LIVE switched on for good, pointing at a button previews it again (no Shift needed). Shift still turns Live Preview on for as long as it is held.
Order by Name: objects that have no name, no text and no image (a plain group, an empty frame) now go last, in the order they stand, instead of first.

0.4.0

**Hold Shift for a temporary Live Preview.** The LIVE button lights up green while Shift is down and goes dark when you let go. With Shift held, the arrows and the wheel move the objects at once and pointing at a button shows its result.
Ten-times steps moved from Shift to **Alt** (Option on a Mac), so the two do not clash.
A cleared field is **0**: it counts as 0 straight away, and Tab, Enter or a click elsewhere writes the 0 in. Only something unreadable turns red and goes back.
Messages moved to a **status bar at the bottom** with room for three lines, so nothing is cut off at the edge of the panel. The gap sizes are written there too.
**Panel size 100 / 110 / 120 %** in Settings.
Settings are laid out in sections (Panel, Values, Status bar, Objects), and their text is readable in every theme. "Write the gap sizes between the objects" is under Status bar.
Page / Spread / Margins / Bleed are clearly greyed out and cannot be picked until "Keep objects in" is ticked.

0.3.0

A much clearer panel: three columns (Align & Distribute, Arrange, Page), and every tool is one row – its name on the left, then what you set, then what you click.
Buttons whose icon said nothing now say what they do: Make Grid, Left / Right / Up / Down, Width / Height / Both, Reverse, Shuffle, By Size, By Name, Swap, Duplicate, Move Same.
"Same size as the Largest / Smallest / Key" is a clear one-of-three switch, no longer three more icons.
Align To shows the name of what is chosen.
All value fields have the same width.

0.2.0

The panel is cut into segments with headings, like InDesign's own Align panel, instead of a box for every feature. All of it fits in one row at full width.
**Keep in Page / Spread / Margins / Bleed**: objects may not leave the chosen area. An action that would push them out is refused, and the value to blame turns red (a 16 mm gap on a page it cannot fit on, for example). With Live Preview the last value that fitted stays on the page.
**Hold Shift over a button to preview it.** Pointing alone no longer moves anything; let go of Shift or move away and it goes back, click to keep it.
The gap slider is gone. Every value field has InDesign-style up/down arrows (hold to repeat) and reacts to the mouse wheel; Shift steps ten times. The step is in Settings.
Clearing a field no longer turns it into 0 or an error: nothing happens while it is empty, and leaving it brings the last value back. Esc does the same.

0.1.0first test build

A wide copy of InDesign's Align panel: Align To (Selection, Key Object, Margins, Page, Spread, Bleed) as icons, Align Objects, Distribute Objects and Distribute Spacing, with Use Spacing.
**Live Preview**: change a value (field, arrows, slider or a quick value) and the selection moves at once; hover a button to see what it would do. Every change stays a single Ctrl+Z.
Gap slider with an adjustable step (0.1–10, in document units), quick values 0 / 2 / 3 / 5 and "take the gap from the selection".
Grid: lay out the selection in columns with X and Y gaps.
Match Size: same width, height or both – to the largest, the smallest or the key object. A group is resized as a whole.
Stack to Key: line objects up left, right, above or below the key object with a set gap.
Reorder: reverse, shuffle, by size or by name – the objects swap places, the places stay.
Mirror & Swap: swap two objects, mirror the layout around the selection, page or spread.
Page Columns: put each object into a column of its page, optionally as wide as the column.
Across Pages: duplicate to a range of pages (2-5, 8, 10-), or move same-named objects to the same place, mirrored on facing pages.
Snapshot: save positions and restore them.
Settings in the panel menu, including an optional gap readout and an off-page warning.