Align shapes to grid 'off centre'

[Li-aung Yip]

I have some oddly shaped shapes that I want to stick to a regular grid pattern.



Unfortunately, because the shape's alignment box is 'off centre' relative to the grid, using 'Snap to Alignment Box' doesn't produce the desired alignment.



What is the best way to make these shapes snap to the desired grid?

One (ugly) way is to draw a box around the entire shape, then use Shapesheet properties to set this box to "not visible". The alignment box is forced to the size of the hidden box, and you can make this box be a nice multiple of the grid spacing. This works, but it's a bit of a hack.

Is there a simpler and easier way of achieving the same result?

This is in Visio 2010, if relevant.

[Note: I also posted this question to Super User - http://superuser.com/questions/777044/align-shapes-to-grid-off-centre.]

[wapperdude]

One approach would be as follows:
1.)  Ungroup your shape
2.)  Select only the two horizontal lines and group.
3.)  Open the shapesheet for the group and in the Protection section, set the LockCalcWH cell to 1.  This prevents the selection box from resizing.
4.)  Add the remaining shapes to your group.  That's it.

An optional step would be to change the behavior of the switch to 1D.

Wapperdude

[Yacine]

Instead of setting the rectangle to invisible, you'd better delete it. The size of the group won't change.

[Paul Herber]

The shapes may be designed for either a metric or inch division grid. Ensure you are using suitable measurement settings for your page.

[Li-aung Yip]

wapperdude, Yacine;

Thanks for your suggestions. I ended up doing the following:

1. Draw shape as normal.
2. Draw a temporary box around the entire shape.
3. Group the shape and the temporary box.
4. Set LockCalcWH = 1 on the group.
5. Delete the temporary box.

Thanks again.