Home > Designing and creating databases > Editing objects on layouts > Selecting and working with objects on a layout > Resizing and reshaping objects

Resizing and reshaping objects

Once you've drawn a line or a shape on a layout, you can reshape or resize it. You can also reshape or resize field objects, portals, graphics, text blocks, tab controls, and charts. In addition, you can allow objects to resize automatically when the FileMaker Pro window is resized. Resizing settings also apply to Preview mode and printing, when the page size is different from the size of the layout being viewed or printed.

For information about auto-resizing, see Setting auto-resize options for layout objects.

For more information on resizing tab controls, see Moving and resizing tab controls.

For information about resizing graphics, see Formatting graphics on a layout.

To resize one or more objects:

1.	In Layout mode, select one or more objects.

For more information, see Selecting objects.

2.	Drag one of the selection handles to change the object’s shape and size.

To resize the objects in a specific or precise way, do one of the following:

 

To	Do this
Change only the height or width of a two-dimensional object (for example, fields, rectangles, ovals, fields, or imported graphics)	Drag a handle that appears in the center of the object’s border.
• Force the height and width of a two-dimensional object to be equal (for example, a rectangle becomes a square, or an oval becomes a circle)  • Constrain a line to horizontal or vertical  • Constrain the direction you drag to 45-degree increments when you resize a line	Press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag a handle.
Resize the selected objects to match all widths (or all heights) to the smallest (or largest) object, in one step.	Click one of the Resize buttons in the Arrange & Align area of the Position tab of the Inspector. If you don’t see the Inspector, click Inspector in the layout bar.
Precisely resize the selection	Use the rulers, guides and dynamic guides, grid, and Position area of the Inspector. For more information, see Using tools to precisely position objects.
Override the grid when dragging a handle	Press Alt (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you drag a handle. For more information, see Using the rulers and grid.

Notes

•	Resizing the first repetition of a repeating field resizes all repetitions.

•	Resizing a grouped object resizes all the objects in the group. For more information about grouping objects, see Grouping and ungrouping objects.

•	To easily align and distribute objects, you can use the buttons in the Arrange & Align area of the Inspector or the menu commands and shortcut menus in the Arrange menu. See Aligning or distributing objects.