Snapping and Suggestions
Snapping helps an edit land on a reference. Suggestions extend that help to useful positions calculated from the drawing, such as a continuation of a line or a chosen distance from a stem. Enable the references that support the task, then check the position where the edit lands.
Snapping
View > Enable Snapping is the overall switch for snapping and suggestions. Turn it on before choosing the references you want to use. Turning it off suspends their attraction without requiring you to clear each category.
Choose View > Snap to enable individual target categories. Each item is independent; you can snap to guides without snapping to the grid, or to a mask without enabling every outline aid. The View panel gathers corresponding controls. Smart guides also support snapping to pin points.
| Target toggle | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Outline | Option+Cmd+' | Ctrl+Alt+' |
| Font Guides | Shift+Cmd+F9 | Ctrl+Shift+F9 |
| Guides | Cmd+F9 | Ctrl+F9 |
| Grid | Shift+Cmd+' | Ctrl+Shift+' |
| Target | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Outline | Existing outline nodes and segments |
| Mask | Reference drawing associated with the current glyph layer; Design References and Comparing |
| Global Mask | The shared reference drawing; Design References and Comparing |
| Font Dimensions | Baseline and other font dimension lines |
| Spacing Controls | Sidebearing lines and baseline; The Metrics Workspace |
| Font Guides | Shared font-guide references |
| Guides | Local drawing guides |
| Grid | The configured design-grid lattice |
| Zones | Alignment-zone boundaries; Alignment Zones and Standard Stems |
| Hints | Hint edges; Glyph-Level PostScript Hints |
| Anchors & Pins | Named attachment or reference positions; Anchors for Positioning and Element References |
Some targets belong to specialized workflows, but enabling their snap category does not create those objects. For example, Zones provides no useful target where no relevant zone exists.
Align an edit to a reference
Enable the required snap category, make the reference visible when appropriate, and drag a node toward it. Watch the snap indication and release at the intended position. Check the coordinate readout for an exact alignment rather than judging only the visual distance at the current zoom.
Snap distance under Preferences > Distances controls the attraction range. A large range can make crowded drawings feel overly constrained; a smaller one requires more precise targeting. Grid rounding can impose a stronger constraint than ordinary proximity snapping.
For a point selection, inspect which point is attracted to the target and check the resulting coordinates; do not infer a universal reference-point rule from the selection alone.
Hold Control while dragging to suppress snapping and suggestions temporarily. On macOS this is Control, not Command. Release the modifier to restore the enabled targets for subsequent movement.
Resolve unexpected snapping
If an edit goes to the wrong reference, undo and inspect the enabled categories. Turn off competing targets or reduce the attraction distance. Do not rely on a presumed universal priority between two nearby targets.
Check the target's own settings too. A guide can have its Snap property disabled. Grid snapping needs the grid enabled as well as View > Snap > Grid. Hidden-reference suggestions can expose targets that are not otherwise visible, so examine Suggest settings when the pointer seems attracted to an unseen line.
Snapping concerns placement. It does not by itself enforce a smooth node, repair a curve, or validate a contour.
Suggestions
Use View > Suggest to choose the geometric relationships FontLab offers while drawing and dragging. Suggestions are transient: they appear when the pointer or selection reference approaches a relevant position. They are also snap targets, not merely explanatory lines.
References derived from points and edges
Nodes shows horizontal and vertical alignments with available nodes or handles. Lines extends existing segments and handle directions and can offer perpendiculars or centerlines. These are useful when a new feature should continue the geometry of an existing one.
Tangents offers a continuation in the direction of the line segment adjacent to the dragged point. It is useful for diagonal and italic alignments. Bounds offers edges and centers of drawing containers and components. These suggestions depend on which drawing content is available in the current editing scope.
Hidden guides
Guides can reveal nearby guide, metric, hint, and zone references during a drag even when their ordinary display is hidden. The relevant View > Snap categories still determine eligibility. A faint or hidden reference can briefly become prominent when it is useful for alignment.
Consistent widths and offsets
Stems suggests positions at the horizontal or vertical stem distances defined in Font Info > Stems. A vertical stem value describes a distance along x; a horizontal stem value describes a distance along y. Tagged definitions apply to glyphs matching those tags.
Use stem suggestions when new strokes should follow established widths. If a suggestion seems absent or unsuitable, check the definitions and tags rather than changing the drawing to fit an unrelated value.
Distance suggests an offset from existing contours. Set its x and y distances under Font Info > Other Values > Contour properties > Suggest distance. A positive distance places the suggestion outside a closed contour; an open contour's side depends on its direction. Use the previewed offset to confirm which side is being offered.
The suggested outline is temporary. Snapping to it helps place a point or selection; it does not create a parallel contour automatically.
Handle relationships
Handles offers three geometric cues: red for horizontal or vertical alignment, violet for symmetry relative to the chord joining the segment’s nodes, and cyan for a right angle between handle directions. Inspect the geometry as well as the color.
These relationships can provide useful starting points. A symmetric pair of handles is not automatically the best optical curve, and a snapped handle does not guarantee curvature continuity at the next node. Use the curvature comb and filled preview to judge the result.
Stroke and Power Stroke integrations with these aids are developed in Working with Strokes and The Thickness Tool.