Align Command From Right Click Menu Requires Re-Selection of Component

[tvasnelis]

I am on a new installation of 2020 and experiencing different functionality of the Align command through the right click sub-menu.  I am selecting a schematic component then right clicking and selecting the Align command.  My current selection is lost and I'm prompted to select component to align with.   In previous versions, the initial selection was maintained and once the align command was selected, the prompt was to select components to be aligned.  Is there a setting that I can change?  PICKFIRST is set to 1.

[vinodkl]

Hi,

AFAIK that's how it works. You select the component and right click and select align, now the current component will be the reference and this component will be not highlighted as you require other component to be selected to align with the current component.

If you are not able to select multiple component to align then you need to check the system variable "PICKADD" and set it "2"

[Thomasbatson · Accepted solution]

when I was using 2018 I did the same thing, select the component > right-click > align and it would automatically use that component to align vertically.  The problem I would encounter is if I wanted to use that component to align horizontally I would have to use the align command from the Edit Components menu.  

I see the same thing you are talking about in 2020, I can only guess this was a change so the right-click align command worked the same as the align command in the ribbon.  That's not how it worked before as I noticed also, but that is how 2020 works and maybe someone can confirm the reason was consistency.

[tvasnelis]

Thanks.  I am used to the old functionality and the extra step to re-select the component is a (minor) annoyance.  

[lmichels]

I am also new to 2020 and find that extra step very annoying.  Is there a setting somewhere to change it back to automatically doing the vertical align so I can avoid the extra clicks?

[rhesusminus · Accepted solution]

While you can't change the command to accept "pre-selection", you can adapt AcadE to have two version of the align command. Just standard AutoCAD customiation:

[ramesh.kambang]

I checked both 2018 and 2021. Align command from radial menu, automatically determines the align type (vertical or horizontal) depending on the type of the symbol ie if symbol starts with H, acade  selects vertical alignment and horizontal alignment for symbol starts with V. Keep you posting. 

[Thomasbatson]

I had noticed in my 2021 I did not have the align-vertical and align horizontal like, I went though adding them to the cui and they showed up like Trond explains.  You have to create the commands

 

 

[Thomasbatson]

I am just thinking about it, the automatic way works if your components are always named as expected, but thinking about it as an example if you have a terminal on a horizontal rung and you want to vertically align it with all the others you would still have to select to change the align to vertical.  

[lmichels]

Brilliant!  Perfect!  I didn't see an excepted solution link or button or choice of any kind.  Perhaps it's because I am pretty new to the forum (at least new to trying to use it) or perhaps it's because there was already an accepted solution?  Anyway this is what I expected when I opened the thread.  After I asked my question I started looking at the CUI but didn't have any idea of the where or how.  You filled in those blanks and I am very happy.  As far as I am concerned this is the Accepted Solution.  If I am missing something obvious in how to officially assign it that title please let me know.  Other than that just know your advice and (THANK YOU!!!) your diagrams allowed me to accomplish something that will save me a lot of time over the course of a day.  I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude.

[tvasnelis]

Thanks. 

Agreed that with properly named schematic components this function isn't really necessary.  However, I was able adapt this to the panel component and terminal selection to eliminate the step of selecting horizontal or vertical.

It is still annoying to be forced to select the component after choosing the command.  But with this solution I can get back down to the original number of clicks once I retrain myself not to select the component first. 

[Mike_Steel]

Hi Team .. is there a " How to " somewhere to give me a blow by blow instruction for this AutoCAD customization please