Rulers and Guidelines
In the 2D view, two rulers sit at the edges: one along the top for X, one on the left for Y. They don't just show measurements — they're also the tool you use to pan the plan in a straight line and to place guidelines.
You can turn the rulers off with Show rulers in 2d. in Settings, group Appearance & Workspace — that also hides the magnet icon in their corner, and with it the quick route to the Snapping settings. Their spacing follows the grid, including its automatic coarsening when you zoom out.
Panning the plan in a straight line
Drag along a ruler:
- top ruler → pans horizontally
- left ruler → pans vertically
This is the easiest way to follow a long stretch of track without drifting sideways.
Placing a guideline
A guideline is an infinitely long horizontal or vertical line in the plan that you can snap to. Two ways:
- Drag it out of the ruler: drag into the plan, across the ruler's direction. Releasing creates the line. Drag the pointer back into the ruler and the operation is cancelled.
- Double-click the ruler: places a guideline at that spot right away.
It's best to pull out the most important ones right at the start: the edge of the layout, or module joints.
The direction you drag decides: dragging across the ruler creates a guideline, dragging along it pans the plan.
Changing a guideline
Every guideline has a colored handle in the ruler that runs across it — a vertical guideline's handle sits in the top ruler, a horizontal one's in the left ruler. If the line lies outside the visible area, its handle is missing too.
- Dragging the handle moves the line.
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Clicking the handle without dragging opens a small window with three things:
- the Position in millimeters, exact to type in,
- a color picker, to tell guidelines apart by purpose (edge of the layout, track centerline, module joint),
- Delete.
Snapping to guidelines
Guidelines only take effect when Snap to Guide Lines is turned on, in the same window as the grid settings, reachable via in the ruler corner or via Settings. When snapping, guidelines take priority over the grid: wherever you've placed a guideline, that's the one you mean.