Illustrator: Align objects without moving one of the objects

So you have a business card built in Illustrator and you want to center the text on the card. If you select the 3.5" x 2" box and the text box and click "Vertical Align Center" on the Align palette, Illustrator will move each object halfway towards the other object!

If you want only to move the text and not the 3.5" x 2" box, you will need to make the 3.5" x 2" box the "key object." To do this, select both objects, then click the 3.5" x 2" box (not a Shift+click though). This will align all the other objects to the "key object" you just clicked.


--Stephen M. James
www.smjdesign.com