Moving layers with the Move tool in Paint
How the Move tool in Paint by Zaweba moves layers, carries linked layers along, snaps, nudges with arrow keys and opens Quick Looks on a right-click.
Moving a layer sounds like the simplest job in an image editor, and mostly it is. But doing it precisely, with related layers moving together and things landing exactly where they should, is what separates a tidy design from a messy one. The Move tool in Paint by Zaweba handles all of that.
Pick the Move tool and drag on the canvas to move the active layer. That is all there is to the core job. It works for photos, shapes, text and anything else that sits on a layer.
Linked layers move together
Layers that are linked move together when you move one of them. That is the reason to link layers in the first place. A product photo and its drop shadow, a logo and its tagline, a speech bubble and the text inside it: link them and drag one, and the group keeps its arrangement. Without linking you would move them one by one and risk them drifting apart.
Snapping as you move
Snapping applies while you move. If you have Snap To turned on for guides, layers or the grid in the View menu, the layer settles against them as you drag near. It is how you get a column of pictures to sit exactly against a margin guide or a heading to line up with the edge of a photo.
When you need free movement, for a loose collage say, switch off what you do not want to snap to.
Nudging with the arrow keys
The arrow keys nudge the layer. Dragging with a mouse or pen is quick but slightly imprecise, and nudging is how you make the final small corrections. Drag roughly into place, then tap the arrows until it is exactly right while watching the edges.
Nudging is also good for comparing positions. Tap a layer one way and back again and your eye will tell you which looks better.
The Quick Looks menu
A right-click with the Move tool, or with the Hand tool, opens the Quick Looks menu. Keep it in mind as a right-click shortcut while you are arranging: you can reach it without changing tools, so the flow of moving and checking is not interrupted.
Move tool or Select tool?
Paint by Zaweba also has the Select tool on V, which picks the layer under a click, moves it, and offers handles for resizing and rotating. For laying out a design with lots of separate pieces, Select is often quicker because it chooses the layer for you. The Move tool is the steady choice when you have already chosen the layer in the Layers panel, when you want linked layers to travel together, and when the job is purely about position.
Placing a watermark in the same corner of a picture. Arranging a set of linked elements such as a badge, a price label and its outline. Lining up a row of photos against guides. Making small adjustments to text position once the wording is final.
When a move goes wrong
If the wrong thing moves, check which layer is active in the Layers panel. If something moves that you did not expect, it may be linked to the active layer. If a layer refuses to settle where you want, snapping is probably pulling it, so turn off the snap target or hold off from the guide. And if you moved something by accident, undo puts it back.
Small, steady and precise, the Move tool is one of those tools you hardly notice in Paint by Zaweba until you need it to be exact.
