The Move Tool is used to move layers, selections or guides. It works also
on texts.
4.2.1. Activate Tool
The Move Tool can be called in the following
order, from the image-menu:
Tools->Transform Tools->Move
The Tool can also be called by clicking the tool icon:
or by the M keyboard shortcut.
The Move tool is automatically activated when you create a
guide.
Note
Holding down the space bar changes the active
tool to Move temporarily. The Move tool remains active as long as
the space bar is held down. The original tool is reactivated after
releasing the space bar.
4.2.2.
Default behaviour
By default, this tool works on the active layer and the
Select a Layer or a Guide option is checked. Let's suppose
that your image has more than one layer, a selection and a guide. The
mouse pointer takes the shape of the familiar 4-way arrow when it
passes over the image elements originating from the active layer; then,
click-and-drag will move the active layer. When the mouse pointer is
on an image element originating from a non-active layer or on a guide,
it looks like a small hand; then, click-and-drag will move this layer
or this guide.
To move a selection frame, without moving its content, Use the
Ctrl-Alt
key-combination. This has the same action as selecting “
Selection” in Affect.
4.2.3. Key modifiers (Defaults)
Alt
Holding Alt
selections can be moved without altering your image. Only the
frame is moved, not its content. If Alt doesn't work try
Shift+Alt.
Using Arrow Keys
Instead of using the mouse you can use arrow keys to move
the active layer by one pixel. By pressing
Shift you move by 25 pixels. This doesn't
work with selections.
4.2.4. Options
Figure 8.43.
Move Tool options
Overview
The available tool options for Move can be found by double
clicking the Move Tool icon.
Affect
Three buttons allow to choose which entity Move tool will
act on: Layer, Selection or Path. Options to Tool
toggle are somewhat different.
Warning
Keep in mind that your Affect choice persists after quitting the
tool.
Layer: When this option is
selected, you can choose, either by clicking on a
radio-button or by pressing
Shift key, between:
Pick a Layer or Guide to move: If
your image has several layers, they must be visible and
have at least a few non-transparent pixels so that you
can find them (only the active layer has a dotted
border). The mouse pointer turns to a small hand you
can use to click on a part of the image that has been created
in the layer you want to pick. You must
click first on a non-transparent pixel to active the
layer and move it.
The Move tool is used also to move guides. See glossary
for Guides.
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
![[Warning]](../images/warning.png)
