Hi hallsadvancedformula,

> PLACING drill holes on a faceplate. You first draw the grid with the correct spacing. Then
> you have to place several circles from its center on the correct intersection. This is an
> extremely common task... and it would be so much easier if we could drag a circle from its center.

Like Dan writes above, this is a job that the Transform > Copy command is well suited for. It's directly next to the Transform > Move command that should help you with your other circle relocation tasks as described above.

With the Transform > Copy command, you'll pick one base point at the center of the circle you want to duplicate, then you'll stay in the command and click as many target points as you want. Each target point you click will drop a circle into your desired location. It's actually faster than drag/drop would be for placing several objects because you don't have to keep going back to the base object for each copy, you only need to do one click at your target spot to drop a circle there.

It kind of sounds like you're not really taking any advantage of the additional transform tools under the Transform palette on the right-side side pane. Direct object dragging is good for many kinds of simple repositionings, but if you need something more flexible the additional Transform tools should help you a lot.

Transform > Move and Transform > Copy are the most essential ones out of those tools:



- Michael