I probably use the “Guidelines” feature of Crystal Reports more than most people. Guidelines are the invisible (or visible) lines that project out from those tabs on the rulers. They are similar to “Snap to Grid” in that you can ‘snap’ objects to these guidelines to keep rows and columns aligned. You can then slide the tabs to adjust the position of the row or column.

The problem comes when you need an object to be close to a guideline but not attached. As soon as you get close to a guideline Crystal wants to snap the object into place. I just rediscovered today that if you hold down your ALT key while you are dragging an object, then the guidelines are no longer “sticky” and the objects won’t try to snap to them. It is as if the guidelines are temporarily removed. And it works for “Snap to Grid” as well, so you can position objects between the dots if needed.

This feature is only available in versions 10 and later.