Align multiple objects automatically

When you have to work with many objects, for tidy display, use the Align multi object tool. This fills a genuine gap: even in SketchUp 2026 there is still no native align-and-distribute command — it has been one of the longest-running feature requests on the SketchUp forums, so spacing objects evenly by hand (or with a helper tool like this) is still the norm.

Tutorial video:

Steps by steps:

• Select all objects, click the Align multi object tool
• Choose the appropriate distance, x, y, z distribution, sorted by filter
• Objects are arranged in rows and columns

Watch out for one thing that trips people up: distribution is calculated from each object’s bounding box, not from its visible center. If some components are rotated, or wrapped in groups with extra empty space around the geometry, the spacing will look uneven even though the math is correct — the tool is lining up the invisible boxes, not the shapes you see. Right-click and re-group each item tightly around its geometry (or reset its axes) before distributing to get a clean result.

If you only need to drop a fixed number of evenly spaced copies along a single line, you don’t even need an extension — SketchUp has a hidden native trick: place the first and last copy with Move + Ctrl, then immediately type /n (for example /5) and press Enter. SketchUp divides the span and inserts that many equally spaced copies between the ends. The Align multi object tool is for the 2D row-and-column grid case that this shortcut can’t handle.