ORTHO lock that actually works.

Space_Agency · ‎2026-04-07

Just basic orthographic lock for dragging/moving. Not snap guides, not distance guides, not locking the direction in only one direction like just 'x' or just 'y', not suggestive snapping, not grid based snapping, just simple 90º ortho in the x, y, and z direction. Autocad did this in like 1980 something? And Graphisoft can't do this in 2026? Please fix the basic interactions instead of feature-puking half-baked implementations.

Space_Agency · ‎2024-10-19

[Moderator: The two wishes on the same topic were merged]

OK, I just want 90º ortho on the x, y, and z axis while holding the shift key down or a hotkey that toggles this behavior. I still want to snap to points, I still want to snap to edges, references, etc. I don't want to turn those features off. I don't want to lock to just one axis, I just want good ol ortho from the 1990's. This has been driving me crazy since I first started using Archicad. I see plenty of posts requesting this and the answers are typically work arounds in my opinion. I just want it as simple as possible.. Quick, easy and effective. The way it is now is that when I do this and I have snap points or snap references on, everything is a mess when trying to snap and I can't get the "magic yellow line of ortho" to work immediately. It usually takes moving the object in the opposite direction, sometimes it never gets to the yellow axis and I have to change my view in 3d, zoom in 2d, etc. Incredibly frustrating. I realize there are the alt/opt x, y, or z, keys but in my opinion that just complicates things particularly in 3d when I don't immediately know which axis I need to lock to based on the view I am in. Other software works this way, etc. JUST KEEP IT SIMPLE. As always, if someone knows of how to do exactly what I am asking for here in a single key stroke manner, please let me know. Thank you.

MSDC · ‎2025-09-15

Bumping this - we need ortho mode! It's far too easy to end up with walls at 0.001 degree even when holding shift. Alt X/Y is not the solution

CFS_Mike · ‎2025-09-18

Bump!

Space_Agency · ‎2025-09-24

My real wish is that someday Graphisoft will listen to its users.

NateLumen · ‎2026-04-07

@Space_Agency - I like this. I would add improving the shift lock for ortho locking so it more easily grabs on to X, Y, and Z in 3D.

Lee Hankins · ‎2026-04-08

This is a great idea. It would prevent Archicad locking to an element in the window that’s not perfectly x or y when survey data has been used or the screen rotated.

Bennis123

This has driven me absolutely insane since I started using AC in 2017. All projects end up having walls that are 0.001 degrees off.

Barry Kelly

You can set your Work Environment settings to only allow for horizontal and vertical snaps.

Then the SHIFT key will only constrain horizontal and vertical.

It will ignore the rotated grid if you have set one and also not snap to any incremental angle.

Barry.

Space_Agency

@Barry Kelly :

Barry, yes, one can attempt to go this route, but it fundamentally doesn't solve the issue: speed, accuracy and above all, reliability I'm no fan of Autodesk, but they got this right in the 90's (don't ask how I know.) That interaction was a simple hot key (defaulted as f8) that turned ortho snap on and off and it simply locked all tracking 90º and it was lightning quick.

Per your example, to do this in the current version of Archicad we first have to set it up in the workspace environment settings. Somewhat simple to implement this once, but then you are locked into this snapping paradigm and if you want to change it, you have to go back into the settings again, etc. Not a deal breaker, but not great either.

But here's the real problem: during a move/drag of an object one can still move the selected item(s) off the 90º axis even if the horizontal and vertical input constraint is checked. Yes, there's a 90º 'guide' that does come up, but if you move off that guide you then have to go move back on to it. If you have other snaps on that complicates things in that situation. Our experience is that the whole thing is wonky as opposed to precise. Yes, there's the hold "shift" down bit. The hold "shift" down while moving works, but then if you let that go to "tab" into the tracker and enter distance information into the tracker, the ortho snap from the shift moves off that line/is lost. I do not understand why this interaction is helpful. Overall, the interaction is too much effort for something that should be incredibly simple. That's an interface design flaw from our perspective. Once you get into moving in 3D it gets worse. There are many aspects of the software that far surpass other applications, but many of the fundamental user interactions in Archicad remain overly complicated or unreliable. This feature request is for one that seems a straightforward fix. So the request remains to Graphisoft to just make this simple, faster, and more reliable.

EmmanuelF

The solution in SketchUp isn't bad either: use the arrow keys to lock the orientation.