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So as you see in the picture I have a guideline on each object. Now what I want to do, is align the left object and guideline exactly on top of the right object's guideline. Does that make sense? But whenever I use Illustrator's horizontal align it obviously is taking the whole shape into account rather than the specific anchor points I want (which is where the guidelines are). So I basically I want the guidelines on top of one another when I move the shapes toward one another. So how do I easily do that since Illustrator doesn't snap easily and know when two guidelines are touching one another?

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2 Answers 2

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The Reflect tool is what you will want to use.

Find the point of reflection, your cursor should snap between guides and paths, and should highlight the intersect as shown in the image below.

Select the shape, then click the Reflect tool using (O) or by click + holding the Rotate tool to reveal the Reflect tool. Using the Reflect tool, click once to set the anchor point and then Alt + drag (alt modifier copies shape) your shape to where it should be.
By Alt-Clicking the anchor point, you can get a dialog box to type in the transformation you want (Copy Vertical mirror) and proceed from there.

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You may want to check your preferences for your Smart Guides. Everything on that menu can pretty much be checked.

Version: Illustrator CC 2017

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  • Thank you so very much!! That is definitely the solution to my question and helped me out immensely! I knew there had to be an easier way to do this, just had no idea what it was! Thank you for telling me about the reflection tool!
    – Bekah
    Nov 28, 2016 at 18:58
  • @Bekah a lot of this program is finding out shorter methods for things. But in my tests, I was able to recreate what you initially wanted to do just by dragging the smart guides together while constraining to the axis (shift). I would really recommend changing some snap settings. illustrator feels like a thousand hidden switches everywhere but i assure you they all do something.
    – Tyler Smith
    Nov 28, 2016 at 19:15
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Rather than trying to align the two objects, I would simply measure the distance between the two guides (or relevant parts of the shapes) and then move one of the objects by that distance in the appropriate direction.

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