Move to Next

1Introduction

Move To Next is a placement aid for Xpedition. It lets you push one or more selected components in a chosen direction until they butt up against the nearest neighboring part, stopping automatically at the closest spacing your design rules allow.

Xpedition already provides this kind of "slide until it touches something" movement for the four straight directions — up, down, left, and right — through its built-in keyboard nudging. What it does not offer is the same behavior along the four diagonal directions. Move To Next fills that gap, giving you fast, clearance-aware packing in the diagonals as well.

The tool has no window and no settings to configure. You simply select the components you want to move, then press a single key combination for the direction you want. The move happens instantly and the tool closes itself.

2How It Compares to Built-In Nudging

Xpedition's native component nudging works like this: select one or more components, hold the CTRL key, and press an arrow key. The selected components slide in that direction as far as they can until they meet another object, then settle at the minimum allowed placement clearance. This makes it quick to pack parts tightly while still honoring your clearance rules — but only in the four straight (cardinal) directions.

Move To Next applies the exact same idea to the four directions in between — the diagonals at 45°, 135°, 225°, and 315°. Together, the built-in arrow nudging and Move To Next give you all eight directions of a compass, so you can pack components together from any angle.

3Requirements and Setup

• Xpedition must be running with a board design open and licensed.
• The tool must be installed and its direction shortcuts assigned, following the ExactCAD Install Instructions.
• Your keyboard needs a numeric keypad — the four corner keys (Num 7, Num 9, Num 1, Num 3) are what trigger the diagonal moves.
• Number Lock should be on, so the keypad sends digits rather than acting as navigation keys.
• At least one component must be selected before you press a direction key.

Hotkey Assignments

Each of the four directions is launched by holding CTRL and pressing the matching keypad corner key. In the keybindings file, these are assigned as follows:

4The Diagonal Direction Keys

Move To Next uses the four corner keys of the numeric keypad. Each corner key moves your selection toward the matching corner of the screen — the key's position on the keypad mirrors the direction the parts will travel. Hold the CTRL key while you press one of them.

5Typical Workflow

Using the tool takes just two actions — select, then press.

1. In your board design, select one component or a group of components you want to move.
2. Decide which diagonal you want them to travel toward.
3. Hold the CTRL key and tap the matching corner key on the numeric keypad.
4. The selected components slide in that direction until their leading edge reaches the nearest part in the way, then stop at the closest spacing your clearance rules permit.
5. Repeat with the same or a different corner key to keep nudging, or use the straight arrow keys for the cardinal directions.

6How the Tool Decides Where to Stop

You do not need to understand the internals to use the tool, but knowing roughly how it works can help you predict its behavior.

• It looks at the leading edge. The tool builds a profile of your selected components facing the direction of travel — in effect, the silhouette that would "lead the way" as the group moves.
• It advances until it makes contact. That leading edge is stepped forward in the chosen direction until it reaches the placement outline of a part that is not in your selection.
• It respects your clearance rules. Once the nearest blocking part is found, the tool backs the move off so the selection lands at exactly the part-to-part placement clearance defined by your design rules — never closer than allowed.
• It moves everything together. All selected components shift by the same amount in one motion, preserving their arrangement relative to one another.

7Tips & Troubleshooting

• Nothing moved when I pressed the key: Make sure you selected at least one component first. The tool acts only on the current selection.
• Still nothing moved: Check that something actually lies in that direction. If there is no other part in the path, there is nothing for the selection to stop against.
• The keypad isn't responding: Confirm Number Lock is on. With it off, the keypad keys act as navigation keys instead of sending digits.
• The parts stopped farther apart than I expected: The gap is set by your part-to-part placement clearance rule. Review that clearance value in your design rules if you need them closer.
• A small window appeared: The tool runs invisibly and closes on its own. If a small window ever stays open, you can simply close it — no harm is done.
• I want to undo the move: A single Undo restores the components to their previous positions, since the whole move counts as one step.