Place and Shift Operations
The Place and Shift operations allow you to move a component to a specified location, even if it is on another line. Before choosing either of these operations, you must place the cursor where you want to move the component. The location of the cursor marks where the first (leftmost) character of the component is placed.
If the new location for the component does not affect any other component, there is no difference between the Place and Shift operations. However, if the new location causes the relocated component to overlap another component, Place and Shift handle the situation differently.
Place
Pushes the other component to the right. If there is not enough space for the pushed component to fit without overlapping additional components, the pushed component is dropped down one line. Thus, the Place operation affects only two components: the moved component and the component pushed out of the way.
Shift
Pushes the other component to the right. If there is not enough space for the pushed component to fit without overlapping additional components, the additional components are also pushed to the right to make room. If all the components cannot fit on a line, some components are forced down to the next line. A Shift operation can affect all components to the right of the moved components' new location.
Centering
The Center operation positions a report component in the center of the total report line width (not the width of your screen). If the report is wider than your screen, the centered component appears off‑center on your screen, but is correctly centered on the printed report.
You can set report line width when you create the report specification. You can also use the Move operation to move the right margin, as explained in the following discussion.