Moving Items Precisely

Have you done the Step-by-Step tutorial? I believe it covers a number of techniques.

You can use guidelines to help you or simply use direct entry of values. Type 'r' to enter relative distance (16') and 'a' to enter the angle or hold the shift key to constrain the angle to orthogonal or relative orthogonal modes.

There are a couple of things you might try to see which you like best. Let's say you've got a wall (running vertically on the screen) at 15'-113/4" but want exactly 16'. You can drag the wall using the cursor on the interior wall edge, over to the wall you want to dimension FROM, and type "X16+" (without quotation marks, of course) and then hit Enter to place.

Or, you can position the wall as before, but while the wall to be moved is highlighted, use ALT-Shift to move the User Origin under the cursor (to the wall edge you're dimensioning FROM), then start to move in the direction you want (with guide lines on) and just type 16 plus Enter. I think the Tracker has to be on to get this to work.

I'd love to see GS incorporate a better system for doing what you describe, or maybe I just haven't found it yet, but these work.

Jay wrote:
Note for IMperial User's -
If you use the "x", "y" or "r" input method and are moving in the Negative direction (Quadrant), the you must "hit" the "-" sign twice.

Example:
Moving to the left (assuming Orthogonal Grid) in the X-direction 16-feet would be

x16--

why not do X -16 + ?

Personally, I tend to move the user origin in those situations (option-shift). I find it less confusing.