ICM has a powerful editor for pairwise and multiple alignments. ICM alignment editor robust and safe. It protects you from unintended changes in the alignment. To edit an alignment one only needs to select a block next to a gap and move it with arrows. In total, there are four operations one might need:
- select a block with one or several sequences to be moved (press Ctrl to add blocks). Important: since you can only move the selection to the gapped space , the moving front of the selection must be next to the gaps.
- (optional) create space on both sides around a vertical section of the alignment
- use the keyboard arrows to move the selected block with respect to the other sequences
- squeeze out the excessive gaps (an item in the alignment popup menu)
| OPERATION | KEYS |
|---|---|
| set a vertical selection for ALL sequences in the alignment | Double-Click |
| add white space by hitting the Space bar | SpaceBar |
| remove white space | Backspace |
| select a sub-block for shifting | Drag Left-Mouse-Button |
| shift the selected block next to a gapped area | Right and Left Arrows |