The manipulator is an onscreen widget that allows the selected item to be quickly moved and rotated by dragging the mouse. Press the spacebar key to show and hide the manipulator. When visible, it looks like this:

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[img=manipulator]
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Each of the three arrows can be dragged to move the selected item(s) while constraining movement to the direction of the arrow. If the [!keybind]Alt key is held, the arrow heads will appear as circular shapes, and dragging will move the selection perpendicular to the arrow.

Dragging the square regions in the middle of each arrow will rotate the selection along that axis. Rotation handles will only be shown if an item that can be rotated is selected.

By default, manipulator arrows point along the global X, Y, and Z axes. The orientation of the manipulator can also be aligned with the selected item's local normal, the pivot direction, or the camera direction. Manipulator orientation can be changed in the [link=properties_panel]Properties Panel[/link], or with these key shortcuts:

[list-]
[*]Shift+Space for Local orientation
[*]Ctrl+Space for Pivot orientation
[*]Ctrl+Shift+Space for Camera orientation
[/list-]

Pressing an orientation key shortcut while already in that orientation will change back to Global orientation. The manipulator's visibility status and orientation can be seen in the lower left corner of the current edit view.