Using InDesign Manual 2025

Drawing a perfect circle, square or polygon Hold down the Shift key while you draw the shape. Even after a shape is created, you can always keep a shape proportional by holding down the Shift key while you adjust the size. Drawing a star Double-click on the Polygon tool in the Toolbox. Change the value of the Star Inset to something

On the Y-axis, the zero-point for Y is at the top edge of the page. However, the Y-axis is flipped from the commonly used Cartesian grid. Anything below the top of the page, which includes the entire page, is a positive number. Anything above the top edge of the page spread is a negative number. Frame/bounding box No matter the shape or size of an object, or whether text is fully visible in a frame , each object is contained within a frame or bounding box. When you highlight an object, the frame becomes visible along with its eight handles. Points Points are the smallest whole units of measurement in publishing. There are 72 points in an inch, and 12 points to a pica. InDesign will also compute the value of points as integers. For example, you could enter the value 13p9.345. This means the value is 13 picas + 9.345 points. SHAPES Drawing rectangles, elipses and polygons the Rectangle tool and then click on the Ellipse tool. Now you can draw an ellipse. Repeat the process for creating a polygon shape. Using shape tools or frame tools It is preferable to use the shape tools to draw page elements on your yearbook spreads. Drawing lines Click on the Rectangle tool , not the Rectangle Frame tool, and you can draw a rectangle box. Click and hold down

other than zero (e.g., 50%) and the next polygon you draw will have a star shape.

Deleting a shape Using the Selection tool, click on the shape you want to delete. Then click the Delete key or Backspace key on your keyboard. Using the Selection tool, you can go to Edit > Select All and then click the Delete key and delete everything on your page at one time. Aligning shapes There are two ways to align objects on the page. You can drag guides out of the rulers that appear above and to the left of the page and use those to line up your elements. Or you can select multiple objects and align them in various ways using the Align palette.

TEXT AND FRAMES Creating text in InDesign

The Line tool can be used in two ways. First, with just the Line tool, you can draw a line in any direction and at any angle

Use the “T” or Type tool to add text to a page. Type can be added by creating a new text frame, or by clicking with the Type tool inside an existing shape, which changes the properties of that shape into a text frame.

on the page. To constrain a line to 45° angles, or to constrain the width and height of a path or frame to the same proportions, hold down the Shift key as you click and drag.

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