Working with objects

Operations shared by shapes, lines, text frames, images and tables: moving, resizing, stacking order, fill and stroke.

Selecting

• Click an object with the Select tool (V).
• To select several, drag a rectangle on an empty area. Every object the rectangle touches or overlaps is selected.
• Shift+click adds to the selection; Shift+clicking an already selected object removes it.
• ⌘/Ctrl+A selects every object on the spread.
• Select several objects of the same kind and the Attributes tab shows that kind's properties as usual, with the count in the panel header. With mixed kinds it switches to Objects, showing the count and kinds plus shared properties only (Position & Size, rotation, Opacity, Line color and Weight, Fill color, Overprint).
• Click an empty area to deselect.

Hidden or locked objects, and objects on hidden or locked levels, cannot be selected by clicking on the canvas.

Related questions

• I click an object but it won't select
• How do I select everything at once?

Moving, resizing, rotating

• Move: drag the selected object. The arrow keys nudge by 0.25 mm; Shift+arrow keys by 2.5 mm. Drop it on another spread to move it to that spread.
• Resize: drag the corner or side handles of the selection frame. Hold Shift while dragging to keep the original proportions.
• Rotate: drag the rotation handle floating above the top center of the selection frame.
• For exact numbers, enter X, Y, W, H and Rotation (°) in the Position & Size section of the Attributes tab. Values start in the unit from your document work settings; change it with the list (mm, pt, inch) at the right of the section header. X and Y are measured from the ruler origin.

Number fields commit when you press Enter or click elsewhere. Use the up/down arrow keys or the ▲▼ next to the field to step the value, and Esc to revert.

Related questions

• I want to move an object to an exact position
• How do I rotate an object?
• How do I set the size numerically?

Copy, paste, duplicate, delete

• Copy ⌘/Ctrl+C, cut ⌘/Ctrl+X, paste ⌘/Ctrl+V. Each paste lands slightly offset from the previous one.
• Paste in Place (Paste in Place) ⌥⇧⌘V (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V) pastes exactly where the original was copied — on another spread too, at the same coordinates.
• Duplicate (Duplicate) ⌥⇧⌘D (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D) makes a copy without touching the clipboard. Dragging an object with ⌥ (Alt) held also leaves the original in place and drags a copy.
• Delete with Delete or Backspace. Locked objects are not deleted.
• Right-clicking an object also offers Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste in Place and Duplicate. Right-clicking empty space offers Paste, Paste in Place and Load Pattern... (see “Color”), plus Restore Deleted Master Items on a spread with deleted master items.
• Copying an object also replaces the system clipboard — a text frame's text can be pasted into other apps; a shape leaves it empty. When you paste while editing text, whatever was copied last is what gets pasted: an object becomes an inline object in the text (see "Inline (anchored) objects" in the "Text" article), copied text is pasted as text.
• Pressing ⌘/Ctrl+V on the canvas with something copied from another app creates a new object — text becomes a new text frame at the center of the view (formatting such as bold and alignment comes along; the width fits the longest line, up to the page inside the margins), and a picture is uploaded to the document and becomes an image frame (see “Images”).
• Pasting onto another spread or a master places the objects at the center of the view (the copied coordinates mean nothing there). Paste in Place (Paste in Place) keeps the coordinates.
• Copying a threaded text frame brings only the text that was visible in that frame. Copy several threaded frames together and the copies stay threaded, with their text joined. The copies never join the original thread.
• To another document: objects copied in a document open in another tab paste with ⌘/Ctrl+V too. Images are copied into this document; text formatting comes along (style names and spot colors that this document lacks keep their values only).

Related questions

• How do I copy an object?
• How do I paste in the same place?
• How do I duplicate an object?
• How do I delete an object?

Stacking order and groups

For overlapping objects, choose Bring to Front, Bring Forward, Send Backward or Send to Back under Arrange in the right-click menu, or use the shortcuts. Order changes only within the same level; several objects moved together keep their order among themselves.

The Layers tab lists objects by level in stacking order (see Levels below). Drag items to reorder them, use the eye icon for visibility and the padlock for locking. To edit an object inside a group, double-click the group to enter it. Inside, clicking selects an object and Shift+click adds more; click outside the group to leave it.

With a single group selected, the Attributes tab shows Position & Size (X, Y, W, H, rotation, Opacity) and the Effects section. Opacity and effects apply to the group as a whole.

Related questions

• I want to send an object behind another
• How do I group objects?
• How do I lock an object?
• I want to hide an object temporarily

Levels

A Levels is a document-wide layer, like a layer in InDesign. Put different kinds of objects, such as text, pictures and backgrounds, on separate levels to hide or lock them all at once.

The Layers tab is a tree with levels as parents. Under each level its objects are listed in stacking order, with group members one step further in. Use the arrow at the left of a level to collapse or expand it. Objects on a higher level are always drawn above objects on a lower level.

• The New Level + button adds a level just above the current one. Each new level gets the next color in turn.
• Click a level to make it the current level; new and pasted objects go onto it. Selecting an object makes its level the current level.
• A selected object's frame and handles are drawn in its level's color. The swatches in the Move to Level menu use the level color too.
• The eye icon at the right of a level row hides the level from the screen and from PDFs. The padlock locks it: its objects stay visible but cannot be selected.
• Double-click a name to rename it, click the color swatch to change the color, and drag a level row to reorder it. The number next to the swatch is how many objects the level holds, and a white square inside the swatch means selected objects are on that level.
• To move objects to another level, drag them in the tree onto that level's row, or right-click and choose it under Move to Level. Dragging an object within its own level changes the stacking order.
• If the current level is hidden or locked when you draw or paste a new object, the level is shown and unlocked and a notice appears.
• The trash button deletes the current level. If it has objects, you are asked first and they are deleted with it. The last level cannot be deleted.

Every level operation can be undone.

Related questions

• Is there something like InDesign layers?
• I want to lock all background objects at once
• Why do selection frames have different colors?
• How do I move objects to another level?

Align and distribute

With two or more objects selected, the Align Objects, Distribute Objects and Distribute Spacing sections appear at the bottom of the Attributes tab.

1. Choose the Align to — Selection (relative to each other), Page, Spread or Margins.
2. Click an alignment button — Align left edges, Align horizontal centers, Align right edges, Align top edges, Align vertical centers, Align bottom edges.
3. To space reference points (edges or centers) evenly use the Distribute Objects buttons; to even out the gaps between objects use Equal vertical spacing or Equal horizontal spacing under Distribute Spacing. Distribution needs three or more objects; with Use spacing on and a value entered it works from two, and you must click a direction button after entering the value.

Rotated objects are aligned by their visible bounds.

In the right-click menu, Align (two or more objects) has six items such as Align left and Align Horizontal Centers, and Distribute (three or more) has Distribute Horizontally and Distribute Vertically. Menu alignment works relative to the selected objects. Even a single object can be centered on the page with Center Horizontally on Page and Center Vertically on Page.

Related questions

• How do I line objects up?
• I want to center an object on the page
• How do I space objects evenly?

Fill and stroke

The Fill Style and Stroke Style sections of the Attributes tab. Choose the type from the list at the right of the section header.

• Fill Style — None, Solid, Gradient or Pattern. For a solid fill click the color well and pick in the color picker; for a gradient set Start color, End color, Type (Linear or Radial) and Angle; for a pattern set the Pattern type, Background, Pattern color and Size. The % next to a gradient's start and end color is the opacity at that end, so a gradient can fade out on one side; the % next to the pattern color fades only the pattern, not the background color.
• Stroke Style — None, Line or Pattern. For a line set Color, Weight, Dashes (for example 5,3; empty means solid), Cap (Butt, Round, Square), Join (Miter, Round, Bevel) and Align (Center, Inside, Outside).
• Opacity — set separately: for the stroke with Opacity % next to Weight in Stroke Style, for the fill with the % next to the color well.

Related questions

• Where do I change a shape's color?
• I want a dashed border
• How do I add a gradient?
• How do I change the border thickness?

Corner radius

Select a rectangle and the Attributes tab shows a Corner radius section. Entering a value rounds all four corners together; click the button to switch to Corners adjusted individually — click to adjust together and set Top-left corner radius, Top-right corner radius, Bottom-left corner radius and Bottom-right corner radius separately.

A Polygon has Outside and Inside (stars only) values in its Corner radius section; a Polyline has one value for all its vertices.

Related questions

• How do I round the corners?
• I want to round only one corner

Effects

Click the fx button (Effect settings (shadow · glow · feather · bevel · extrude · 3D rotation)) at the right of the Effects section in the Attributes tab to open the effects panel. Effects that are on are listed by name to the left of the button.

1. In the list on the left, turn on Drop shadow, Outer glow, Inner glow, Basic feather, Bevel and emboss, Extrude or 3D rotation.
2. On the right, set values such as Color, Distance, Angle, Size, Spread, Choke and Width. Turn on Preview to see the result on the object immediately.
3. Click Apply. Cancel restores the original.

There are three 3D effects.

• Bevel and emboss — adds light and shadow along the edges so the object looks raised (Top) or sunken (Bottom). Style is Inner bevel, Outer bevel or Emboss; Size is the bevel width, Depth its strength, Angle the light direction and Altitude the light's altitude (the lower, the stronger the contrast). The Highlight and Drop shadow each have their own colour and opacity.
• Extrude — pushes the object away from the light by Depth and builds its sides. Set the Sides colour and Shading, which shades each face differently. Title text is extruded along its letter shapes.
• 3D rotation — tilts the object with X rotation (horizontal axis) and Y rotation (vertical axis); Perspective sets how strong the perspective is. Extrusion, glows and bevels tilt with it, and the shadow falls from the tilted shape.

In PDFs, extrusion stays vector, a bevel exports only its light and shadow as bitmaps, and a 3D-rotated object exports as a bitmap.

Related questions

• How do I add a drop shadow?
• I want to soften the edges
• I want 3D letters
• I want to tilt an object in perspective

Text wrap

To make text in other frames flow around an object, use the Text Wrap section of the Attributes tab.

• No text wrap — text ignores the object.
• Wrap around bounding box — text flows around the object's rectangular bounds. Set the distance with Top offset, Bottom offset, Left offset and Right offset.
• Wrap around object shape — text flows around the shape's actual outline. Set the distance with Contour offset.
• Jump object — text skips every line the object touches.
• Jump to next column — text jumps to the next column when it meets the object.

Related questions

• How do I make text flow around an image?
• How do I set the text wrap offset?

Overprint

The Overprint section of the Attributes tab is a print option. When on, the object's color prints on top of the inks beneath instead of knocking them out. On screen the result is visible only with Overprint Preview turned on in the Separations Preview (see the "Color" article). Overprint for black text is switched on for the whole document at once with Overprint black under Document Setup › Print.

Related questions

• What is overprint?
• Where do I set overprint?