Page 38 - Adobe InDesign 2021

Clone, Align, and Distribute Multiple Objects
As you should have already noticed, there is often more than one way to accomplish
the same task in InDesign. Aligning multiple objects on a page is no exception.
In this exercise you will explore a number of alignment options as you create the
remaining graphics frames for the client’s thumbnail images.

1. With gcm-letterhead.indd open, choose the Selection tool in the Tools panel.
The Selection tool is used to select entire objects; the Direct Selection tool is used to

select parts of objects or the contents of a frame.
Using the Selection tool, you can
• Click and drag a handle to resize selected objects.
• Shift-click and drag to resize objects proportionally.
• Command/Control-click and drag to scale selected objects.
• Command/Control-Shift-click and drag to scale selected objects proportionally.
• Press Option/Alt with any of these to apply the transformation around the
selection’s center point.

2. Click inside the area of the empty graphics frame to select the shape.

3. Press and hold Option/Alt, then click the frame and drag right. Note:
Release the mouse button when green lines connect the top, center, and You might need to zoom
bottom edges of the two shapes and when the horizontal ruler shows 1/8″ in to the object you
space between the two objects.
are dragging to see the
Pressing Option/Alt as you drag moves Smart Guides.
a copy of the selected object (called
cloning).
Note:
As you drag, a series of green lines
marks the top, center, and bottom of You can also press Shift

the original object. Those lines are a to constrain the drag/
function of InDesign’s Smart Guides, Green Smart Guides “Clone” Selection cloning movement to
which make it easy to align objects to mark object edges tool cursor 45° angles from the
each other by simply dragging. and center points. original object.

4. Click the second shape, press Option/Alt, and drag right. Release the
mouse button when the horizontal edges align and when you see opposing
arrows below/between the three frames.

In addition to aligning edges, Smart Guides also make it easy to identify and match
the distances between multiple objects. Smart Guides also identify equal dimensions
when you create a new object near an existing one.

Note:
Smart guides do not
function when moving
objects on the paste-
Smart Guides identify equal board (outside the page
spacing between multiple objects. boundaries).

48 Project 1: Letterhead Design