Tagged: frames

Create a grid of InDesign frames from a single existing frame

Adobe InDesign has a built-in way to create a user-definable grid of frames from a single existing frame in your document. Why you might want to do this, you ask? Think of what a pain it would be to place the same image in a grid of frames to make it look like a single large image. Or, maybe you just need a grid of text frames made in the exact space that an existing graphic frame resides in.

InDesign frame grid

Open the Scripts Panel from the menubar under Window/Utilities. In the panel, navigate to Application>Javascript and double-click MakeGrid.jsx. The dialog box that pops up is self-explanatory. You choose how many columns and rows you want to transform the frame into, and how much space to place between them. Finally, you have the option of automatically placing the original image into the frames and adjusting their coordinates to look like it’s one large image. You can see the image above for the results.

Free picture frame images

Free photo frames

Don’t deny it, every once in a while you have a need for a photo of a picture frame. Sounds crazy, but you know it’s true. Free Photo Frames to the rescue. Over 250 high-res images of picture frames are yours for the taking. They range from old conservative frames, to wacky modern ones.

Preview and download Free Photo Frames here.

Fit frames to content easily in Adobe InDesign

If you’re a digital neat freak like I am (You’ll know, because you always name your Photoshop layers. Always!), then you’ve likely performed this task manually countless times. You draw out an object container in Adobe InDesign—such as a text box or image box—place the content in it and resize the content. Next you have to manually resize the object container so it’s only large enough to hold the content within it. Otherwise you end up with a ton of overlapping object frames, making it difficult to select just the right one.
InDesign frame resize shortcut
Fortunately, you can make it easy on yourself with this quick shortcut… (more…)

Place an image into multiple (compound path) frames in your InDesign document

While placing an image into a single frame in Adobe InDesign is simple, placing that same image and having it span multiple frames isn’t quite as obvious. But it can be done, and it’s actually quite easy.

The first thing to do is to create your image frames using a Polygon tool or creating a custom shaped frame with the Pen tool. The next step is to select each of the frames you wish to combine with the Selection tool (solid arrow).

Compound Path Frames

Creating Compound Path Frames in Adobe InDesign is easy

With all your frames selected, visit Objects>Paths>Make Compound Path (or simply hit Command + 8). As you can see in the image above, when you convert multiple frames into a single Compound Frame, it essentially becomes a single frame again – even though you can still manipulate each frame independently. Now simply place an image in the Compound Frame and size it accordingly.

Stop InDesign from converting graphic frames to text frames

A feature I love about InDesign is the ability to click any graphic frame with the text tool and begin typing in it immediately. However, not everyone likes their graphic frames converted to a text frame automatically.

InDesign text frame preferences

For those who wish to turn the feature off, simply visit your InDesign preferences (Command + K) and select Type in the source list on the left. Then uncheck the box labeled “Type Tool Converts Frames to Text Frames.”

About The Graphic Mac

The Graphic Mac
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