Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 423)

417 USING INDESIGN
Frames and objects
Last updated 11/16/2011
Move objects by a precise amount
You can use the Move command to move an object by a specific amount. This command also lets you move a copy of
the selected object, leaving the original in place.
1 Select an object to move. To move both the frame and its content, use the Selection tool to select the frame. To move
the content without moving its frame, direct-select the object. To move a frame without moving the content, direct-
select the frame, and select all the anchor points.
2 Choose Object > Transform > Move, or double-click the icon for the Selection or Direct Selection tool in the
toolbox.
3 In the Move dialog box, do one of the following:
• Enter the horizontal and vertical distances that you want the object to move. Positive values move the object down
and to the right of the x axis; negative values move the object up and to the left.
• To move an object a precise distance and angle, enter the distance and angle for the move. The angle you enter is
calculated in degrees from the x axis. Positive angles specify a counterclockwise move; negative angles specify a
clockwise move. You can also enter values between 180° and 360°; these values are converted to their corresponding
negative values (for example, a value of 270° is converted to –90°).
4 Do any of the following:
• To preview the effect before you apply it, select Preview.
• To move the object, click OK.
• To move a copy of the object, click Copy.
Move objects to a precise location
1 Select an object to move.
2 If you want to use a different reference point for the move, click where you want the reference point to appear.
For example, if you want to move the object to the upper-left corner of the page, select the upper-left reference point.
3 In the X and Y fields on the Transform panel, enter the coordinates where you want the selection to be moved.
Specify the distance objects move when nudged
1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Units & Increments
(Mac OS).
2 For Cursor Key, specify the distance you want each press of an arrow key to move selected objects, and then
click OK.
If you hold down Shift while moving a selection, the selection moves ten times the distance you specify here.
Scaling vs. resizing objects
Resizing and scaling are different actions in InDesign. Resizing is simply changing the Width and Height values of an
object. Scaling involves using a percentage value related to the original scale (100%) of the frame.
The difference between resizing and scaling isn’t always apparent. A good way to see the difference is to resize and scale
a text frame that has a stroke applied to it. When you double the size of the text frame, the text size and stroke weight
remain the same. When you double the scale of the text frame, the text size and stroke weight also double.