Adobe InDesign CS4 - Manual (Page 401)

393 USING INDESIGN CS4
Frames and objects
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.
Resizing a frame
By default, when the frame (and not the frame contents) is selected, changing the values of the Width and Height fields
changes only the frame, not its contents, regardless of which selection tool is active.
Scaling a frame and its contents
When the frame is selected with the Selection tool, changing the values of the Scale X Percentage and Scale Y
Percentage fields changes the frame and its contents.
Resizing or scaling frame contents
If you want to change only the content (resize or scale) of a frame, use the Direct Selection tool to select the frame
content first. Once selected, you can use the Width and Height fields or the Scale fields, depending on your preference.
Overriding defaults
If you want to scale the frame or its contents by a percentage and have the results returned in the current measurement
system, you can enter in a number with the percent sign to override the default measurement system. For example, if
the current width is 12p, and you want the new width to be 75% of the current value, you can enter 75% in the Width
field. After you press Enter, the new value for the Width displays as 9p.
Similarly, you can use other measurement system values if you want to scale to a specific increment but have the results
display in percent of the original. For example, you can replace 100% with 9p, and InDesign figures out which
percentage is required to make it that width/height.
Updated 18 June 2009