Adobe InDesign CS5 : Importing Graphic Objects (part 2) - Importing Graphics with the Place Command

Importing Graphics with the Place Command

To import a graphic, choose File, Place or press Cmd-D (Mac) or Ctrl+D (Win). When the Place dialog box appears, select a graphic that is located on your disk and click the Open button. You then use the loaded place cursor to click and place it in a frame, or click once anywhere on the page and let InDesign place the graphic automatically for you (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. You can place graphic images with the loaded place cursor.

When you click an existing frame with the loaded place cursor, InDesign places the graphic at 100% of its size, which could result in part of the graphic being cropped away. To fix this, you can resize the graphic inside of the frame. Apply one of the fitting commands from the Object, Fitting submenu, or click one of the Fitting buttons in the Control panel. Using one of these commands allows you to view the entire image inside the frame (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Click any of the Fitting buttons in the Control panel to change how the graphic is displayed.

Applying Fitting Commands

Follow these steps to apply a Fitting command:

1.	Select the graphic frame by clicking it with the Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool.
2.	Select the Fill Frame Proportionally command from the Object, Fitting submenu, or click its button equivalent in the Control panel (refer to Figure 5). Doing so resizes the image to fill the entire frame while maintaining its overall proportions. The frame’s dimensions are not changed (see Figure 6). Figure 6. The results the various Fitting commands can give you.
3.	Select the Fit Content Proportionally command from the Object, Fitting submenu, or click its button equivalent in the Control panel (refer to Figure 5). Doing so resizes the image to fit the frame while maintaining its overall proportions. The frame’s dimensions are not changed. If the image and frame have different proportions, some white space will result (refer to Figure 6).
4.	Select the Fit Content to Frame command from the Object, Fitting submenu, or click its button equivalent in the Control panel (refer to Figure 5). Doing so scales the image to fit the frame without maintaining overall image proportions. The frame’s dimensions are not changed (refer to Figure 6).
5.	Select the Fit Frame to Content command from the Object, Fitting submenu, or click its button equivalent in the Control panel (refer to Figure 5). Doing so resizes the frame to fit the image. The image dimensions are not changed (refer to Figure 6).
6.	Select the Center Content command from the Object, Fitting submenu, or click its button equivalent in the Control panel (refer to Figure 5). Doing so centers the image inside the frame. The frame and image dimensions are not changed (refer to Figure 6).

You can also import multiple graphics at one time using the File, Place command. Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Win) multiple images from your disk via the Place dialog box, and then click Open. InDesign stores all the graphics in the loaded Place cursor and displays a preview of each graphic before you place it (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. InDesign displays a number next to the loaded place cursor to indicate how many images it currently has stored.

InDesign also displays a number next to the loaded place cursor to indicate how many graphics it currently has stored. You can scroll through the graphics stored in the loaded place cursor by pressing the left or right arrow keys. Doing so allows you to control the order in which they are being placed on the page.

Placing Graphics in a Grid Format

To place the graphics in a grid format, follow these steps:

1.	Click and drag to create a single frame with the loaded place cursor.
2.	As you click and drag, click the right-arrow key to add a column; click the up-arrow key to add a row. Continue clicking the arrow keys to add as many columns and rows as you like.
3.	Click the left-arrow key to remove a column; click the down-arrow key to remove a row. When you release the mouse button, InDesign places the graphics in the grid and fits each one proportionally (see Figure 8). Figure 8. To create a grid, press the arrow keys as you click and drag with the loaded place cursor.

You can also drag and drop multiple graphics at once from the Mini Bridge panel, the Bridge application, Photoshop, Illustrator, Finder (Mac), or Explorer (Win). When you do, InDesign stores all the graphics in the loaded place cursor.