How to set the width of one item based on the width of another item in InDesign?

Question

I am taking a bunch of text snippets and creating boxes that are 0.2 inches wider than the text snippet to use as a background for it. I have hundreds of these to make. I can't think of a way to automate this, as each text snippet has a different width. Any ideas? Currently I do this:

1. Click on text snippet
2. Copy width
3. Click on background box
4. Paste snippet's width into this width
5. Do a quick +0.2 calculation in the width box

I'd like a way to either automate this or make it quicker. Help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Make sure all your text is in a particular paragraph style.

In this paragraph style, make the alignment left, and add a left indent of 0.2 inches (or whatever you need).

Select multiple text boxes.

Select Object → Fitting → Fit Frame to Content. On the Mac it's Option + Apple + C.

Your text box will instantly zip down to the size of the text.

When you have resized ALL your text boxes, go back into the style and remove the left indent. You can change the alignment to centered if you need to.

(BONUS: If you need the box to be a certain height, you can select Object → Text Frame Options and set it manually there.)