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I'm using Adobe InDesign (CC 2014) to layout a photo book. I've created a frame, and placed an image inside it. I want to resize the image and drag it around to frame it nicely.

I know that you can select Direct Selection Tool and resize the image by dragging the box handles, or by changing the size on the toolbar. Is there a keyboard key modifier that I can hold down and scroll my mouse/trackpad to dynamically zoom the image within the frame? In a document with dozens of pictures, this would save a lot of time.

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4 Answers 4

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Yes, with the image selected within the frame, press s (for the scale tool), click once to set the origin, then click-drag holding shift to resize the image.

Or if your reference point (below) is set to the centre, you can skip straight to click-dragging.

enter image description here

When preceded by command Fill Frame Proportionally this workflow is quite efficient. More on fitting here.

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  • This works pretty well. I am having difficulty when I hold down shift, it doesn't always constrain the proportions. As I drag sometimes it scales proportionally, then it jumps to scaling horizontally, then back, etc. I wish it just did it one way.
    – tralston
    Aug 18, 2014 at 4:40
  • So what I think is happening there is you are dragging too close to horizontal from where you first clicked. Drag at a 45 degree angle.
    – MG_
    Aug 18, 2014 at 7:33
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To avoid mousing over to the toolbar, or having to press the A key to switch to the Direct Selection Tool, you can just click the target in the center of your placed image (appears when you float your mouse over it).
Then, as long as you have the content selected and not the frame (brown handles instead of blue), you can just drag the handles to scale the image inside the frame.
Selecting Frames vs Content
The content will automatically anchor to the reference point opposite the handle you select.
Hold Shift to scale proportionately, and hold Alt to force use of the content's center as the anchor point. Hold both Shift+Alt to scale proportionately from the content's center.
HT to Poorly Drawn Lines for the art.

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5

I use:

  • Command/Ctrl+Option/Alt+Shift+E (fit to frame proportionately)
  • Command/Ctrl+Option/Alt+E (fill frame)
  • Command/Ctrl+Shift+E (Center in frame)

All these items can be found in the menu under Object > Fitting >

enter image description here

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I tried the 3 other answers, which are good, but here is a way which is even faster (for me):

After clicking on an image, click Auto-fit in the top bar, then "Content" and "Frame" will be automatically linked.

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