Resizing Objects

Very often things need to be made bigger or smaller. InDesign gives you several different ways to scale objects. You can also use the bounding box handles to change the dimensions of the object visually. This is the easiest way to quickly resize an object.

To resize using the bounding box handles:

1.	Choose the Selection tool.
2.	Choose which handle to drag based on the following options : Use the bounding box handles to resize an object. Drag the corner handles to change both the width and height. Drag the top or bottom handles to change the height only. Drag the left or right handles to change the width only.
3.	Drag the handle. If you drag quickly, you will see only the bounding box of the object . If you drag quickly, you only see a box as you resize an object. or Press and hold for a moment and then drag the handle. This shows a preview of the object as you resize the bounding box . If you press and pause a moment, you see an actual preview as you resize an object. Tip Hold down the Shift key as you drag a corner to keep the original proportions of the width and height. Tip Hold the Cmd/Ctrl key as you drag to resize any images placed inside the object (see page 194).
4.	Release the mouse button when the object is the correct size.

Resizing or Scaling?

While you and I might feel the words are the same, InDesign treats them differently. When you resize an object, you change its width or height. The amount of scaling stays the same in the Control palette or the Transform palette. You have to resize the object again to get it back to its original size.

When you scale an object, the width and height change, and the amount of scaling applied to the object is shown in the Scale fields in the Control palette or Transform palette. You can convert the object back to its original size by setting the scaling to 100%.