Section 68. Grouping Objects

#68. Grouping Objects

There are times when you'll want to handle multiple objects as if they were a single object. For example, if you've placed a caption next to a photograph, you'll want to keep them together if you decide to move the photo. Or if you've created an illustration or a logo using several objects created with InDesign's drawing tools, you'll want to treat them as a single object when scaling, rotating, or shearing. The most efficient way to work with multiple objects at once is to create a group. In general, a group of objects behaves like a single object; however, you can still select and modify individual objects within a group.

Groups Within Groups

A group can contain one or more subgroups, or nested groups. For example, if you create two groups, select both groups, and then choose Object > Group, the resulting group contains two nested groups. To ungroup nested groups, you must first ungroup (Object > Ungroup) the parent group.

To create a group, select two or more objects, and then choose Object > Group. (See #59 for more about selecting objects.) That's it.

To select a group, click any object with the Selection tool (Figure 68). A selected group is contained within a bounding box that has eight resizing handles and a center point. Click and drag any object to move the entire group. If you apply transformations, such as rotate, scale, shear, or flip horizontal/vertical, they're applied to the group as a whole rather than to each object individually.

Figure 68. When you select a group, a rectangular bounding box with eight resizing handles is displayed around the perimeter of the grouped objects.

Selecting an object within a group can be a little tricky. You can't simply click it with the Selection tool because it selects the entire group. To select an object that's part of a group, click the object using the Direct Selection tool. If you want, you can then switch to the Selection tool, in which case the object behaves as though you selected it with the Selection tool in the first place.Drag-and-Drop Color

Groups and Layers

When you create a group, all selected objects are stacked consecutively beneath the frontmost object. If you create a group from objects that are on different layers, all of the objects move to the layer of the frontmost object and are stacked consecutively beneath it.

If you click within a graphics frame using the Direct Selection tool, you select the graphic, not the frame. The easiest way to select a graphic frame within a group is to click the edge of the frame using the Direct Selection tool. If necessary, you can then switch to the Selection tool.

When an object that's part of a group is selected, the Select command (Object menu) displays two choices for selecting other objects within the group: Select Previous Object in Group and Select Next Object in Group. When a graphic or graphics frame is selected, you can choose Object > Select > Content and Object > Select > Container to select the graphic or the frame (whichever isn't selected).

To ungroup a group, select it, and then choose Object > Ungroup.

Nesting Objects

The Paste Into command (Edit menu) lets you place a copied object (that is, the last object you copied to the clipboard by choosing Edit > Copy or Edit > Cut) within a frame. The pasted object is said to be nested within the containing frame, which acts as a cropping shape for the pasted object. Selecting a nested object is like selecting an object in a groupclick it with the Direct Selection tool.