Frame to Content & Content to Frame

Since everything in InDesign either is a frame or is in one, we should be efficient when alternating between editing a frame and editing its content.

Text Frames

A reliable, if slow, method is to simply switch between the Type tool and the Selection tool in the Tools panel. It is far quicker, however, to double-click in a text frame with the Selection tool—the tool will change automatically and the text cursor will blink at the point of the double-click.

To return to editing the container, or as I prefer to phrase it, to “get out” again, tap the esc key. Get it? “Get out” = “escape!” In fact, we’ll see this is a general rule in many contexts.

Image Frames

Editing the size or shape of images and their frames is often one of the tougher challenges for a new InDesign user. If one resizes the frame with the Selection tool, the frame alone is resized, either cropping the image in it or leaving a gap between the edge of the image and that of the frame. But several methods can be used to select the image within its frame so it, too, can be resized or repositioned.

One method involves two buttons that can be found in the Control panel: Select Content and Select Container.

You may also use the speedy method suggested for text frames: double-clicking “to get in,” and pressing the esc key “to get out” again. There’s a twist with image frames: you can double-click to get in (content editing) or out (frame editing)!

Content Grabber

Finally (well, the last good method), we can use the Content Grabber, the concentric circles in the middle of an image frame (also known as “the donut”). Using nothing but the Selection tool, drag the donut to reposition an image within its frame. When finished, the frame is still selected. That is, unless we click on the donut (Content Grabber); then the content is selected. Double-clicking or pressing the esc key will select the frame.

A bonus with the Content Grabber: if content has been rotated, a line will appear in the donut’s center, tilted at the same angle that the content has been rotated!

The one danger that’s presented by the Content Grabber is that it may be dragged accidentally. When you’re rearranging frames on a page quickly, it’s easy to inadvertently grab the grabber and pull an image completely out of its frame! Of course, you can undo (⌘-Z/Ctrl-Z), but that will leave the content selected, so you would have to hit the esc key, too, to have the frame selected. For this reason, a friend and colleague of mine despises the donut! He simply disables it and uses the double-click method instead. To disable the Content Grabber go to View > Extras > Hide Content Grabber. While in that menu, notice the other things that can be hidden or shown. There are lots of “extras.”

The least efficient way to reposition or resize an image is to switch to the Direct Selection tool then click on the image. When the cursor is over the image, it will be shown as a hand inviting you to reposition the image, but not the frame. Or you can grab a corner and resize (holding down the shift key to prevent distortion). You can then choose the Selection tool and click on the edge of the frame to select it again.