Tagged: objects

Auto-distribute InDesign objects with a keyboard shortcut

The Align & Distribute panel in Adobe InDesign is a handy tool for lining-up objects and distributing them equally in a specified space. But in order to distribute objects, you have to set the left-most and right-most objects exactly where you want them before using the Distribute icons in the panel.

Auto distribute objects

A simple keyboard shortcut allows you to "eyeball" the distribution of objects

If you would rather “eyeball it,” you can do so simply by selecting your objects, grabbing one of the selection handles on one of the objects and hold the space bar down as you drag the handle. Rather than resizing your objects, the space between the objects will increase or decrease accordingly.

It’s important to note that the objects don’t distribute EVENLY automatically using this shortcut. In other words, if you have a quarter inch between the first and second object, and a half inch between the second and third, it won’t re-distribute the objects giving them equal space between them, it will only adjust the spacing already there proportionately.

Temporarily turn off InDesign’s Snap feature

InDesign CS5If you happen to have a lot of objects in a relatively small area and are trying to drag and drop an object in a specific location, it can be difficult to do so due to Adobe InDesign’s Snap To feature. You object may try to snap to other objects on the page, or even guides.

You can avoid this headache by turning off the Snap To feature temporarily by press and holding the Control key as you drop your object into place.

Free artwork for Apple iWork users

If you use Apple’s iWork suite, Keynote, Pages and/or Numbers, you may find yourself searching for some new artwork to add a little spiff to your presentations, documents and spreadsheets. Before you speed off to Google to search for more, I’ve got a quick stop for you to make that may save you the trouble.

Free iWork goodies

Jumsoft offers a ton of templates and artwork for iWork users

Jumsoft, makers of some really cool Mac OS X apps, iWork add-ons and Mail stationery, happens to have a Free Goodies page, where you can download hundreds of pieces of artwork, templates and Mail stationery.

Easily select similar objects in Illustrator

If you work with complicated artwork in Adobe Illustrator, you’ve no doubt come across the task of having to select many objects that contain similar attributes, such as same color fill or stroke, Appearance attributes, etc. Thankfully, Illustrator has a few tools that can make your job much easier. If you select an object and visit the Select>Same menubar item, you’ll find several methods to accomplish your goal.

Select similar objects in Adobe Illustrator

Select similar objects in Adobe Illustrator

As you can see in the screenshot above, you have a wide variety of choices to make selecting similar objects easy.