Participant

Answered

Anchor point not moving after create outline

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 8, 2025
2 replies
654 views

This drives me crazy. After typing a letter and creating ounlines I get my anchor points. With the direct selection tool clicking on the anchor (only that singel one is solid, others are hollow) I simply cant drag it with my mouse. I can drag the bazier anchor point without problem, but not the anchor points itself. Im clearly missing something, please help me (inDesign v.20.0.1)

That weird too, holding the shift key im able to move the seletcted anchor point, but only vertically in a line. Not horizontally, nothing with 45°.

Thanks in advance

Bug

Correct answer Joel Cherney

A screenshot or screencap would really help us figure out what you're trying to do. Likewise, a more thorough description of what you want, and the steps you're employing to try to get there, would also help. But let me take a guess:

After typing a letter and creating ounlines I get my anchor points.

Are you creating outlines of text that you've selected with the Text tool? Or outlines of text in a frame, which you've selected with the Selection tool? Two different outcomes; when text is selected with the Text tool and you choose Convert to Outlines, it creates your object as an inline anchored object. So instead of trying to anchor it (it's already anchored) you'd want to select it and use the Anchored Object Options to do whatever it is you're trying to do. If you select the frame with the Selection tool, and then convert to outlines, then you'd be creating an object that you could then anchor someplace.

holding the shift key im able to move the seletcted anchor point, but only vertically

The fact that you can only move the object vertically is what makes me think that you're creating outlines with the Text tool, as that's the typical behavior of an inline anchored object.

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

You should not outline the text in InDesign. There is no reason to do do as many problems occur The only reason to outline lettered is to create a geometric form.

Scott Falkner

Community Expert

OP literally stated they are trying to edit the path of the outlined text.

Joel Cherney

Correct answer

Community Expert

A screenshot or screencap would really help us figure out what you're trying to do. Likewise, a more thorough description of what you want, and the steps you're employing to try to get there, would also help. But let me take a guess:

After typing a letter and creating ounlines I get my anchor points.

Are you creating outlines of text that you've selected with the Text tool? Or outlines of text in a frame, which you've selected with the Selection tool? Two different outcomes; when text is selected with the Text tool and you choose Convert to Outlines, it creates your object as an inline anchored object. So instead of trying to anchor it (it's already anchored) you'd want to select it and use the Anchored Object Options to do whatever it is you're trying to do. If you select the frame with the Selection tool, and then convert to outlines, then you'd be creating an object that you could then anchor someplace.

holding the shift key im able to move the seletcted anchor point, but only vertically

The fact that you can only move the object vertically is what makes me think that you're creating outlines with the Text tool, as that's the typical behavior of an inline anchored object.

E

Eirini37687094g8waAuthor

Participant

Thank you so much. Thats exactly what I did. I created the ounline inside a textbox. Clicking on the textbox with direct selection tool and then creating outline enables me to move the anchorpoints. It works 🙂

I still dont understand what the difference is and what an inline anchored object is, but I will figure it out. Thank you.

And sorry; a bit of a newbe and tried to short and consice; will do better.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

InDesign always has a "container" around objects, either text or graphic. It's a major step to learn that the container and the contents are separate things, and can be managed and manipulated independently. The following step is to make sure you have the right element selected: if you want to move a graphic or a block of text, you want to select its frame. If you want to manipulated or edit the object (including text), you need to select the contents.

You can even combine this behavior, by (for example) applying one effect to the object and another to its container. But as you've found, that there are two facets, two elements to each "thing" in ID is a major step in understanding it. 🙂

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