InDesign alignment uses stroke edge instead of object center — how to fix?
- October 19, 2025
- 2 replies
- 151 views
Hi everyone,
I’m working in InDesign (latest version, 2025) and I’ve noticed something strange about alignment and guides.
When I draw a rectangle with a thick stroke and try to align it to a guide or the page center, InDesign aligns it based on the outer edge of the stroke, not the object’s true center.
In Illustrator, alignment ignores stroke thickness (which is what I want). But in InDesign, it always includes the stroke, which shifts the object slightly.
I remember there used to be an option called “Use Preview Bounds” that controlled this behavior, but I can’t find it anywhere in the current version — not in Preferences, not in the Align panel.
My question:
👉 Is there still a way in InDesign 2025 to align objects based on their geometric center (ignoring stroke thickness)?
If this feature was removed, is there any new equivalent setting or workaround?
Thanks in advance for any help or insight!
