Place item from library - to X Y coordinates

This has nothing to do with scripting but might help. If you put only the item(s) you wnt in your library in position on a page and add a guide you can add all items as a library item (Library flyout menu: Add items on page N). When you do that the guide will be included in the library item. you won't be able to drag t he item onto a page but if you select Place Item from the flyout menu the items will be in position, along with the guide. Perhaps this can be combined with scrpting to get what you want.

Hey @Eugene Tyson I might be totally missing the point here, but I wrote a few functions to make this sort of thing easier—unless I've misunderstood your problem—and here's a script that uses them. Might be helpful, might not.

- Mark

/**
 * @file Position Item Relative To Nearest Page.js
 *
 * Example of moving a page item to a specific location
 * relative to the nearest page.
 *
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-11-08
 * @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/place-item-from-library-to-x-y-coordinates/m-p/15581450
 */
function main() {

    // important! because this only affects scripts, it doesn't alter the users rulers etc.
    app.scriptPreferences.measurementUnit = MeasurementUnits.POINTS;

    // good way to handle magic numbers
    const mm = 2.83465;

    // this part is just so I have something similar to your script
    var doc = app.activeDocument;
    var placedAsset = [doc.allPageItems[0]];

    // same as what your script but neater
    if (!placedAsset || placedAsset.length === 0)
        return;

    // same as your script
    var obj = placedAsset[0];

    // convenient function to do the moving
    positionItemRelativeToNearestPage(obj, -120 * mm, 5 * mm);

};
app.doScript(main, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, 'Move Item');

/**
 * Moves `item` to the top left of the nearest page, offset by [dx, dy].
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-11-08
 * @param {PageItem} item - an Indesign PageItem.
 * @param {Number} dx - the X offset.
 * @param {Number} dy - the Y offset.
 */
function positionItemRelativeToNearestPage(item, dx, dy) {

    if ('function' !== typeof item.move)
        throw new Error('positionItemRelativeToNearestPage: cannot move item.');

    // a function I had already written
    var page = getNearestPage(item);

    if (!page)
        // I don't think this should ever happen...
        throw new Error('Could not get nearest page.');

    // get the top left of the page
    var pos = [page.bounds[0], page.bounds[1]];

    // move the item
    item.move([pos[1] + dx, pos[0] + dy]);

};

/**
 * Returns the nearest page to `item`.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-08-02
 * @param {PageItem} item - the target item.
 * @returns {Page} - the nearest page to `item`.
 */
function getNearestPage(item) {

    var page = item.parentPage;
    var spread;

    while (!page) {

        spread = item.parent;

        if ('Page' === spread.constructor.name)
            page = spread;


        if ('Spread' === spread.constructor.name) {

            var index = findClosestBounds(
                item.visibleBounds,
                spread.pages.everyItem().bounds
            );

            page = spread.pages.item(index);

        }

    }

    return page;

};

/**
 * Returns the index of the bounds in `boundsArray` that is
 * closest to the target bounds. All bounds are in [T, L, B, R] format.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-08-02
 * @param {Array} targetBounds - The target bounds [T, L, B, R].
 * @param {Array<bounds>} boundsArray - An array of bounds arrays.
 * @returns {Number} Index of the closest bounds in the array.
 */
function findClosestBounds(targetBounds, boundsArray) {

    var targetCenter = centerOfBounds(targetBounds);
    var minDist = Infinity;
    var closestIndex = -1;

    for (var i = 0, center, dx, dy, distSq; i < boundsArray.length; i++) {

        center = centerOfBounds(boundsArray[i]);
        dx = targetCenter[0] - center[0];
        dy = targetCenter[1] - center[1];
        distSq = dx * dx + dy * dy;

        if (distSq < minDist) {
            minDist = distSq;
            closestIndex = i;
        }

    }

    return closestIndex;

};

/**
 * Returns the center of `bounds`;
 * @param {Array} bounds - The bounds [T, L, B, R].
 * @returns {Array<Number>} - [cx, cy].
 */
function centerOfBounds(bounds) {
    return [(bounds[1] + bounds[3]) / 2, (bounds[0] + bounds[2]) / 2];
};

Not sure if this helps, but the move() method can be used in different ways depending on the parameters (the API docs are a bit confusing on the usage). The move can be relative to the page or spread, or it can be relative to the current position—like this:

//sets the units this script will use
app.scriptPreferences.measurementUnit = MeasurementUnits.MILLIMETERS;

var d = app.activeDocument
//save the zero point
var zp = d.zeroPoint;

//current selection
var s = app.activeDocument.selection[0]

d.zeroPoint = [0, 0];
d.viewPreferences.rulerOrigin = RulerOrigin.PAGE_ORIGIN;

//move to a new x,y position relative to the ruler origin
//s.move([-120 , 0 ])

//move to a new postion relative to the current position, 0,0 in this case
s.move([ 0 , 0 ] , [ -120 , 0 ])

//reset
d.zeroPoint = zp;
app.scriptPreferences.measurementUnit = AutoEnum.AUTO_VALUE;

Hi @Eugene Tyson , I’m not using the latest version, but what is

app.activeDocument.selectionPreferences.anchorPoint = AnchorPoint.TOP_LEFT_ANCHOR;?

In this document it's landing up here for some reason