Participating Frequently

Question

"X" that denoted the center of the box in Indesign several updates ago

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
October 14, 2019
4 replies
2743 views

Several Indesign updates ago, there was a small "X" that in the center of the graphic box and the text box. It really helped to center items quickly. It dissappeared with an update some months ago. I've searched, but cant seem to find how to bring it back... or is it gone? Any help appreciated.

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

K

Katie Houghton

Inspiring

I feel that you are thinking of Illustrator and not InDesign. If it is Illustrator it is part of the Attributes panel. If you click on the Show Center icon you will see an X when click or move an object.

R

Robinson Printing

Participant

Thanks for the reply, but it was in InDesign. We use ID almost exclusively. Unfortunatley, there is no "Show Center" icon check box in the ID Attriburtes panel.

Steve Werner

Community Expert

I agree with Barb. One of the reasons that the center point isn't necessary with text and graphic frames is that if the frame's fill is None for a text or graphic frame, you can still move the frame by clicking inside the frame. This hasn't changed in recent versions.

But with Unassigned frames, and you have a frame will a fill of None, you can ONLY move the frame by clicking on the inside of the frame by clicking on the center dot.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

As far as I can remember, InDesign only shows the center box/x for unassigned frames—not text frames or graphic frames—and the frame has to be selected, and it can't have a fill.

Illustrator shows it for all closed paths, and it can be enabled/disabled in the Attributes panel, but InDesign doesn't have that option.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

R

Robinson Printing

Participant

Thanks for the reply. InDesign 2018 shows the center small x in the both rectangle boxes and the text box when they are drawn or moved even if there is color in the box. ID 2020 only shows the small x as the box is drawn. Very nice graphic you sent, though. Wish we knew how to do that. We just do print.

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

Depends on your view, is it in Preview modus maybe? Did you turn off show edges maybe? Or did you use the tool without the cross instead to draw the frames?

R

Robinson Printing

Participant

Has anyone found the solution to this problem? As tenben described, in 2018 and earlier the small x in the center of the box stayed there when the box was moved allowing us to easily and quickly center the box on intersecting x and y guides. Don't know if there is a name for the x in the box center, but it was there until InDesign 2019. In the 2020 version of ID the small x only appears momentarily when the box is drawn. Hide or show frame edges doesn't bring it back, nor can we find a preference to turn it on or off. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Luke Jennings

Inspiring

The center of a selected object should be identified by a small box, if you don't see it, your layer color may be set to white, double click the layer to change it.

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tenbenAuthor

Participating Frequently

I tried several layer colors but still no "x" or small box in the center of my type box or graphic box.

Luke Jennings

Inspiring

IS this what you're referring to? (Mac OS) Start InDesign, and then immediately press Shift+Option+Command+Control. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files. If you don’t see this message, either try again (it’s a timing thing)

Yes, this will reset all of your InDesign preferences. I'm not sure this will fix your issue, but it might.

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