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Participating Frequently
September 26, 2019
Question

Top margin of Ai image in content box varies

  • September 26, 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 810 views

Hi All,

When I place an Illustrator file into a text frame in Indesign, the space at the top of the content box varies from one illustration to the next. In the attached example, you can see that the image I-26 has no space between the art and the top of the bounding box. In I-27 there's a little space, and in I-28, there's a little bit more. What do I need to adjust in order to get this spacing to be consistent?

 

Also, you can see that the art is flush left within the bounding box. The art needs to be centered, but it always comes in with space on the right. To center it, I'm having to adjust the bounding box for each individual piece of art. Is there away to set this as a style? I've tried object styles, but didn't find anything that did the trick.

 

If it helps to answer questions—

Art is always placed 100% and then I use the Fit Frame to Content button.

I use Paragraph Styles to style the space that I place the art into (in the text frame).

As far as I know, there are no invisible objects left on the page in illustrator that would add the extra space to the right. This does happen occasionally, but it's always obvious when it does. The vast majority of the art comes in as pictured.

 

Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening and how to fix it?

Thank you,

Kathy K

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    5 replies

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 27, 2019

    Hi Kathleen, are you on Mac or Windows? I’ll share the screenshots that demonstrate the path to follow.

     

    ~Barb 

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    Participating Frequently
    October 1, 2019
    I'm on a Mac.I did some further investigation on this with the illustrator, and it makes sense now. She's not leaving anything on the pasteboard--it's the text boxes. Often the labels that are below the drawing are longer than the drawing itself, and there most often in the right half of the art, so the text box is the culprit sticking out to the side.
    Community Expert
    September 27, 2019

    In addition to using Show Import Options and cropping to Art, you might want to take a look at the Illustrator files and crop each to the selected art. 

    With the artwork selected, choose Object>Artboards>Fit to Selected Art

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 27, 2019

    And then Crop to Art

     

    ~Barb 

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 27, 2019

    Kathleen,

    In order to see the dialog box which Barb shows, when you choose File > Place, you need to check Show Import Options as shown below:

     

     

     

    Participating Frequently
    September 27, 2019
    The dialog box doesn't change to Barb's style when I select Show Import Options. It stays as is. I can change the views same as always, but none of them bring up the dialog box that Barb shows. I'm using Indesign CC 2019.
    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 26, 2019

    Hi Kathy:

     

    Take a look at the artboards in Illustrator. Are they sized to the artwork, or is there extra space?

    Also take a look at your InDesign import options when you select File > Place:

    Are you cropping to Art or another option?

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    Participating Frequently
    September 26, 2019

    Barb,
    In Illustrator, the art is not the same size as the artboard. These illustrations sometimes have to be resized so I think it's just convenient for the illustrator to leave the artboard as is. Is there a quick way to tell illustrator to size the artboard to the art size? 

     

    Your second image where you're placing the art—my Place dialog box is just the finder window where you browse for art. It doesn't look like that. I'm using Adobe CC.