Aligning strokes used to be easy

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
January 8, 2023
5 replies
1084 views

Why has it become hard to align strokes on its center and not include the stroke weight when positioning boxes with stroke?

When I want a box with a 1 point stroke on X0 Y0 coordinates of the page it does not get positioned on X0,Y0 but on half a point (0.176 mm) as ID doesn't include the stroke weight.

Can I make it work like Illustrator again where objects are aligned on the center of strokes?

This topic has been closed for replies.

L

Laubender

Community Expert

"How do I get this back in InDesign? How can I make stroke centers snap again?"

Hi @27366628 ,

you could use the Alignment panel to do that if the strokes are at center position.

Check the Use Spacing option and use a negative value:

- ( stroke weight object A / 2 + stroke weight object B / 2 )

From my German InDesign:

Result:

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

A

Anonymous

Great, thanks for this workaround! Shouldn't have to be like this though 🙂

L

Laubender

Community Expert

Hi @27366628 ,

I agree…

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

Work with Object Styles.
In the beginning, for alignment purposes use stroke = 0pt
Do the alignments
Change the stroke to its finals size.

A

Anonymous

Thank you, a cumbersome workaround but might work. Why isn't it possible anymore to align strokes on their centers?

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

You still can do it, but only in closed paths.

Steve Werner

Community Expert

I'm not seeing any differnce between InDesign and Illustator when measuring a 2" x 1" rectangle aligned in the same way to the ruler. Both rectangles are using a 1 pt stroke, aligned to the center of the path. I'm using the Transform panel in each application to show the X, Y and dimensions.

A

Anonymous

I'm sure this hasn't always been like this. It was easier to align strokes in InDesign CS. A while ago anyway. I guess somewhere down the line Adobe decided to make it harder? I don'n know why but for me they can revert to the previous way of working with strokes. And why make it different than the stroke system in Illustrator anyway?