Can I lock the size of a text box but still move it?

[Formost Fuji Corporate]

I love mathmatical accuracy for spacing my text and find that using text boxes is the fastest/easiest way for me to accomplish this.

A "1" box denotes one inch (e.g.).

The problem I find is that sometimes, while moving the boxes, their sizes will change (e.g. .987x.987), which can screw up a single chapter in a book or the entire book, if I'm not paying attention.

Is there any way to lock the size of the box but still make it capable of being moved?

I have a long explanation of why I do this instead of guides. This works better for my flow.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I believe the short answer is "no." You can lock an object against all changes, or unlock it for all purposes, but there is no selective locking of things like size, line weight, colors, font etc.

If you use some care in selecting an object for positioning, it should not change any other characteristic.

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[Formost Fuji Corporate]

That's what I was afraid of. The thing I'm seeing is that if I'm moving from one chapter to another, the bounding on the box changes, making it more that I have to rebuild them with each chapter instead of being able to load them in the way I would paragraph styles.

Too bad, but thanks for the response.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

This is a function of the object style, which probably varies from chapter to chapter file since you may never have defined it.

Create a specific, named Object Style for each of these objects you like to use. Then make sure it is identical in all your work files, which you can do with synchronization through a Book file, or by placing an example and then resetting the style to match it.

Ask away if any of that doesn't make sense.

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[Formost Fuji Corporate]

I've never used Object Styles before but love the idea. I already use a book, as this is 200+ pages in each document I'm creating. I will have to play with this more, as it appears to be something I could utilize.

Thank you!

[Formost Fuji Corporate]

I've played with this a little, and you, sir, have won the prize. This is awesome, and I am going to be working with this more.

Thank you for the suggestion!

[John Mensinger]

While I can't relate to your apparent workflow at all, I would say that the size of an InDesign text frame doesn't change when the frame is moved. If you mean that you might inadvertently resize the frame when attempting only to move it, that I could see, I suppose, even if it doesn't follow with someone so insistent upon mathematical precision.

The only other thing I could say that might address your question is that you could use Object Styles to enforce frame sizes and provide a quick and easy fix for any that become missized.

[Formost Fuji Corporate]

I work in the engineering department and am making technical documentation.

Much of the time, I move them with the arrow keys (as I have experienced the change in size otherwise), and with using ctrl + C/V to go from one to another should NOT change the size of these boxes, however, I have found this to be the case.

[rob day]

Hi @Formost Fuji Corporate , can you post a screen capture showing an example? I’m wondering why you need separate text frames—why not use Paragraph Styles with Space Above or Space below to handle consistent spacing?

[Formost Fuji Corporate]

This is an example (in standard, not metric) of what I use in documentation

However, sometimes when cutting and pasting between documents, I could have... for example .5 look identical, however, its dimensions change to .485" x .485", which can be seen in the menu bar here:

These, are obviously accurate, as I already input the correct numbers to fix the initial issue, but it throws everything off pretty quickly.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

That sounds like a difference in an outline. Box dimensions change with the application of an outer stroke; perhaps the different definitions are changing or deleting an outline?

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[Peter Spier]

That could be the difference between aligning a stroke on the frame to inside, outide, or center when you have Dimensions Include Stroke Weight selected, and those differences will be reflected in the "real" text area inside the frame as well. You would also see this sort of difference when moving a frame from document to document when one has include stroke weight selected and the other does not.

[Formost Fuji Corporate]

This is 'no stroke' w/ paper fill so it's easy to grab but not visible except for the number, which gets rid of the snapping to the outline.

James Gifford was 100% accurate on the suggestion for Object Styles, only, it's necessary to not just add the size, as necessary, there is an auto-size option, which will stop it from changing sizes, no matter what. Now, I can just have ONE box that will do everything I need.

THIS IS A GAME CHANGER!