Can't draw a line or arrow in InDesign?

Question

Hello,

Intermediate user of InDesign here.

I am trying to draw a simple arrow in InDesign so that I can make notes in architectural elevation. When I click on the Line tool I select an area on my spread, hold shift and then drag. A blue bounding box appears. I think click on Return, but then the bounding box dissapears. I have also gone to Window - Stroke and then set up my options with the arrow head to start and a Bar to end. But after setting up those options, and then clickong on Line tool and dragging, nothing resembling an arrow appears, and as stated, the bounding box dissapears. I have attached a screenshot here which reflects the bounding box, which dissapears after clicking return. I see a lot of tutorials of how to create Arrows, but nothing that seems to address how to actually draw the arrow and/or why it dissapears after setting up options in the Window - Stroke tool bar.

Can someone please help out?

Thanks!

James Gifford—NitroPress · Answer

Try selecting the arrow type with no item selected. If you have an item selected, you're setting the end point type for that object, and when you draw a new line, the selection reverts to the prior setting or default.

You also should be able to apply an endpoint type by selecting an existing line and changing the type in the menu box. A bit clumsy, but it should work.

ETA: I think you're saying you can't draw a line at all. You probably have the line width set to 0. Again with no item selected, set the line width to 1pt or whatever works for your initial drawing.

Not sure if that's a complete fix/answer; come back if you are still having problems give further details.

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