How to get a box to displace the text under automatically & how to snap offsets to grid?

[Chris P. Bacon]

As visible on the screenshot, my image has a bottom offset, but the black box doesn't have any offset.

However I still expected the black box to displace the text column under it, if I place it on the top, especially because it has the same dimensions as the text column, but it doesn't.

Am I supposed to just delete that text every time, or is there a setting that would enable the box to displace or delete the column under it automatically, if they have the same dimensions (so it's obvious to the app that the text won't be visible under it anyway).

And, is there any way to snap offsets to document grid (like the bottom offset of my image), especially if "Snap To Document Grid" is enabled  in the Grids & Guides menu?

I can't grab the offset to adjust it, then it would perhaps snap. I only can adjust the distance in the text wrap settings. How do i grab the offset to drag it to see if it snaps to the baseline grid?

Thanks in advance.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Set the text wrap characteristics. You want either wrap around bounding box, or wrap top/bottom, aka "jump object."

With most, you can also set the wrap margin from other elements.

By default, most objects are set to "do not wrap," which is what you're seeing in your screen shot.

—

[Chris P. Bacon]

Each of the 4 options removed the text under, I have chosen the second: "Wrap Around Boundig Box" and it seems to remove the text under even if the wrap dimensions are set to zero. That's nice cause I really didn't want to see an extra offset box there because there is no actual need for an obset, I just wanted to not allow any text under the black box. Great, sorted out, thanks.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

What you likely want to use here (on a pro level) is "jump object," which essentially gives the object infinite side margins and prevents any text from appearing there regardless of any other text, spacing or other changes you might make. Wrap around with no spacing might be jusssssst enough to keep text from creeping in alongside, and that could change.

If you experiment, you will also find that side wrap distances will push into adjacent columns, while Jump Object does not. All useful variations for fine tuning such layout.

—

[Chris P. Bacon]

Thanks, I change it to Jump Object, it does make sense.

[Derek Cross]

Have you tried Window > Text Wrap ?

[Chris P. Bacon]

That's right.

[SJRiegel]

I believe you are looking for Text Wrap. The wrap settings need to be applied to your black box.

[Chris P. Bacon]

It worked.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Thanks everyone, great community here.

It seems that the second part of the question didn't get noticed.

Is there a way to grab offsets by their outer boundary, and drag them to snap them to the document grid, if snap to document gris is enabled?

[Peter Spier]

Chris, have you considered taking some introductory classses in using InDesign? The questions you've been asking would probably be covered.

Indesign, like any professional page layout application is very complex and far from intuitive. It's not like typing in a word processor. We're happy to answer your questions, but I really think you will get more out of some real training.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Thanks, but the forums suits me better. 

I know about the courses of course. I would say forums are way better because they give you the information what you need when you need it. In the "school" models of education they will start to teach you things that you don't really need at that moment exactly, so it will not stick so well, and many of those things they teach you you might never intend to use either - typical school model. But thanks for the recommendation. 

[Chris P. Bacon]

Forums are the luxury of education I guess.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Maybe, but the point is that a series of basic tutorials would teach you the whole framework of what you're doing, and not spend a lot of time showing you how to do one specific, isolated task.

It's a bit like you're rebuilding an engine and stopping to ask how hard to pull on a wrench for every single bolt. You'll get there, but you could do it better/faster with more focused effort.

—

[Peter Spier]

As a former trainer who taught InDesign I would respectfully disagree. Classes will show you the full spectrum of waht you can do and open your eyes to new possibilities.

[jmlevy]

I am also a former InDesign trainer and I think exactly the same than Peter.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You are thinking of a traditional school model. Training for professionals by professionals is handled differently--often customized to your very needs. Check out these Adobe Certified Instructors:

https://learning.adobe.com/partner-finder.html?products=InDesign&country=USA

[Chris P. Bacon]

Thanks.

[rob day]

Hi @Chris P. Bacon 

Look at Paragraph Shading. You should be able to do this without creating an extra text frame:

[Chris P. Bacon]

Just what I needed, thanks.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I just that hope that shaded paragraphs can be moved around on the page with the same ease as boxes. Because all my pages will be a variation of my master page, with the elements shuffled.

[Peter Spier]

They move with the text flow. Would not necessarily be suitable for precise positioning unless they are in isolated frames.

[Chris P. Bacon]

Ah, so that's why is not suitable for me. I am building a master page that contains all the elements I will use on my pages, and when I actually build my pages, I don't build them from scratch, but from the master page. I will move them, resize them as necessary for the new page, to recompose the layout - but at least I will not have to recreate those elements from scratch. 

So if want that black box on the next page to be resized and moved, I can't do that if instead of a box it's a shaded paragraph. 

But thanks for the suggestion.

[Derek Cross]

That's not the way to go, you need to learn about InDesign templates (and lots more!).

Linkedin Learning have some great InDesign step-by-step video tutorials that you'd find really helpful (and you can get 30-days free access).

[Chris P. Bacon]

Thanks, I will take a look at it.

But I started out from a template, and I deleted all of it because I didn't find it useful and I realized I don't need a template so I didn't create any, the master page is my template, and I don't need more. When i create a new page I just click "Apply master to pages", rearrange the elements to my liking, and my new page is done.

And for the special sections like table of content, editor's letter etc.  I don't need a master page because their layout does not change, I just only change the text / images.