How to Remove Bounding Box?

[Marley C.]

Okay, don't come at me. Not looking for a lecture on bounding boxes, I understand their purpose. I  just don't like them very much. When I find myself in situations where they are more cumbersome than helpful, I would love to be able to turn them off. Is this possible? 

Thanks in advance!

[Bill Silbert]

If after selecting an object with the regular selection tool you either click on the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) or simply type the letter "A" the object will remain selected but the bounding box will go away. You can also achieve this in one step by selecting with the Direct Selection tool with the option (Mac)/alt (PC) held down.

EDIT: I just want to be clear that the question as I understand it is about the term "Bounding Box" as used in Illustrator. This means the handles at the corners which can be used for sizing of the object or rotating. My answer is not referring to "Frame Edges" which can be toggled through View>Extras>Hide-Show Edges.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

My read of the OP is that he'd like to manage and manipulate graphics without a graphics frame at all — which, regrettably, cannot be done. ID has to have a frame to hold and manage (almost) every element.

(If I've misread... never mind, move along, nothing to see here. 🙂 )

[Marley C.]

Thank you for clearing that up LOL

[rob day]

I would love to be able to turn them off. Is this possible?

If an image had no parent container how would it be cropped?

When you place an image directly on a page, by default its container is fit to the image. Rather than using one of the selection tools to select the image or its parent container, there’s the Free Transform tool—which will scale and transform image and its container together.

[Marley C.]

I suppose the same way every other program I've ever used crops images. 

Thanks for the tip on the Free Transform tool!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

All those programs have the equivalent of a graphics frame... it's just concealed from direct user control. ID does a number of things that way that seem more complex or cluttering, but actually give multiple layers of control.

Didja know, for example, that you can apply different characteristics, including Effects, to both the container and the contents? Comes in useful when you want to do something tricky with, say, exterior glow and drop shadow that won't combine correctly when applied to one element.

[ReedTheRoof]

This might not be what you're after, but for inactive objects you can make their bounding boxes invisible.

In the top menu go to View -> Extras -> Hide Frame Edges

It will switch to "Show Frame Edges" once you've toggled it.

[CBaskeyIT]

Just hit ctrl+H to toggle between show or hide.

[Al2691339818e2]

In the latest update for Photoshop, the "Show Transform Controls" for the Move tool is now hidden behind a gear icon in the top toolbar. So, instead of one simple click, it now requires two clicks, slowing down workflow for those who constantly switch between seeing handlebar controls and not seeing them. Click into the gear and uncheck "show transform controls" and "show layer bounds on hover"

[rob day]

This is the InDesign forum

[Flavia370981850lpq]

OMG, those blue thin frames on every selected element was driving me crazy. Finally I saw an useful answer! It works perfectly here. Thank you so much!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Most of us find all the guidelines extremely useful, if not essential, to manage layout and document development. While a clean-sheet preview mode is nice, you may find that many actions and operations are confusing to worse without the guides.