Move text frame relative to another text frame

[Fiojja]

I am trying to make Text Frame 2 resize base on the placement of Text Frame 1. Text Frame 1 is set to auto size downwards based on the text. Beneath it, I want Text Frame 2 to also shift downwards relatively based on the placement of Text Frame 1. So if Text Frame 1 needs to go down another line (which ends up being, say, 20 pixels) Text Frame 2 also shifts down another line (so another 20 pixels). Or perhaps another way of thinking about it is I want these text frames to always be relatively spaced from each other.

This feels like a very simple problem, but I must be using the wrong terms to find the results I'm looking for, because the only info I can find is how to use auto size, which I think doesn't help me here.

[Eugene Tyson · Accepted solution]

Why use 2 text frames - just continue the text in 1 text frame and set your spacing between the paragraphs.

If you want text frames to be consistently placed alongside each other - you will need to Anchor the text frame.

When you Anchor the text frame you then set the distance by using the options - or even custom settings. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/indesign/using/anchored-objects.html#:~:text=To%20anchor%20an%20existing%....

[Fiojja]

I hope this doesn't seem too ignorant, but if I'm copy and pasting information quickly from another form, isn't it a lot faster if they're in separate frames? Otherwise I'll have to carefully select the information I want to overwrite for each page instead of just CTRL+A, CTRL+C. I also don't speak the language that some of this information is coming from, so it's not easy for me to make sure I've pasted everything correctly. I haven't seen a faster way to get this information loaded into the file, so copy-pasting is where I'm at.

I did read about anchoring but I was only able to figure out how to do it with images. If you say it's possible with text frames, I will keep working on it.

Thank you for explaining this to me, this is for my friend who gave me recipes from her Finnish grandmother for a cookbook for her mother. This has been a learning curve, and I appreciate that you took the time to make it a bit easier for me! Thank you!

[Fiojja]

Anchoring does work, but it more or less does act as part of Text Frame 1, meaning CTRL+A selects both text frames instead of the one I have selected. If I select Text Frame 2 it doesn't, so that is still a step above simply having it as a separate line for the same text frame.

I ended up needing to watch a video to understand what was meant by positioning the insertion point, which is what I was missing before. Thanks again!

[Eugene Tyson]

You can anchor any type of frame.

I'm not sure why pasting a frame is easier than pasting the text into a single frame.

You still have to make a choice what to select and where to insert it.

Disadvantage of anchoring text frames is it's not as easy to split the text over pages as the anchored frame will push to the next page.

But whatever works for you.

[Fiojja]

It's not pasting the frame, it's pasting inside the frame. If I'm pulling from another document, it's quicker to select all the text in the frame and copy over it than it is for me to select a specific point in the frame to delete and then copy into. I found that anchoring would at least allow me to do that with the Anchored Object, but not the object it was being anchored to.

I also found that, for a cookbook ingredients + direction, the span column feature in paragraph style is quite helpful in keeping relative spacing.

[Willi Adelberger]

Professional is working with 1 single frame, work with paragraph styles, avoid multiple returns. Space before and after is the way to go. With multiple frames or with multiple returns you run into multiple prblems later.

[Fiojja]

Thank you for the advice! I will work that way then. I am used to dealing with using objects as references for queries, so it made more natural sense to me to do it the other way, but I'll adapt. Thank you again!