Oversized check mark when creating check box

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

Every time I turn a box into a check box using the Buttons and Forms panel, a giant check mark appears and takes up the entire screen. How do I fix this behavior?

[Bill Silbert]

That looks like possible program corruption. Try resetting your InDesign preferences. This process will restore the program to its defaults. Hopefully, it will fix the issue.

To reset preferences:

For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which InDesign’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that InDesign is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N). With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe InDesign” and the file called “com.adobe.InDesign.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When InDesign is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

For Windows Users: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so: On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\<Version #>\<Language>. Make sure that InDesign is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

@Bill Silbert , thanks for your reply. I followed the steps for manually deleting preferences in Windows but when I restarted and tried to create a check box the same way, I got the same result, unfortunately. Any other ideas?

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

I would say there'd be no issue if I could just resize the check mark, but doing so simultaneously resized the check box to the point where I can't manipulate its size, border, or appearance as I like. 

[leo.r]

@Bill Silbert , thanks for your reply. I followed the steps for manually deleting preferences in Windows

By @defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq

Try also to clear caches - sometimes it fixes unusual UI issues:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

@leo.r , I appreciate you weighing in. I followed all the steps for preferences and cache files in the link you shared but the issue persisted, and then I had a thought. It's not my InDesign preferences, it's this template I'm working with. It was built by someone else in my company and they must have adjusted some setting that by default makes any check mark I place huge. I do not know where to look to change this.

I just created a check box in a fresh document and it worked just fine, confirming it's the template and not the tool. I wish I'd thought of that sooner. 

Thank you both, @Bill Silbert and @leo.r , I will have those tips tucked away for future use someday. Any thoughts on which settings in a template would be causing the behavior. It does something similar when I create a small box using the rectangle tool: makes it 10 times as large and fills it in. 

[davecourtemanche]

Have you opened the Sample Buttons & Form off the Buttons & Forms palette hamburger menu? There are different options there for check boxes. Perhaps you can reset the default in that file to the regular checkbox. 

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

Hi @davecourtemanche, thanks for that suggestion. That worked, though I don't know why!

I can indeed select different styles of check boxes, but I don't see how to set any as default. The only other actions I can take—that I can see—are sorting, migrating to CC, and changing the display (list, thumbnail, large). I don't see how to set a default size or ratio. Main problem mostly resolved, though some mystery around how to set default size/style/ratio. 

Thanks again to everyone who has chimed in.

[Barb Binder]

Hi @defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq:

A checkbox is a group containing a graphic frame and a text frame. If you resize the group non-proportionately, both will resize. You could resize it back by eye, or if you have another one correctly sized elsewhere on the page, make a note of the width and height and then enter those values for this one. 

~Barb

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

Hi @Barb Binder, thanks for your demonstration. I see what you mean, the grouped graphic and text frame. The desired (and from what I understand, normal) behavior is after creating the text frame and turning it into a check box, the graphic frame will automatically get grouped, proportionately, within the text box. 

This is now happening for me, though I don't know exactly what I did to achieve it, and I don't know why my original issue, which, thanks to you I understand, was happening (when text box was turned into check box, the graphic frame containing the check mark was not proportionally grouped inside, or at all).

[Barb Binder]

Hi @defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq:

It happens when you designate a frame as a check box. I really think that keeping an eye on the Layers panel while you work in InDesign (and in Illustrator and Photoshop) is so helpful... you can see what is happening as it unfolds. 

~Barb

[defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq]

@Barb Binder , super helpful, and I can see how this applies more broadly, too. Very much appreciate the to-the-point tutorial. I bet you already post lessons somewhere but if you don't I hope you do sometime. 

[Barb Binder]

Hi @defaultk3r9x9kb5ocq:

I teach online InDesign classes, but there's enough InDesign content out there that I don't post tutorials as I do for FrameMaker, Adobe's other page layout application. I do have a blog, however, that posts my student's questions as submitted after they attend training with me. You may find that helpful: https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/category/indesign/

I'm always happy to answer questions here and because I'm a visual thinker, I tend to record these 30-second tutorials to illustrate the answers. 😊

Come back and see us next time you get stuck.

~Barb