unable to set bounding box

Report · Sep 12, 2008

Hi,
I´m trying to reduce scale on a group of objects;a map, some lines with arrows and shade and also text blocks. When I´m trying to reduce the size of the group the message "unable to set bounding box" pops up and its impossible to continue scaling. It has happened with different files and objects, always the same message.

I´m using Indesign CS3 5.03 on Xp professional

Report · Sep 12, 2008

Hi Slask,

I've seen similar behavior when trying to scale groups. Are you using the scaling fields in the transform or control panel, the scale tool, or the selection tool and modifier keys with the mouse?

I tend to use the modifier keys and mouse, and I've found that slowing down can help. Don't try to push it too far too fast. I think it has to do with the time it takes to calculate the image previews or the new text sizes, and it seems to happen more with larger groups, at least in my experience.

Peter

Report · Sep 12, 2008

Hi again
I´ve tried them all but mostly I tend to use the mouse,keys and selection tool. I've also noticed that slowing down works better, until you reach a certain size and after that it is impossible, even with very small steps (99,9% for example..)

Slask

Report · Mar 27, 2010

Ancient thread but I'm running into this error today. Driving me nuts! I'm in InDesign CS4. Some groups can't be scaled it seems. Grr........

Report · Mar 27, 2010

Funny, I have had a problem in at least a couple of years.

Have you tried the "go slow" method? How about a round trip through .inx?

Report · Mar 28, 2010

Oh I definitely tried the slow option. No go. Same for INX (just tried that, thanks). It's not that complicated of a group either, but it's precisely placed (literally a Fibonacci spiral that's been divided into separate elements). The size cannot be increased even 1%. 😞 I guess that's an Illustrator-only job, though I would much rather work in InDesign. Right now I'm actually in Photoshop because all I need is a comp to begin with. But ugh. Will hate switching away from my program of choice for a layout!

Thanks, Phyllis

Report · Mar 28, 2010

You didn't draw it yourself, then?

InDesign cannot handle extremely small graphic elements, and these may appear when generating a graphic automatically. I have the same with my generated world map: at times, ID flatly refuses to scale it, where with a slightly different map it would do so without a hitch.

Report · Mar 28, 2010

Are you willing to save the spiral as a snippet and post it somewhere, then give us a link? (Attachments are disabled).

Report · Jun 03, 2010

I just ran into this issue as well. I have a photo, text and arrows (created in InDesign) on the page. I've isolated it down to the arrows. It seems that InDesign cannot scale them correctly, so you get the error. If you try scaling other parts, I'm assuming that works, but there seems to be a hang up with arrows. I believe there is a setting where you can specify whether or not a box/arrow scales proportionally or stays at the stroke you assign it. I think that may solve the problem.

Report · Jul 01, 2010

Okay....stupid fix worked. I was having this problem with a dieline for a package. Came out of the blue as I have done this countless time before with out any problem. Today, however, CS4 is feeling stubborn.

Well, I ungrouped it. Grouped it again. Now it works fine.

Go figure.

Hope this works for someone else as well!

Report · Mar 24, 2014

I know this is an incredibly old thread, but for people who find this through google in the future (as I did):

Check to see if the objects you're resizing have any inset spacing - this will give an error message for any objects that become smaller than the spacing will allow for.

Report · Sep 14, 2015

I just had this problem as well, and it led me here. I was even just trying to use the numeric entry for scaling in the toolbar, and it still gave me the error. I tried grouping and ungrouping but that did not help.

For me, it ended up being some strokes with an arrowhead applied to the stroke. Once I removed the arrowheads, everything scaled as expected.

Try ungrouping your stuff, and then just start scaling and deleting the objects until you find the culprit. Once you find it, just revert back to your saved version and deal with the culprit separately. (I removed the arrowheads, scaled, and then put them back on.)

Report · Nov 18, 2015

Me too found this via Google. I get same message when I try to delete certain pages.

What exactly is this bounding box and how do I get rid of it?

Thanks

Richard

Report · Nov 18, 2015

The bounding box is the theoretical rectangle that would surround the artwork. I don't believe I've encountered this error in relation to deleting pages before. What version of ID? OS?

Report · Nov 18, 2015

Thanks Peter,
I am using Indesign CC2015 w=on Mac OS 10.9.5

Report · Nov 18, 2015

Do you have the 11.1 patch installed (I'm not a Mac user, so I don't know if it will install on 10.9.5)?

In the meantime, you might also try a trip through IDML. See Remove minor corruption by exporting

Report · Nov 18, 2015

Thanks again Peter, I will try out your suggestions but later... and let you know if it solves the issue.

Richard

Report · Feb 08, 2016

Trying to up scale objects, getting same error. Highly frustrating....

Report · Aug 01, 2017

Another reason for this: Strokes are set to align to the inside. this also prevents the scaling.

Still you need to use the small-step method and at a certain point it will still stop working.

Another possible reason, not confirmed, is strokes not set to scale (Adjust stroke weight when scaling).

Report · May 10, 2018

This doesn't necessarily have to do with re-scaling, but I received this error (unable to set bounding box) when trying to create a new object (a circle in my case). The solution was that I had no color on my fill and my outline was set to be very large. All I had to do was switch my fill and outline colors and then I could create any size circle I wanted.

Report · Nov 03, 2018

Adobe should fix this error--I found a post from 4 years ago and the response was that it indicated file corruption, when it actually indicated no such thing. What does the error even mean, and why does it occur? I followed the advice given by kevintaylor3324 above and it solved the issue--my stroke was set to 15 pts. But why should that be a problem? Just now I set the stroke to 0 pts, drew a box and no error; then I reset it to 15 pts again and still no error, even when the box was small. A flaw in the program, it seems.