Placing Images as In-Line Text

Last year, I wrote an article about placing images directly on a page using the InDesign program. Now, I would like to explain placing images as in-line text. This is especially helpful if you have many images within a document and want your images to stay in place with certain text. That way you don’t have to keep moving images around if you are adding or taking information out of your document.

Placing an Image as In-Line text:
To place an image as in line text, you first need to make sure that you know where on your computer the original file is stored. Make sure to give the file a name that allows you to easily distinguish what it is.

Next, make sure that you have selected your type tool from the tool palette.

Place & click your cursor on the page where you want the image to be placed.

Now select File > Place (Keyboard Shortcut: Command +D)

A dialogue box will pop up and you will then need to locate the file on your computer.

After selecting the file you wish to place, click Place in the dialogue box.

The image will then appear. You can use your selection (arrow) tool to move the image up or down within the text. If you highlight the image using your type tool, you can change the alignment in the control palette like you would with type. In some cases the image will be the wrong size, you will then need to resize the image.

To Resize an Image
First, select the image with your selection (arrow) tool.

Next, hold down the shift key and click any corner or the image to either increase or decrease the image size. (Holding the shift key while resizing is important because it constrains the image.)

Be sure to release the mouse before releasing shift.

Now depending on whether you made your image smaller or larger, you will either see some extra white space in your image box or it will look like your image is cut off. This is an easy fix.

Make sure you have your image selected with your selection tool and then select Object > Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally (KS: Shift + Option + Command +E).


Using Text Wrap
In some cases your image my be very close to or overlap text on another line. To fix this, you will need to select the image using your selection (arrow) tool .

Next, you will need to open the text wrap palette, select Window > Text Wrap. The Text Wrap palette will pop up on your screen. with your image still selected, click the second icon in the Text Wrap box.

When you scroll over this it should say “Wrap around bounding box” (This is the option that you will typically select). You can change the offset for each side of the image in the Text Wrap Bounding box as well, by typing the measurements in or using the up and down arrows .

~ Carmen Zorick • Graphic Designer, RDL enterprises

Working with Images in InDesign

As the primary graphic designer for RDL, I get the opportunity to work on many different design projects from creating signs, brochures, and name tags to creating conference registration packets and programs. As the office “expert” in Adobe InDesign, I am frequently called upon to help with InDesign-related questions and assistance. I would have to say that one of the most common issues is placing and re-sizing images. So, here are the basics of how one would place and resize an image in the InDesign program.

Placing an image directly on the page
To place an image directly on the page, you first need to make sure that you know where on your computer the original file is stored. Make sure to give the file a name that allows you to easily distinguish what it is.

Next, make sure that you have selected your selection tool from the tool palette.

Now select File > Place (Keyboard Shortcut: Command +D)

A dialogue box will pop up and you will then need to locate the file on your computer.

After selecting the file you wish to place, click Place in the dialogue box.

You will now see a small version of your image on your cursor. You can move the image to where you want to set it on the page, click once with your mouse and the image will appear on your page.

Resizing an image
In many cases, images need to be resized after they are placed on the page.
First, select the image with your selection tool.

Next, hold down the shift key and click any corner or the image to either increase or decrease the image size. (Holding the shift key while resizing is important because it constrains the image.)

Be sure to release the mouse before releasing shift.

Now depending on whether you made your image smaller or larger, you will either see some extra white space in your image box or it will look like your image is cut off. This is an easy fix.

Make sure you have your image selected with your selection tool and then select Object > Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally (KS: Shift + Option + Command +E)--

~ Carmen Zorick • Graphic Designer, RDL enterprises