Scale Objects From the Center

Even if you set the proxy icon (that reference point thing on the left side of the Control panel) to the center point, you still won’t be able to resize or scale an object from the center with the Selection tool — even if you hold down Command/Ctrl to scale the contents along with the frame. That’s frustrating, but there is a solution: If you want to scale from the center, use a different tool!

One way to scale something from the center interactively (by dragging it, rather than numerically) is to set the reference point to the centerpoint, then use the Scale tool. You can hold down the Shift key while dragging diagonally to constrait the height and width proportions.

Alternately, you could use the Free Transform tool (press E to get this tool), and drag any handle while holding down the Option/Alt key. The Free Transform tool ignores the reference point — that’s why it’s “free”! Again, to maintain proportions, hold down Shift, too, while dragging a corner handle.

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