Wade wrote:
One thing that has always frustrated me is that InDesign cannot transform an object by reflection (as Illustrator can). You can move, scale, rotate, and shear, but reflect does not exist. I have found a way to do it, by grabbing a middle side handle of the frame and dragging it across the object to the other side, but this is a manual process and requires the use of a guide to ensure that the new frame size is identical to what it was originally. Any other, easier ways?
Wade, here’s a much easier solution — one which almost no one ever thinks of, but is obvious after you do it once:
- Select the object with the Selection tool
- Deselect the link icon next to the Scaling fields in the Control palette.
- Place the cursor in front of the “100%” in either the horizontal or vertical scale field
- Type a hyphen (-) and then Enter.
By scaling the object -100%, you effectively reflect it. I hope that helps!
(You can do this in other ways, too. For example, you can double-click on the Scale tool and scale the object -100% in the Scale dialog box.)
[Note: This article was written in the old days. There’s an easier way now! Just click the Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical buttons in the Control panel, or choose Object > Transform > Flip. Note here’s a tip on how to flip a frame without flipping the contents.]
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on September 24, 2006
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