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Recipes for Applying—and Ignoring—Text Wrap in InDesign

Learn when to apply and when to ignore Text Wrap in InDesign.

Diane Burns

This article appears in Issue 1 of InDesign Magazine.

It doesn’t take long to discover the usefulness of InDesign’s Text Wrap feature. After all, text wrap is that lovely feature that, among other things, allows our text to have a relationship to adjacent graphics or even other text. Text Wrap is applied by simply selecting a frame or object around which you want text to wrap, then setting the desired wrap using controls in the Text Wrap panel by choosing Window > Text Wrap. Applying a text wrap creates an editable text wrap boundary around an object. The icons across the top of the panel indicate the basic text wrap shape (Figure 1). Once the basic shape is selected, you can set the inset values and, in the case of Wrap Around Object Shape (known as contour wrapping), you can also set the text wrap boundary to be the same as the image’s clipping path, alpha channel, bounding box, Photoshop path, or graphic frame, depending on the format of your graphic. As of InDesign 2021, you can choose Select Subject for Adobe’s AI technology to help you with creating your text wrap.

Screenshot of Text Wrap panel

Figure 1: Text Wrap panel

Text wrap in InDesign takes effect regardless of the layering (stacking) order of objects. When you need to wrap text around one area of an object, but not another—e.g., we might need body text to wrap around a graphic, but not a headline—select Ignore Text Wrap at the very bottom of the Text Frame Options dialog box under Object > Text Frame Options (Figure 2). Select the frame containing the text that you don’t want to be affected by an overlying item that has Text Wrap applied, and check Ignore Text Wrap. With Text Wrap and Ignore

Text Wrap, you really can have it both ways. Use Ignore Text Wrap when you want to create interesting pull quotes, headlines with graphics slightly overlapping them, or even to put a price on your products! Figure 2: Text Frame Options dialog box

Wrapped Graphics Over Text
 Ingredients

  • 1 Headline
  • 1 Graphic
  • Body text to taste
  • The Text Wrap panel
  • The Text Frame Options dialog box

Directions: Take one headline and one two-column frame of body text; position on page. Place graphic. Apply text wrap to the graphic by clicking the icon in the Text Wrap panel. Position the graphic over the text frames. The headline text will momentarily be pushed out of its frame by the text wrap on the graphic; select the headline text frame, open the Object > Text Frame Options dialog box, and click Ignore Text Wrap. The headline will flow back into its frame, and the graphic can be positioned over it freely without displacing the text. Serve chilled with garnish. Perfect with margaritas on the rocks.

Graphic headlined "Oaxacan Treasures" shows graphic of stone carving of human figure in Indigenous garb; column of text wraps around contour of the carving. Image superimposed on "Oaxacan Treasures" head. Callout pointing to figure reads "Ignore Text Wrap is applied to the frame containing the pricing text, which would otherwise be pushed out of its frame."

Text Wrap is applied to the graphic, causing the body text to wrap around it.

Text Wrap à la New York Times
Ingredients

  • 1 Capital letterform in your favorite font (e.g., Berthold City)
  • The Create Outlines command (optional)
  • The Text Wrap panel
  • The Text Frame Options dialog box

Directions: Type a capital letter in a text frame. Increase size as desired. Optionally, you can convert the character to outlines to make easier to work with: Click on the frame with the Selection tool and covert to outlines using the Type > Create Outlines command. Create a separate text frame containing the pull quote text, and apply text wrap to the pull quote text frame by clicking the Wrap Around Bounding Box icon in the Text Wrap panel. Position the pull quote text within the main story, and set the desired insets for the wrap. Position the outlined capital within the pull quote and main story. Apply text wrap to the pull quote text frame. The pull quote text will momentarily be pushed out of its frame by the text wrap on the capital; select the frame, open the Object > Text Frame Options dialog box, and click Ignore Text Wrap. Serves thousands of readers every Sunday.

A page designed in the style of The New York Times Magazine with pullquote in center of layout. Initial cap B predominates and text wraps around it. Callout points to pullquote with text "Ignore Text Wrap is applied to the frame containing the pull quote, which would otherwise be pushed out of its frame by the text wrap applied to the capital letter."

Text Wrap is applied to the capital letter, causing the body text to wrap around it.

Prix d’une Pêche
Ingredients Body or other text 1 Image (e.g., a pretty peach) Text for topping The Text Frame Options or Preferences dialog box Directions: Take one image, and apply text wrap to it by clicking the Wrap Around Bounding Box icon in the Text Wrap panel. Position the image over text. Next, create a text frame that will be positioned over the image. If you position the text frame over the image, the text will be displaced by the Text Wrap applied to the image. Instead, open the Text Frame Options dialog box (Object > Text Frame Options) and check Ignore Text Wrap. You can now freely position the text over the image without displacing the text stacked above! Tip: If you turn on the Text Wrap Only Affects Text Beneath preference (InDesign > Preferences > Composition > Text Wrap), you won’t have to use the Ignore Text Wrap option in each instance. Use when you want the cool, refreshing pleasures of text sitting on top of an object to which Text Wrap has been applied.
Image of color drawing of a peach with descriptive text wrapped around the contour of the fruit. The words "SPECIAL PRICE" are superimposed on the peach. Callout text points to the "special price" text and reads "Ignore Text Wrap is applied to the frame containing the pricing text, which would otherwise be pushed out of its frame."

Text Wrap is applied to the graphic, causing the body copy to wrap around it.

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