Artiom wrote:
In QuarkXPress we change the page size from the top left corner of the document. In InDesign it is made from the center of the page. Is it possible to change the page size from the top left corner of the page in InDesign too?
Sometimes my favorite answers to mailbag questions are those to which I can simply reply “no.” Saying “no” is so elegant, so simple. Unfortunately, just before I type that little word, my brain kicks in and starts saying, “ummm… well, you could… maybe….”
So, the quick answer is: No. The real answer is: There is always a workaround. Typically when you resize a page with File > Document Setup, the objects on the page all appear to move. The page isn’t really expanding from the center, as you mentioned. Rather, it sort of moves from the spine out (at least it does in CS3).
I say “sort of” because I’ve been analyzing it for a while over my early morning coffee and I can’t make out exactly how it works. In some cases, objects appear to move up and in others they appear to move down. The only thing I can say for sure is that it’s baffling.
So how to get those objects to stick to the upper-left corner? That is, how to get something that is 15 mm from the left and 20 mm down from the top to remain in that position in the new page size? Workaround!
- Draw an object on every page, such as a small empty frame.
- In the Control panel, set the upper left corner of this object (using the reference point proxy and the X and Y fields) to zero, zero — so that it’s snug in the upper left corner of the page.
- Resize the document with Document Setup.
- On each page, select all (Command/Ctrl-A), press Command/Ctrl-6 to jump to the first field of the Control panel, press zero, tab, zero, enter. That resets the “dummy” object — and all the other objects with it — to the correct position.
- Delete the new dummy frame.
Sound like fun? No! But hey, my brain hate saying “no.”
Another option would be to use a plug-in such as Page Control from dtptools.com, which gives you some control over how pages are resized. (Page Control is that cool plug-in that lets you change the page size of each page in a document separately, so you can have a business card-sized page next to an envelope-sized-page, etc.
Another plug-in option is Gluon’s ProScale. I haven’t used this in years, but I remember it being great because you can actually scale everything in the document proprotionally (or disproportionally) along with the page.
There must be other options for resizing your page sizes. Feel free to chime in with your favorite options for controlling where objects land on your page when you resize the document.
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on November 27, 2007
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