- "Where are the Item and Content tools?"
- "I see the picture box tools, but where are the tools for text boxes?"
- "I can't find text leading!"
- "Why do I always get the wrong font and size when I start typing?"
- "I can't click on master page items!"
- "How am I supposed to link text boxes together without a Link tool?"
- "Why does creating or editing a color or style affect objects on my page?"
- "How do I resize, color, or adjust pictures?"
- "How do I get rid of my guides?"
- "Where is that XPress feature I always use?"
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“I see the picture box tools, but where are the tools for text boxes?”
While InDesign technically does have text frames, graphic frames, and contentless frames, ultimately the distinctions are somewhat meaningless because any frame can be turned into any other kind of frame at any time. The frame-drawing tools that have an “X” in them in the Tool palette (see Figure 1-1) draw graphic frames (what XPress calls “picture boxes”), but if you click on one of these with the Type tool or use the File>Place command to import text while an empty graphic frame is selected on your page, then InDesign automatically turns it into a text frame on the fly. You can do the same thing with the contentless frames created with the Rectangle, Oval, or Polygon shape tools.
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Similarly, you can draw out a text frame with the Type tool. However, if you later click on an empty text frame with the Selection tool and use the Place command to import a graphic, then InDesign changes the frame into a graphic frame and puts the picture in it. We talk more about drawing frames in Chapter 6.