How to Place Images in InDesign

Adobe InDesign is a program specifically designed for creating publications such as newspapers, magazines or newsletters. Attractive publications that lure in readers provide interesting text and crisp, striking images. While there are a few ways to get an image onto your publication page, the most common way is to use Adobe InDesign's Place command. Images can be placed into empty content frames or flowed onto a blank area of the page.

Instructions

1. Select the "Rectangle Frame Tool" from the Tools palette.

2. Use the cursor to draw a rectangular image frame.

3. Click the "File" menu and choose "Place." If you would rather use a keyboard shortcut, press "Ctrl-D."

4. Navigate to and select the image you want to place in the frame. Either double-click the image or click the image one time and select "Open" to place the image on the page.

Tips & Warnings

• You can place an image onto the page without first creating and selecting a picture frame. With nothing on the page selected, click the "File" menu and choose "Place." Click the mouse on the page to place the image, or click and drag your mouse on the page to control the size of the image.

• A saved document does not include linked files. In other words, if you save the document and email it to someone else, she will be able to display linked images, but she won't actually have the images. They will be displayed (and exported and printed) in the typical display setting, a much lower quality than the original image. Embedding an image within a file saves the entire image within that file, and the images there will be displayed and printed in full quality. You can't make changes to the source files of embedded images, but you can unembed and relink images easily enough.

• Don't attempt to edit images in InDesign. There are a few ways you could actually do it, but Photoshop is exponentially more capable of performing the task, and Photoshop files can themselves be placed in InDesign.

• Do not place PDF files in InDesign. It is possible to do so, but PDF files are huge and tend to be hit-or-miss as to the quality of the imported document. Instead, save the PDF as a JPEG, PNG or other high-quality image file. You won't lose any quality, and the new file will be much easier to work with in InDesign, not to mention Photoshop or other editing software.

• If you place a file from a hard input, such as a thumb drive, you will lose the link to that image as soon as the device is removed from your computer. It's best to transfer images from such devices to your computer before placing them.

References

• Amherst College: Inserting Images With InDesign
• Adobe: Place (Import) Graphics

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish