PDF (adobe.com)

Resize objects

When you drag the handle of a frame that includes contents, such as an imported graphic, you may expect the contents to be resized as well. It’s important to understand that the content and the container frame are separate items, each with its own bounding box. Simply dragging the frame of an imported graphic will either crop the graphic or leave a blank space outside the graphic, depending on which direction you drag. Being able to modify the frame apart from the contents adds flexibility, but it may take some time to get used to.

The Smart Guides feature makes it easy to resize objects based on other items in your layout. As you resize an object, temporary guides appear, indicating that the object is aligned with an edge or center of the page or is the same height or width as another page item.

Resizing an imported graphic

A.
Frame selected with Selection tool

B.
Frame resized

C.
Frame and content scaled

  • To resize a frame, drag any handle using the Selection tool. If you hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) while dragging, the frame and the content are scaled. Adding the Shift key scales proportionally.
  • To resize the content of a graphics frame, use the Direct Selection tool, select the graphic, and then drag any of the graphics frame handles.
  • To resize a frame or its content to a precise size, select the object and enter the size in the width (W) or height (H) fields on the Transform panel. (You can also use the Control panel.)
    To maintain the original proportions of the object when using the Transform panel, make sure the Constrain Proportions icon  is selected.
  • To resize both the frame and content, use the Scale X Percentage and Scale Y Percentage fields, not the W and H fields. The W and H fields change only the selected frame or content, not both. Rather than specifying percentages, you can type dimensions by including the unit of measurement, such as “6p.”
  • To resize a frame or its content to a percentage of its current size, select the object and enter the percentage in the width or height fields on the Transform panel.
  • To create a copy of the selected object with the new size applied to the copy, type a value in the width or height fields on the Transform panel and then hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you press Enter.
After you resize a frame or object, you can use a fitting option (Object > Fitting) to fit the content to the frame or the frame to the content.