DesignInDesign

Solving the Case of the Changeable Frame

I drew a Graphic Frame with my Rectangle Frame tool (F) as a placeholder for a photo that I would be placing later as a background image for my entire page. Then I double-clicked with my Selection tool on an existing Text Frame to format some text on a different Layer. When I was done formatting, I clicked off to the side of the Text Frame to deselect it. After positioning some other design elements, I was finally ready to place an image in my placeholder Frame. But then I uncovered a mystery. My placeholder had mysteriously changed from a Graphic Frame into a Text Frame. The evidence was unmistakable. The Frame had an Inport and an Outport that only a Text Frame can have and the “X” through my empty Picture Frame had vanished. How did my Frame go through this dramatic transformation without being detected?

The Type tool was the guilty party, but it was an accident. When I “clicked off to the side of the Text Frame to deselect it,” I inadvertently clicked on the empty Picture Frame, which automatically converted it into a Text Frame. Case Solved! But did I have to delete the Text Frame and draw a new Graphic Frame to Place my background image. No! With the Text Frame still selected, go to File > Place, find the image and click Open. This will transform our dynamic Frame back to a Picture Frame as fast as the picture is placed.

Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe® Training Provider.

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