With the Align panel, objects can be spread out or lined up along the selection, margins, page, or spread. Follow the instructions in this tutorial to align objects in InDesign correctly.

Choose the items you wish to distribute or align. Now, launch the Align panel. Select the alignment method for the items at the panel’s bottom. Choose your preferred alignment or distribution style.

For a more thorough explanation of these processes, continue reading below.

How to Distribute or Align Objects in InDesign

Use the Align panel to line up or space out items based on the selection, margins, page, or spread. To learn more about how you can distribute or align objects in InDesign, watch this video:

Align and Distribute Objects in InDesign cc

Follow the steps below:

• Choose the items you want to distribute or align.
• To open the Align panel, select Window > Object & Layout > Align.
• With the option at the end of the panel, you can choose to align or spread items based on the selection, margins, page, or spread.

Using Distribute/Alignment Type

Choose one of these:

• Select the option for the desired alignment type to align items.
• Select the option next to the distribution type you wish to use to distribute items. When Align To Selection is turned on, for example, clicking the Distribute Left Edges button makes sure that each selected item’s left and left edges have the same amount of space between them.

The results of this are as follows:

1. Establishes a consistent distance between the centers of each item
2. Maintains the initial width after the alteration.

Using Distribute Objects

Select Use Spacing under Distribute Objects, then enter the desired quantity of space to be applied, to establish the distance between objects, either center to center or edge to matching edge. Press a button to distribute the chosen items along the horizontal or vertical axes.

The results of this are as follows:

1. Defines a number that uniformly distances the items from their centers.
2. Modifies the items’ total width as a whole.

Using Distribute Spacing

Choose Use Spacing under Distribute Spacing and type in the amount of space you want between the items to find out how far apart they are (from edge to edge). Select Show Options from the Align Panel menu to reveal Distribute Spacing.

Click the Distribute Spacing button to move the items along their horizontal or vertical lines.

The results of this are as follows:

1. Creates gaps between each item of a specified size.
2. Modifies the items’ total width as a whole.

When the vertical distribution is combined with spacing, selected items are spread from top to bottom, beginning with the object on top. Selected items are spread from left to right, beginning with the object on the left when you choose the horizontal distribution.

Utilize the Gap Tool to Align Items

The Gap tool offers a fast method for modifying the distance between two or more items. Additionally, it enables you to concurrently resize several objects with typically aligned edges while maintaining the spaces between them. 

You can change your arrangement in one step by changing the distance between elements.

Parent page items and locked objects are ignored by the Gap tool.

• Activate the Gap tool.
• By moving the cursor somewhere between two things, you can do any of the following:
• All items aligned along the gap may be resized, and the gap can be moved.
• To change the distance simply between the two closest items, shift-drag.
• Instead of shifting the gap, resize it with Ctrl- or Command-drag on a Windows or Mac computer. The Shift key increases or decreases the distance solely between the two closest items.
• To move the gap and items in the same direction, use Alt or Option when dragging on a Windows or Mac computer. Just the two closest items are moved when the Shift key is added.
• On a Windows computer, press Ctrl+Alt+drag, and on a Mac, press Command+Option+drag. This will make the space bigger and let you move the items. Increasing the gap’s size will cause just the two nearby items to move.

Utilize Live Distribute to Distribute Items

When you change a group of objects, you don’t have to scale the objects themselves. Instead, you can change the distance between them. For instance, you don’t need to use any Distribute commands to adjust the distance among five aligned rectangles.

• Choose the items.
• Drag a selection handle while pressing and holding the Spacebar. To alter the distance between the items, keep dragging.

Some Additional Considerations

The Align panel doesn’t change the way text is aligned inside its frame or the position of objects you’ve told to Lock Position.

The Align Objects settings do not affect text alignment.

Custom align and distribute shortcuts may be made using the Keyboard Shortcuts dialogue box (Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts). (Choose Object Editing from the Product Area menu.)

Conclusion

And here you are. In this article, we learned how to space objects evenly using the various methods in InDesign. Although it is a fairly simple process, it may be a bit difficult for someone new to InDesign. We hope the instructions in this article will prove to be helpful.