Frame grid properties

Frame grid properties

Use the Frame Grid dialog box to change frame grid settings such as the font, character size, character spacing, lines, and characters.

Select the font family and font style. These font settings will be applied in frame grids based on the layout grid.

Specify the font size. This value will be the grid cell size.

Specify the grid scaling for full-width Asian characters in %.

Specify the spacing between grid cells in the frame grid. This value is used for the grid mesh spacing.

Specify the grid spacing. This value is used as the distance from underneath (or left of) the grid mesh on the first line to the top (or right) of the grid mesh on the next line. If a negative value is set here, Auto Leading value under Justification in the Paragraph panel menu is set automatically to 80% (the default is 100%), since grid alignment will only increase line spacing above the spacing already set by the leading amount in the text attributes. Changing the leading value set in the text will change how the grid alignment spreads the text lines out to match the nearest grid line.

Select an option to specify line alignment for the text. For example, if you select Top for a vertical frame grid, the start of each line will be aligned to the top of the frame grid. (See Align or justify text.)

Select an option to specify whether to align the text to the embox, ICF box, or roman baseline. (See Align paragraphs to a baseline grid.)

Select an option to specify the method of aligning small characters to larger characters in a line.

Select an option to determine where the frame grid’s dimensions and character count appears. (See View or hide the frame grid character count.)

Select an option to specify how to show the frame. Grid shows frame grids with grids and lines. N/Z View shows the frame grid direction in dark blue diagonal lines; these lines disappear when you insert text. Alignment View shows frame grid with only lines. Alignment shows the frame line alignment. Grid With N/Z shows a combination of both.

Specifies the number of characters in a line.

Specifies the number of lines in a column.

Specifies the number of columns in a frame grid.

Specifies the spacing between columns.

You can also use grid setting to adjust character spacing.

Convert text frames and frame grids

You can convert plain text frames into frame grids or frame grids into plain text frames.

When plain text frames are converted into frame grids, for text that has not had a character style or paragraph style applied in the story, the frame grid's document defaults are applied.

You cannot apply grid format directly to plain text frames. After converting a plain text frame into a frame grid, you can apply grid format attributes by applying a predetermined grid format to a frame grid using text that has not been given a paragraph style.

Also, when a text frame is converted to a frame grid, blank space may be created at the top, bottom, left or right of the frame. This space is shown when the text frame width or height is not divisible by the font size or leading values set in the grid format. This spacing can be removed by dragging the frame grid handle and adjusting with the Selection tool. When converting text frames to frame grids, edit the text after adjusting any insets created during conversion.

Convert a plain text frame into a frame grid

Remove a grid from a frame grid

View or hide the frame grid character count

The frame grid character count is shown at the bottom of the grid. Shown here are the values for characters, lines, total number of cells and the actual number of characters.

To specify the size and position of the character count view, select the text frame and choose Object > Frame Grid Options. Under View Options, specify the Char Count, view, and size, and click OK.