Constraints

A child object can be prevented from being scaled when resizing its parent and be anchored to its parent in different ways. This ensures that designs can be presented in different layouts quickly and easily. As an example, you can nest caption strips within your picture frames, whose shape and caption text can be controlled with respect to anchoring and scaling.

Before
After
The caption strip is constrained to not scale vertically (below left) so its height remains constant on picture frame resizing; the text remains the same font size as it is set to not scale vertically and horizontally (below right).
Constraints panels

Using constraints gives you the freedom to design without worrying that design rework will be adversely affected by unwanted object rescaling. By controlling selectively which objects will/won't be scaled and anchored, your design will always respond correctly to scaling.

Constraints only work in parent - child object relationships, i.e. where a parent object (container) contains nested content. A child object's scaling and anchoring is always in relation with its parent container. For example, a page and a child text frame, etc.

By default, nested content will scale when its container is resized. A child object is not anchored by default.

Locking aspect ratio

To prevent a child object losing its aspect ratio when its parent is scaled disproportionately, you can set it to Min-Fit or Max-Fit.

In both cases, if the parent object is resized proportionately, the child object will also scale proportionally.

To prevent a child object from scaling:
  1. Select a child object.
  2. On the Transform panel, tap Constraints, then select on the horizontal or vertical solid double arrow (or both) in the panel's inner square. A greyed-out dashed arrow means that scaling won't occur when its parent object is resized.
To anchor a child object to its parent's boundaries:
  1. Select a child object.
  2. On the Transform panel, tap Constraints and then tap a greyed-out dashed line between the inner and outer square to anchor the object to its parent in that direction (top, bottom, left, or right). A solid line means anchoring is being applied.
To maintain a child object's aspect ratio:
  1. Select a child object.
  2. On the Transform panel, tap Constraints and then tap Min-Fit or Max-Fit.

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