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Flex Layout panel overview

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      2. Flex Layout panel overview
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Use the Flex Layout panel in InDesign to create, align, set direction, wrap, justify, and space items in Flex Layout.

Flex Layout introduces a CSS Flexbox-like container concept in InDesign. It provides powerful properties to control the layout of child objects. With Flex Layout, designs become structured, more adaptive, and require less manual adjustment.

Flex Layout panel overview

To access the panel, go to Window > Flex Layout. The Flex Layout panel opens. You can now create or add a Flex Layout or customize an existing one according to your requirements. If there's no selection, you can use the panel to change the defaults (applicable if auto-detect is OFF).

Navigate to Preferences > General > Auto-detect and apply Flex Layout settings to check for the auto-detect setting.

Flex layout panel showing various options to create a flex layout
Explore the Flex Layout panel

A. Width of the Flex container B. Height of the Flex container C. Wrap D. Direction of objects in Flex Layout E. Vertical Spacing F. Horizontal Spacing G. Padding  H. Justification I. Alignment of the objects in Flex Layout 

Width and Height

The size of both Flex Layout containers and their children can be controlled independently.

For a Flex Layout container, the width and height can be:

  • Fixed: The container size stays constant, regardless of its content.
  • Auto: The container size grows or shrinks based on the size of its children.

For a Flex Layout child (including nested Flex layout):

  • Fixed: The child size stays constant, regardless of its own content.
  • Auto: The child size adapts to fit its own content or children.
  • Fill Space: The child expands to occupy the remaining available space in that dimension, sharing space with other “Fill Space” siblings as needed.

Wrap  

Enables or disables the wrapping of objects in the container.

Direction

Choose how items flow inside the container (row, row reverse, column, column reverse).

Spacing

Controls the padding and the spacing.

  • Padding- Define spacing inside the container on all sides (top, bottom, left, right).
  • Horizontal Spacing   - Set consistent spacing between items horizontally.
  • Vertical Spacing  - Set consistent spacing between items vertically.

Justification

Controls the distribution of items along the main axis.

Aligns the row to the start of the Flex Layout and aligns the items to the start of the row.

Aligns the row to the center of the Flex Layout and aligns the items to the center of the row.

Aligns the row to the end of the Flex Layout and aligns the items to the end of the row.

Aligns items in rows such that – 

  • Equal space on both sides of each item.
  • The edge items only have one side exposed; the space at the edges is half of the space between items.

Aligns items in rows such that – 

  • The first item is flush with the start edge, and the last item is flush with the end edge. 
  • The remaining items are evenly spaced only in between.
  • Distributes the items evenly along the main axis, with the first item at the start and the last item at the end.
  •  No gap at the outer edges. 

Aligns items in rows such that – 

  • Equal space everywhere: between items and at the edges.
  • Everything is truly even.

Alignment

Aligns items across the cross-axis: Top, Center, Bottom, or Left, Center, Right.

  Top left: Aligns the rows to the top left of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the top left of the row.

Center Left: Aligns the rows to the center left of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the center left of the row.

Bottom Left: Aligns the rows to the bottom left of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the bottom left of the row.

Top Center: Aligns the rows to the top center of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the top center of the row.

Center: Aligns the rows to the center of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the center of the row.

Bottom Center: Aligns the rows to the bottom center of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the bottom center of the row.

Top Right: Aligns the rows to the top right of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the top right of the row.

Center Right: Aligns the rows to the center right of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the center right of the row.

Bottom Right: Aligns the rows to the bottom right of the Flex Layout container and aligns the items in the row to the bottom right of the row.

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