Open your target document, or close all documents to set defaults for future projects.
Last updated on
Jun 2, 2026
Learn how to configure default settings in Adobe InDesign for image placement, frame fitting, and data merge behavior.
Use the Content Placement Options dialog box to set defaults for the current document or all future projects. You can manage image placement, choose whether images are linked or embedded, remove blank lines for empty fields, and set the maximum number of records per merged document.
Select Window > Utilities > Data Merge.
Choose Content Placement Options from the Data Merge panel menu.
Adjust the content placement options.
Select OK to save the settings.
Content placement options
|
Option |
Description |
|
Fit Images Proportionally |
Maintains the image’s aspect ratio while scaling it to fit within the frame (default). |
|
Fit Images To Frames |
Scales the image so that its aspect ratio is identical to the frame’s aspect ratio. |
|
Fit Frames To Images |
Preserves the image size but adjusts the frame size to match it. |
|
Preserve Frame And Image Sizes |
Places the image at its intrinsic size within the frame, aligned to the upper-left corner. The image is cropped if too large for the frame. |
|
Fill Frames Proportionally |
Places the image so that its height or width fills the frame, leaving the rest cropped. |
|
Content-Aware Fit |
Automatically fits an image within the frame based on its content and the frame size. |
|
Use Existing |
Applies the existing individual frame fitting option for image frames, which is useful when you want to keep the current fitting on the destination frame. |
|
Center In Frame |
Centers the image within the frame. This option is unavailable when Content-Aware Fit is selected. |
|
Link Images |
Creates a link to the original image file, and if not selected, the image is embedded in the InDesign document. |
|
Remove Blank Lines for Empty Fields |
Removes paragraph returns added for empty fields, which is helpful for mailing lists with optional address lines. This option ignores soft returns and does not remove lines that contain any characters, including spaces. |
|
Record Limit per Document |
Specifies the maximum number of records for each merged document. When the limit is reached, InDesign creates a new document with enough pages to hold the remaining records being merged (up to the per-record limit). Available only when the Single Record is selected. |
|
Page Limit per Document |
Specifies the maximum number of pages for each document. When the limit is reached, InDesign creates a new document with enough pages to hold the remaining records being merged (up to the per-page limit). Available only when the Records Per Document Page > Multiple Records is selected during merging. |
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