What are the tools on the Adobe® InDesign® toolbar?

InDesign CS5

InDesign CS4  InDesign CS3

InDesign CS2 & CS
 

Tools you'll use most often:

• Selection tool - Use to select elements.
• Type tool - Use to add text or edit text.
• Line tool - Use to add linear elements to a page.
• Rectangle tool or Rectangle frame tool - Use to add photo boxes to a page.
• Hand tool - Use to move the page in the monitor viewing area.
• Zoom tool - Use to enlarge or reduce part of the page.
• Fill & Stroke controls - Use to add color to an element or line.

Tools you'll use less often:

• Direct selection tool - Use to select elements in a frame or select part of an element.
• Rotate tool - Use to rotate elements.
• Scale tool - Use to enlarge or reduce the size of elements.
• Shear tool - Use to distort an element.
• Free Transform tool - Use to scale and rotate an element.
• Eyedropper tool - Use to sample color from a graphic.
• Gradient tool - Use to create gradients.

Tools you probably won't use:

• Scissors tool - Use to split a path, graphics frame or empty text frame.
• Button tool - It won't be used on a yearbook page, use it on web pages.

Toolbar fly-out menus

Tools you will probably use the most:

 Use these tools to draw photo blocks or graphic elements.

Use these tools to draw photo blocks or graphic elements.

 Type on a Path tool - Use this tool to add text to a line or shape.

 Position tool - Use to move elements in a frame.

 Normal mode will be used most often but if your page loses the bleed area, you may have pressed one of the other modes.

InDesign CS3
Shear tool - Use to skew text or elements on a page

Tools you won't use as much:

 The Pen tool can be used to create a path for type or a clipping path.

 Measure tool - Measure the distance between two points or measure an angle.

Pencil tool - Draw a freeform path, smooth it with the Smooth tool and erase it with the Erase tool