How do I remove the white box around my clip art in Adobe® InDesign®?
Sometimes when clip art is placed on top of another element on a page, a white box shows up around the art. Creating a clipping path will remove the white background. InDesign can be used to create the clipping path if the image or photo has a hard edge or a white background and is a TIFF or EPS file. For complicated images, it may be easier to use Photoshop® to create the clipping path.
Create a clipping path
- Place the art on your layout
- Go to File > Place
- Double-click on the file name
- Click on the layout to place the art
- Click on either the Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool
- Click on the art containing the white background
- Go to Object > Clipping Path
- Select Detect Edges from the Type drop-down menu
- Use this option unless you have created a clipping path in a program such as Photoshop
- Select Preview to see the changes take place
- Threshold field - This value determines which pixels will beome transparent
- Try different values>
- Sometimes the default value works
- If you use 0, only white pixels become transparent
- Less of the graphic stays visible with higher values
- Tolerance field
- Try different values
- Higher values make a smoother path
- Lower values create a more complicated but more exact path
- Include Inside Edges
- Check this if the graphic has light areas inside it you want to include in the path
Restrict to Frame
- Check this if you cropped the frame and only want the visible portion of the graphic included
- Use High Resolution Image
- Keep this checked
- The high-res image info is used instead of the low-res proxy image
- You get a better clipping path
- Click OK when you are finished