Use the Rectangle, Ellipse and Polygon Tools in Adobe InDesign CS6

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Video: Use the Rectangle, Ellipse and Polygon Tools in Adobe InDesign CS6

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You're watching VisiHow. In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to use "Rectangle Tool", "Ellipse Tool", and "Polygon Tool" in Adobe InDesign CS6 in Windows 7.

1. 1
   To begin, you should open Adobe InDesign

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   You can do it either from your desktop or by coming down to the bottom-left corner and clicking the Windows icon once. Clicking it will bring up a list of the recently used programs.

   

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2. 2
   Click "Adobe InDesign CS6" if you see it on the list

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   InDesign has a pink-and-purple icon with the letters "ID" on it.

   

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3. 3
   Alternatively, click the search bar at the bottom of the screen and type "Adobe InDesign"

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4. 4
   Then, click "Adobe InDesign CS6"

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5. 5
   From the workspace, click on "File" in the top-left corner

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6. 6
   You can move the cursor to "New" and click "Document..."

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   This will create a new document. You can also do this with the shortcut "Ctrl" + "N". Alternatively, you can click "Open..." to open an existing document from the "File" menu as well. For more information, refer to our tutorials on how to create a new document and on how to open an existing document.

   

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7. 7
   Let's click "OK"

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8. 8
   First, click "Rectangle Tool"

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   The icon is about halfway down the vertical menu. It looks like a simple rectangle. Alternatively, you can press "M" on your keyboard. In the bottom-left corner of the icon, you may notice a small black triangle, which indicates that when you click and drag the icon, a menu of similar tools will appear. Your cursor will change to a cross.

   

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9. 9
   Click and drag your shape on the canvas

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   The shape will form from the corner. You have a lot of freedom when drawing a shape this way, as it allows you to manipulate the width and height as much as you like. You can see the width and height adjusting automatically in the grey pop up box or at the top-left corner of your screen.

   

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10. 10
    You can keep the proportions of the shape by holding down the "Shift" key while creating your object

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11. 11
    If you know exactly how big you would like your shape to be, click the canvas and type the dimensions into the dialogue box

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    InDesign works in picas. If you are not familiar with picas, then by type a number followed by another unit. For example, "5in". InDesign will automatically convert your value into picas.

    

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12. 12
    Click "OK" to create the shape

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13. 13
    Select the "Ellipse Tool"

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    It works the same way as "Rectangle Tool".

    

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14. 14
    Remember that you can add a "Fill" and "Stroke" color using the settings along the horizontal toolbar at the top of the workspace

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15. 15
    You can also create some interesting effects by changing the stroke size and type in the drop-down menus

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    These menus are located at the top of the window, next to the "Fill" and "Stroke" colors. InDesign works slightly different than Illustrator with these parameters. The settings and tools are similar to those in Adobe Illustrator, but there are a few differences. InDesign is mostly used for publications, which may limit in some aspects while giving more freedom in the other aspects. It is important to become familiar with the tools in InDesign even if you know how to work with them in Illustrator. In addition, if you create and copy something in another program and paste it into InDesign, you may lose some of the quality. You'll save more time if you create shapes in InDesign instead of pasting them. For these reasons, it is worth becoming familiar with the tools and settings on InDesign as well.

    

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16. 16
    Select "Polygon Tool"

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    Let's add a fill color. With the "Polygon Tool", you can specify the width and height as well as the number of sides and inset.

    

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17. 17
    Click the canvas

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    We will see a few more options for the polygon.

    

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18. 18
    We can change "Polygon Width" and "Polygon Height"

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19. 19
    We can change the "Number of Sides" and "Star Inset" values

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    You can type the values or click the up and down arrows next to each option.

    

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20. 20
    Click "OK"

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This concludes our tutorial showing you how to use "Rectangle Tool", "Ellipse Tool", and "Polygon Tool" in Adobe InDesign CS6 in Windows 7. If you have any questions or comments regarding this video or the program used, then just add them to the comment section below. Thank you for choosing VisiHow!

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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