Another significant update in Adobe InDesign launched in Beta recently. Generative Expand – now available in the most current version of InDesign (19.5) – intelligently extends and adds more content to missing areas of an image. The update is only available in InDesign versions of English International and English North America
This AI-powered tool was unveiled to Photoshop in 2023 and is now available right in the InDesign app.
So how does it work in InDesign?
In this tutorial, we'll use a landscape photo that needs to be cropped into a square frame. Naturally, you can always increase the size of the content within the frame to fill it to the frame. But what if you didn't want a tight crop? That's where Generative Expand comes into play.
Click the link below to download the InDesign document and image to follow along in this tutorial.
Generative Expand
Open the InDesign document saved in the lesson files. It's saved as Generative Expand.indd.
Import the image saved as Spicy Tofu.jpeg.
Use the frame fitting option Fit Content Proportionally. This will fit the width of the frame, leaving space above and below the image.
Click the frame once with the Selection Tool.
There are two ways to access the Generative Expand option in InDesign. The first is by using the Text to Image panel which is located under Window > Text to Image (Beta). The second is using the Contextual Task Bar, which can be accessed by going to Window > Contextual Task Bar.
With the frame selected, click on Generative Expand.
You can add a text prompt or just click Generate to extend the missing areas of the image. Three variations will be generated and if you're not pleased with the results, click generate again to produce three more options.
When you choose one of the variations, you will notice the linked jpg in the Links panel. This means when you package a document, the AI-generated image will be export in the links folder.
The original image – in this case Spicy Tofu – is overwritten with the generated version. You can always delete variations from the library by clicking the meatball icon and choosing Delete.