Clipping paths crop part of the artwork so that only a portion of the artwork appears through the shape or shapes you create. You can create clipping paths to hide unwanted parts of an image, creating both a path for the image and a frame for the graphic. By keeping the clipping path and graphics frame separate, you can freely modify the clipping path without affecting the graphics frame by using the Direct Selection tool and other drawing tools in the toolbox.

You can create clipping paths in the following ways:

• Place already-saved graphics with paths or alpha (mask) channels, which InDesign can use automatically. You can add paths and alpha channels to graphics using a program such as Adobe Photoshop.

• Use the Detect Edges option in the Clipping Path command to generate a clipping path for a graphic that was saved without one.

• Use the Pen tool to draw a path in the shape you want, and then use the Paste Into command to paste the graphic into the path.

When you use one of InDesign’s automatic methods to generate a clipping path, the clipping path is attached to the image, resulting in an image that is clipped by the path and cropped by the frame.