Update 01-Oct-2016. — The beta version of Equalizer is no longer available. Give a test to the TRY version and check out the full documentation.

1. Swapping stuff from the Context Menu

Swap items allows to quickly exchange two objects, with respect to Equalizer's reference point.

Here we go! Select two page items in your layout, right-click and run Swap items from the context menu. Positions are swapped with respect to the reference point specified in Equalizer's main dialog. For example, if the center anchor is in use, objects A and B will exchange their center point while keeping their respective dimensions. Thus, Swap items only affects locations and disregard any other task that might be defined in Equalizer.

It's worth mentioning that Swap items works in accordance with the option Mirror horizontal parameters of the Advanced Settings panel. Hence, if A and B belong to opposite sides of the layout, then their facing anchors (say TOP LEFT for A and TOP RIGHT for B) will be accordingly considered.

2. Swapping the selection from the Dialog

The Swap button is also available in Equalizer's main dialog.

The same functionality can be triggered from Equalizer, assuming that two objects are selected in InDesign. The Swap button (see the screenshot) operates exactly as from the context menu, but this way you can check and/or adjust the reference point before processing (useful when you have no longer in mind your very last settings!)

3. Sending coordinates to Equalizer

Select an object and right-click to copy its coordinates into Equalizer.

Before processing items through Equalizer, you may need to use a specific object as a “template” in terms of size and/or location. Say for example that some rectangle in your layout has the desired size and the correct X-location for the changes you want to apply to your targets. You could of course manually enter those values in Equalizer, but quicker is to select the rectangle in InDesign, then right-click and choose Equalizer | Copy coordinates. Doing so allows to selectively copy the relevant parameters into Equalizer. By “selectively” I mean that only the Reset to fields which are currently enabled in Equalizer will be updated during the copy. In my example those would be X-LOCATION, WIDTH and HEIGHT.

Note. — In Equalizer, whatever your settings in InDesign's GUI, X- and Y-locations are always expressed relative to both the page origin and the chosen reference point. In non-facing pages mode the page origin is the top left corner of the page. But, if the option Mirror horizontal parameters is enabled for a facing-pages document, then the page origin is either the top-left or the top-right corner depending on the page side. This feature is very powerful in that it allows to specify a single X-location in order to symmetrically position targets in the layout. (The same rule applies for the Move by field.)

4. Updating the reference point while copying

The option “Reflect the reference point while copying coordinates” allows to stay in sync with InDesign's reference point.

In addition to the previous feature, you can tell Equalizer to always fit its own reference point with InDesign's current reference point while copying coordinates. To turn this option on, go into the Advanced Settings panel and click the checkbox labeled Reflect the reference point while copying coordinates.

Here again, the reference point is managed symmetrically if the option Mirror horizontal parameters is activated. So if the active page is left-sided and the current reference point is bottom-left in InDesign, then Equalizer will change its reference point into BOTTOM-LEFT | BOTTOM-RIGHT, as show below:

Reflecting the reference point (from a left-sided page.)

5. Using the Page Side Selector

When processing a facing-pages document, you can skip left-sided or right-sided pages.

A small but useful icon button has been added in the Scope area: the Page Side Selector. When an entire document is to be processed, you can now use this selector to tell Equalizer to ignore either left-sided, or right-sided pages. This is specially handy when your targets (text frames, images, buttons…) take place on a specific side of your layout and you want to preserve the other side from being processed.

The Page Side Selector is a three-state button.

6. Fine-tuning the set of targets

Your targets (“containers” or “contents”) can be precisely specified.

You may have overlooked that Equalizer provides a high level of granularity when it comes to define the kinds of objects to be treated. Once the category of targets is selected using the corresponding radio button (Containers vs. Contents vs. Guides), you can specify which kind(s) of objects to address in the set of either Containers or Contents. Click the ellipsis button to access the related panel. For example, you can tell Equalizer to include or exclude Groups (set of Containers). The set of Contents also offers various subcategories, such as Bitmap images or HTML items.