Why can’t you place images via the contextmenu of a frame? This proofs to be quite handy, especially if some intelligent rules are involved concerning the number of frames selected and the number of images selected.

The screenshots are german but the script itself is blingual and should display fine in english.

One Frame and One Image

This is obvious, isn’t it? The image is placed on the frame

Blinking Textcursor

The same should happen as when you press cmd/ctl D with a blinking textcursor: the image is inserted into the text.

Several Frames and Several Images

When you have more than one frame selected ...

... and import more than one image ...

... the script will place the images in the frames.

If not all images find a frame the place gun will be filled with the rest.

If something is selected that cannot contain an image, e.g. a single point, it will be ignored.

Several Frames and One Image

With several selected frames but only one loaded image ...

... the image will be placed in all frames.

The frames in this example have different transformations and thus the images get transformed.

One Frame and Several Images

This variant is the most useful in my book:

The frame is made into a grid (similar to the Adobe Sample Script) ...

... so that each image finds a frame.

QA and Testing

I have used the script on my Mac on and off since I wrote it in 2008 without seeing any problems. It should work fine in CS3 and CS4. Should you find any glitches, please drop me a line.

To install create a subfolder "Startup Scripts" in the folder "Scripts" in InDesign’s application folder and place the script-file inside. Restart InDesign.