Stretching, scaling and Smart Transform

By default, if you select an image or text and drag any of the handles it will scale the image or text within. You can override this behavior by holding down ALT and then dragging a handle, which will stretch the object rather than scale.

If you wish to stretch an object by default instead of scaling it, right-click on the aspect ratio lock icon, and uncheck both the Aspect ratio lock and Smart Transform.

 

 

Now the behavior reverses, so dragging a handle will cause it to stretch and holding Alt will cause it to scale.

Remember to switch both options back on when you're done to avoid any unexpected distortion of objects during normal editing.

The above applies from version 15.1.0.53605.