Adobe InDesign Notes Adobe InDesign CS3
Page 2 Introduction These notes have been put together for basic and advanced methods, features and language. I have also created notes on other Adobe products. These notes are primarily designed for the Apple Mac versions of Adobe InDesign CS3, but the keyboard commands can be easily modified to work for Windows versions of the Adobe software. When the command or apple key is mentioned, simply change this to Control (Ctrl), and when the InDesign Preferences dialog is mentioned, this is found under Edit > Preferences on windows. These notes have been designed in Adobe InDesign CS3. There are other notes available by me on the following: Apple Mac Basics These notes investigate the basics of the Apple Mac Operating System focusing on how to make the Apple experience, and learning curve easier to adjust to. Adobe Photoshop CS3 These notes investigate image types, the Photoshop interface, workspace, methods and all the tools. Adobe Illustrator CS3 These notes investigates image types, the Illustrator interface, Illustrator tools, new features and methods to achieve specific effects. Adobe Bridge CS3 These notes investigate the Bridge interface, Bridge view modes, file organisation, renaming and file tagging and why you should use bridge over your operating systems file browser.
InDesign - The Interface Page 3 The InDesign CS3 Interface is very the rest of the Adobe CS3 suite. Many of tools are similar to Adobe Illustrator, if you have experience with Illustrator, you re already ahead! 1 - Toolbox/Tool Panel The toolbox or tools panel contain all of your major work tools such as selection tools, text boxes, shapes etc. If you cannot find the toolbox or tools panel (as some people call it) go to Window > Tools. 2 - Option Bar The options bar can be made to float on the screen, or disappear all together, to find it go to Window > Options. The options bar s options will change according to what tool you are using. 3 - Floating Panels/Palettes You can customise this section of InDesign s workspace completely to your requirements. If you want to add a panel find it under the Window menu and you can attach it to the panels dock.
Page 4 File Formats InDesign can save to a number for formats. Some are proprietary formats, meaning they need specialist software to open them. Below are three that are recommended. InDesign Document InDesign document (.indd) is the standard format that you use when you go to File > Save (or Save As), it saves the document in a format that can only be read by InDesign and is not a very distributable format - if you want to distribute see PDF. InDesign Template PDF InDesign Template (.indt) is a template format for InDesign. It allows you to pre-define styles, and pre-arranged and locked objects. This works in a similar way to the Master Pages, but in a multidocument manner, not just on a per-document-basis. PDF is Adobe s portable document format. You can use File > Export and customise the PDF options. It is a very robust format and is widely used. PDF compresses all of your information into one file container which is easily distributed by email. Workspace There is a standard workspace that Adobe feel is the best layout to give all users, I suggest to make sure you use the default workspace icon, as most tools are available to launch from the various pallets (the boxes to the right of the InDesign window) may not be available. To make the workspace act like it was just installed you can click Window > Workspace > Default Workspace. This will return the workspace to how it was when it had just been installed onto the computer. InDesign also has the ability to save our custom workspace. It saves the locations of each panel and customisation of the InDesign interface. You can save your workspace by going to Window > Workspace > Save Workspace. Once the workspace is saved you can alter it and re-save it, use a default workspace and re-load a custom work. Hot Keys As with all of the software packages within the Adobe CS3 suite, you can use hotkeys to load tools, such as V for the selection tool. When working with text, be aware that tapping V will type v into your text! Zooming Zooming in and out on an InDesign document is similar to Photoshop and Illustrators method of zooming. You can use the keyboard shortcuts listed below: Command + Space + Click Zoom In Command + Alt + Space + Click Zoom Out Command + Zoom Out Command + 0 Fit to Screen You can also use the Command + Space + Click shortcut in two ways, you can use Command + Space + Click and Drag, this will draw out a marquee box that you will zoom in on. Also, there is a zoom tool located at the bottom of the toolbox. Hotkey is Z.
Page 5 Managing Pages InDesign isn t just a single page software package; it is used to create multiple pages inside of a single document. Attached to the floating panels dock, there is a tab called pages, this allows the management of templates and all of the pages inside of the document. Double click on a page to jump to. You can also use Command + J and enter the page number you wish to go to. With the pages panel, you can also add more pages by clicking the new page icon at the bottom of the panel. Master Pages InDesign has a per document template function called Master pages. This is accessed from the same panel as you can manage all of your document pages. Double click on the A-Master double page spread and you can add objects such as a text box in the place you require that will appear on each page. You can add a header or footer with a page number that automatically increases with each page. To do this, create a text box whilst editing the master page, and then go to Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current page number. This will insert the letter A into the text box, but exit edit mode by double clicking on a page. And drag the master onto a page. You can have multiple master pages. In the pages panel, right click on a-master and click New Master. This will create a new master style, choose your options and add the master page objects. Arrangement stacking order Arranging the stacking order of objects inside of InDesign is the same as if you were to be using Illustrator. Select the object you wish to change in the stacking order, and go to Object > Arrange > and select the option you need. Selecting objects through other objects is a hard task, but is simplified in InDesign with the ability to use Ctrl + Click to click through object stacks. Creating a new document Creating a new document is very easy. Something that I recommend is using columns, I always set InDesign to have three or four columns this is incredibly handy when lining up pictures and other imported objects. You don t have to be precise with the amount of pages you need, you can add more later my going clicking on the pages panel on the right hand side, and click the icon that looks like a turned over page.
Page 6 Working with Text InDesign isn t a word processor; it is a desktop publishing package. You can use InDesign as a word processor, but it is more suited to layout. Use a dedicated word processing program such as Microsoft Word. InDesign can import from a range of formats: Microsoft Word (.doc and.docx) Rich Text File (.rtf) Text (.txt) You can use InDesign as a word processor, but its not what it is designed for. But, if click InDesign > Preferences > Spelling and click enable dynamic spelling. This will give you a Microsoft Word style spell check with red lines showing spelling errors. Working with Images InDesign can import a variety of image formats, including Photoshop Documents (PSDs) and Adobe Illustrator (ai s). Of course, standard formats such as JPEG, GIF, TIFF and PNG are also supported, and BMP (bitmap). To import an image, you can either replace an existing image by grabbing the selection tool (V), and going to File > Place (or Command + D) and selecting the file. If you want to insert an image into a document, click outside of all elements, the outer white space is handy for this. Go to File > Place (command + D), and find your file, click Open, and click on the white space for the image to be imported by its native resolution and size. The other option, is to draw out a frame for the image to fit into. When using the draw a frame option, you can move the image to get the right section of the image by using the Direct Selection Tool (A), or you can right click on the image and choose Fitting > Fit content to frame. Working with PDF s You can import PDF files into InDesign. Of course, PDF files are essentially JPEGs compiled into a document container. To import a single PDF document, you can simply go to File > Place (command + D). To import a multiple paged PDF document, you will need to be slightly different. Still using, File > Place (command + D), check the box at the bottom of the dialog Show import options. Locate your file, click open. A secondary dialog will pop up, and select the page range you want to import. At this point, it is useful to have the amount of pages you need to import the document, or rules set in place if you re using the fit option. Hit OK, and place the first page, then continue for how many pages you have. You can just click and it will import the entire page in its native size, or you can draw a frame and right click on the image after importing and use the fitting options. Duplication Like other products in the Adobe CS3 suite, is that you can easily duplicate objects such as text boxes. Grab the Selection Tool (V) and hold alt, click and drag the object. You can also select a group of icons, and alt, click and drag the objects to where you want them. This makes
Page 7 it very easy to duplicate layouts in a precise manner. This keeps the objects with the same layout. Distributing your Document InDesign is primarily of an industry standard. So, it has built in features to package your document with all the necessary files any professional printer and distributor would need this exports the document, fonts and images into a folder that you can send to your professional printing agency. Make sure all images are in a CMYK Colour mode see the Adobe Photoshop notes for more on colour modes. To send your document to a professional printer use File > Package. But, if you just want to distribute the document to other users, that don t have InDesign, you can export the document into Adobe s Portable Document Format. To do this, go to File > Export and select Adobe PDF. Text Wrap Text wrap is an incredibly useful feature inside of InDesign. It is used when images are being overlaid into a text box, and you want the text to automatically format around the image. To do this, use Text Wrap. Go to Window > Text Wrap. A floating panel will appear like the one pictured. Select your image and use the options in the panel. Use of Columns As mentioned earlier, columns help greatly when designing documents. I always recommend the use of at least two or three columns, I generally use four. To see how columns have an affect on the ability to design documents better, see the next page for an example. The columns has allowed me to format the text evenly across the page with multiple text boxes, using the columns as markers. It has also allowed the alignment and sizing of pictures and caption boxes.
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Fill with placeholder text Page 9 Fill with placeholder text is a very useful feature of InDesign. It allows you to create a structure to your document without importing/writing all of your text. To use the fill with placeholder text option, make a text box, or double click inside of it, then go to Type > Fill with place holder text this will fill the text frame with random text that will automatically fill to the exact size of the box. This is useful for setting out structure within a document when all of the content isn t prepared yet. Tables of Contents InDesign has a built in table of contents feature just like Microsoft Word, but has far better integration. You can dedicate a style, or styles to being your items you want displayed in the table of contents. Simple click on the style, click add and make a title for the table of contents and click OK.
Page 10 Content Fitting InDesign has an excellent feature called fitting. This is where you can automatically fit pictures to the size of a frame, or the frame to a size of a picture with a couple of clicks. You can go to Object > Fitting or use Ctrl + Click > Fitting. Fit content proportionally will fit the picture into the frame keeping the aspect ratio keeping it in proportion without distorting the image. Effects Effects are available for all objects - text, pictures and shapes. The following effects are available: Drop shadow Inner Shadow Outer Glow Inner Glow Bevel and Emboss Satin Basic Feather Directional Feather Gradient Feather And, as an extra effect you can add a stroke to any object. From the options bar, or you can select the object Ctrl + Click > Stroke Weight.