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You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Art & Graphic Design > Some useful things I've learned about InDesign

Some useful things I've learned about InDesign
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chris v
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Sep 17, 2006, 09:30 AM
 
I've been doing some at-home learning. These are all things I found worth setting down in a text file -- might be useful to some folks here:

1. Change the size of the pasteboard vertically in Prefs > Guides and Pasteboard > Pasteboard Options.

2. Control-click on the ruler zero point in order to lock the position of the zero point (context menu) When locked, the dashed cross-hairs at the top-left of the rulers will disappear, indicating locked-ness.

3. You can have multiple views of the same document open in different windows. Window > Arrange > New Window.

4. command-option click in any palette list (links, swatches) to “focus” on the list, allowing arrow-key scrolling, or typing the name to locate.

5. Command-shift-option-U changes units of measurements globally.

6. Add, subtract, divide, multiply in any measurement field by adding /,*,- or + before the amount you wish to add to the value there.

7. Replace any value with the percentage you want it to grow/shrink to, & it’ll replace the old value with the new.

8. Shift-click in the color bar at the bottom of the color palette to change color modes -- RGB > cmyk, etc.

9. Select an object, and drag the selection proxy from one layer to another in the Layers palette to move it to another layer.

10. Contour wrap in the Text Wrap palette will wrap text to clipping paths in tiffs.

11. To set a text box to ignore text wrap of an object: Menu > Object > Text Frame options...

12. Direct Select can modify clipping paths made in Photoshop, and text wrap paths when contour wrap has been used.

13. Use the proxy icon in the Transform Palette or the Control palette to pick which corner point the coordinates apply to.

14. Shift-tab hides all palettes except the tools.

15. The command key temporarily selects the Select tool when any other tool is in use, until you release it.

16. Control-tab switches between select & direct select.

17. When Selection tool is in use, Double-click text boxes to insert a cursor & change to text editing.

18. Reset Scaling to 100% in the transform palette pop-up menu will fix line weight distortions which may occur as result of transformations or skews.

19. When you have an object selected, if you eye-dropper another unselected object, the selected one will instantly take on the attributes of the target. Works with multiple selections. Highlight text to apply attributes with the eyedropper.

20. Double-clicking the hand tool will fit view to window, and scale with window resizing until you zoom.

21. Auto page numbering -- create a master page, make a small text box where you want the page # to go, and select Insert Special Character > Auto Page Number from the context menu or the type menu. Add the word ‘page’ to this text box if you want it to appear before each page #.

22. Change point size of selected text: shift-command-> (larger) shift-command-< (smaller). Change Leading of selected lines: option-up arrow (increase) option-down arrow (decrease) Change Baseline shift of selected text: option-shift-up arrow (shift up) option-shift-down arrow (shift down) Change kearning when cursor is between two letters: option-left arrow (closer) option-right arrow (further apart) Same applies to multiple characters when selected.
Page navigation: Command+j highlights the page number in the page field at lower left. You can then type the page # you wish to jump to.

23. To select a master Text frame, hold command+shift while clicking on frame.

24. To create a new document based on the most recently used document preset, use option-command-N.

25. Hold down the shift key while choosing a preset from File> Document Presets> to create a new document from that preset w/o having to click through the new document... dialog.
26. To import text and have it flow & create new pages, Choose Place... then select the text file. Shift-click within the text box you wish it to flow in to, & it will auto-create & auto text-chain pages based on that first one.

27. Shift-Command-V brings up step and repeat dialog. Works with guides as well as objects.
28. Adding pages: In the pages palette, drag a master page item to the to the document pages area of the palette. Drag the page itself to add one, drag the master name below the spread to add a spread. To duplicate a page in the document, option-drag a page icon in the document section of the palette.

29. Creating new masters “based on” existing masters causes the new master to inherit any items/attributes set on the existing master (Parent/Child). Any changes made to the parent master are inherited by the child. Similar to CSS.

30. Shift-command-A DE-selects everything.

31. Command-control-click on selected object selects next object below. This only affects objects which are at least partly on top of one another, so you don’t have to scroll through each object in creation order, like with option-command-square bracket.

32. Open the text frame options dialog box by option-double-clicking on a text box.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
zerostar
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Sep 22, 2006, 09:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by chris v
3. You can have multiple views of the same document open in different windows. Window > Arrange > New Window.
Never knew that after all these years! Makes my second monitor very useful sitting with a client now.

Thanks
     
chris v  (op)
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Sep 22, 2006, 10:00 AM
 
Originally Posted by zerostar
Never knew that after all these years! Makes my second monitor very useful sitting with a client now.

Thanks

It's also useful for things like adjusting the size of a picture that re-flows text on a multi-page article. You can keep an eye on where it's going at the end while you push it around at the beginning.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
art_director
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Sep 22, 2006, 04:58 PM
 
Man,,,thanks for posting these tips. I'm fairly new to ID CS2 and didn't know many of these. In fact, I've been trying to figure out some of them.
     
chris v  (op)
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Sep 22, 2006, 09:04 PM
 
I've actually been going through this entire book, page by page. It's tedious, for sure, but I've had the benefit of a large, but not time-constrained (read: volunteer) project to re-inforce all this with.

I started the list so I wouldn't have to hunt stuff down in the book over & over again.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
   
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