*** From the Archives ***
This article is from August 30, 2007, and is no longer current.
Things You Can’t Do in InDesign
Maybe it was that lunar eclipse we had a couple of days ago, but suddenly we’re getting bombarded with emails asking whether such-and-such is possible in InDesign, and the answer is usually “Sorry, no.” I mean, InDesign can do a lot of stuff — plenty of things that you might not expect it to do — but it can’t do everything. But I feel compelled to write a short list of features that InDesign does not have. This is not to embarass anyone or cause consternation about InDesign, but rather just so that people searching for this information on the Web will find it… even though the answer isn’t what they had hoped for.
Of course, with many of these, the more full answer is: “Well, it doesn’t right now, but it might in the next version, and there may be a way to do this with a script or plug-in.” Please note that if you want InDesign to do some of these, feel free to visit Adobe’s Contact Us page, click Feedback, and send an email to the InDesign team. They really do read those emails!
Given those caveats, here is the list of things we’ve been asked about within the last week that ID currently doesn’t do:
[Updated in 2009… added “cs4” for some features added in that version.]
- You can’t set the indent of text outside the left or right sides of a text frame. Tables can stretch outside the edge of a frame, but not regular indents, so you cannot have a negative First Line Indent that pulls the text past the edge of the box.
- You cannot snap one object to another obect, as you can in some other programs (e.g. Illustrator); objects only snap to guides. [CS4]
- InDesign can’t “see” the blending modes in a layered Photoshop document. That is, if you set a layer to Multiply or Screen in Photoshop and then import that PSD into InDesign, the blending mode will have no effect on objects on your InDesign page. The whole Photoshop file gets the same blending mode treatment.
- There’s no way to show the baseline grid of an individual frame but not the baseline grid for the rest of the document. Baseline grids are either all visible, or all off.
- No, you can’t keep the same data in InDesign and in Dreamweaver and keep them in synch automatically (so that when you make a change in one, the other changes, too). You could keep your data in XML and then import it into ID and DW, but that’s more trouble than it’s worth (in my opinion) unless you’re going to update it quite often.
- Vertical alignment (such as vertical centering or vertical justification) gets turned off when your frame is no longer rectangular or when text wrap forces the flow to be non-rectangular. There are some workarounds, but ultimately it’s still a pain.
- No, workspaces (Window > Workspace > Save Workspace) don’t remember the size of your document window or the application window. So you can’t select a workspace that stretches your application window across two monitors automatically, for example.
- You cannot apply an object style to all the objects in a thread of frames across multiple pages. You can only apply an object style to something you click on. This would be a great one for a script, though.
- No, Print Booklet (which replaced InBooklet SE) cannot create a new already-imposed InDesign document. It only imposes documents in the print stream. Here’s more on that subject.
Okay, since I have started down this road, I might as well add some more. Here’s a list of things that InDesign doesn’t do that QuarkXPress 7 does (this list is not comprehensive… just a few things that come to mind):
- Specify and separate to Hexachrome inks
- Let’s QX remember which folders you want to use for documents, images, etc.
- Split a window into more than one view [CS4]
- Compare two or more styles/colors/H&Js against each other to see how they’re different
- Use character styles in building a “list” (table of contents)
- Automatically add page while you’re editing or typing text
- Let an image break out of its frame (it splits clipping and cropping into two different things)
- Base paragraph styles on character styles
- Custom kerning & tracking
- Jabberwocky (more versatile than fill with placeholder text)
- Specify screen resolution so at 100% the screen rulers match the “real world”
- Can turn on/off XTensions/plug-ins upon launching
- Rotate text to arbitrary angle in table cells or text frames
- Auto Save/Auto Backup
- Objects can snap to guides when guides are hidden
- Rectangular and oval blends (gradients)
- Save H&Js in a style (creating named H&J settings)
- Rule Above/Below can be set using percentage (not just absolute value); a side effect of this is that paragraph rules can be made to disappear at the top or bottom of a column, which is often useful.
- Changing from one master page to another respects automatic text flow boxes (text box size updates automatically when new master is applied)
- It’s visually obvious when you’re viewing a master page
- Can make text box opaque when editing text
- Layout spaces (combining documents into single file)
- Synchronized text
- Undo popup menus (specify how far to undo/redo)
- Option to take drop shadow into account in text wrap
- Ability to change transparency/opacity everywhere you specify a color
- Picture Effects: Ability to apply global adjustments to pictures on the document page (such as Levels, Curves, Gaussian Blur, Hue/Saturation, etc.)
- Ability to apply those same picture effects to an image’s alpha channel (transparency mask) separately
- If an imported TIFF/PSD contains more than one alpha channel, you can choose which one you want to use as the transparency mask after you import the image. (You can only do this at import time in ID, as far as I know.)
- Append feature lets you move layouts from one document to another without opening the original file.
- Lock Content: QX can lock the content of a frame (or lock its position, or both)
Now, before you go ballistic on me and call me a traitor to InDesign or something, remember this: Just because QX has features that ID lacks doesn’t mean that I’m saying QX is a better product. Obviously (to anyone who really compares them carefully), ID is still the far better package. But I do want some of those features in InDesign, and Adobe can learn from Quark’s innovation (just as Quark has learned from Adobe over the years).
Of course, now I’m deep into writing this, and I’m suddenly taken with an urge to include even more features that InDesign doesn’t yet do, but which I’m hoping to see in CS4.
- Form fields (checkboxes, text entry fields, menus, and so on) for PDF forms
- Cross-references (“see page XX”). This is covered by plug-ins and scripts, but it’d be nice to see it in a future version. [CS4]
- I wish I could import annotations from PDF or FDF files so I could see them in InDesign! (Someone wrote a great little AppleScript a couple years ago at The InDesign Conference to do this, but it was necessarily clunky. Recosoft’s PDF2ID also lets you convert annotations from a PDF file into InDesign objects — very cool — but not yet bring them into the original document.)
- Tool Presets (as in Photoshop; e.g. set up different eyedropper presets, each of which pick up a different thing; or perhaps creating frame tools that automatically let you apply a predefined object style)
- Kuler color selections (as in Illustrator CS3) [CS4]
- a knowhow panel (as in Illustrator)
- Export AI/PSD files, with layers intact (or ensure that AI and Pshop CS4 opens PDF honoring layers)
- Outline mode in Story Editor and InCopy (similar to Word’s outline mode)
- “Span columns” attribute for text (so a heading can span across two or more columns in a frame)
- Make Control panel customizable (palette well, buttons, menu items, etc). That is, really let me put anything in the Control panel, move stuff around, and so on.
- Export PDF as grayscale (just add grayscale profile into destination profile list)
- The ability to map font styles to specific fonts. For example, what should happen when I apply “Bold” to Franklin Condensed? Should I get Medium or Demi? This also relates to the story editor: I want the semi-bold to show as bold in story editor.
- Import of JPEG2000 images. This is demonstrably a better file format that JPEG. Adobe should embrace it more fully by letting us import it into ID.
- A Loupe tool, just like the one in Acrobat
- Repeat last text formatting KBSC. (Apply last style, font, size, etc… apply last sequence of formatting…)
- I’d like the Book palette to display total number of pages in the book. (Intro chapters are in roman numerals, then chapter 1 starts on page 1, so trying to figure out the total number of pages requires keeping a calculator open.)
- Use em units for type settings (like indents)
Oh my… I just found an old document on my hard drive with about 65 other wish-list items for InDesign that still haven’t made their way into the product. I think I’d better just stop here…
Well, this post started as a “by the way, you can’t do these things,” and ended as a “I hope to see it in CS4.” But I hope someone searching the Web will find solace in an answer found here; even a “negativo, good buddy,” is better than the limbo of “I don’t know.”
Feel free to reply (below) with other features you wish ID had. Of course, as I said earlier, the best way to make sure Adobe sees your idea is to send them feedback directly. Happy InDesigning!
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InDesign can work with split windows. Just use window > arrange > new window.
Fritz, that’s 2 (or more) different windows. QX actually splits the same window into 2 (or more) parts, which is actually pretty useful.
I should also add, that I wish I could pan and zoom in these multiple windows (or split windows), as I can in Photoshop.
Curses! Foiled again.
John Knack has posted recently about JPG2000 here https://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/04/jpeg_2000_do_yo.html. I get the feeling his requests for how we use that file is in response to some internal head scratching. He said “As we plan for the future, we need to retire features that no longer make sense & focus instead on capabilities that matter.” Sounds like EOL to me.
Sorry thats John NACK at Adobe… not Knack… but Im sure you already know that.
Shawn, thanks for that link! I’ve replied there, but here’s what I said:
JPEG2000 is one of the best image technologies to come along and Adobe is killing it with one decision: Not to support it in the rest of the Suite (specifically InDesign and Illustrator). Thousands of companies would be standardizing on it instead of JPEG for print production.
Yes, many people use JPEG with excellent results in print production, and JPEG2000 would make it even better. But Adobe–in my humble opinion–appears to be brain dead about this, providing the catch 22: “Why should we support JPG2000 if no one is using it?” Duh: People will use a better file format if Adobe makes it easy to use it.
Here’s another one for the wish list: in Photoshop the undo list is saved even after you do a Save As. Not so in Indesign. Surely that should be an easy addition.
David,
In case you didn’t go back to John’s blog, you’ll be happy to know that he replied that JPEG 2000 is NOT going away in Photoshop:
“David, you’ll be pleased to know that we’re not killing it at all. JPEG 2000 support will remain in Photoshop. Sorry for not having confirmed that earlier. –J.”
You can sort of fake snapping objects together by using the align palette.
Set the Distribute Spacing (you have to go the flyout and select more options) option to 0 and press either the vertical or horizontal option, depending on how you want it to “snap”.
It’s not “exactly” like snapping but the effect ends up being the same in most situations.
David,
When you mention that “Changing from one master page to another respects automatic text flow boxes”, that’s not totally true.
With single column layouts, I find this works really well if you have the layout adjusments turned on. The key thing is making sure your margins and guides are setup properly on the master pages.
On multi-columns pages it’s not so useful.
My two wishes: hierarchical sensitivity to mapping XML elements to styles and the ability to choose hexadecimal entities as an export option for XML output (since it is one of the import options)
I’d like to see InCopy’s track changes make it into ID as well as the ability to edit tables in the story editor (ID) or story view (IC).
Salem (#7): That’s interesting. InDesign’s Undo does work even after a Save… but not a Save As! You’re right that in Photoshop, it retains the list even after a Save As.
Vertical text boxes would be a nice feature also. This would bring to the table the full range of text options for vertical text.
With regards to your very first point “? a negative First Line Indent that pulls the text past the edge of the box”, this can be fudged by adding a space in front of the first character and then negatively kern to a high degree. Of course, there is a limit to the extent to which you can force the text outside the frame and the actual distance depends on the type size, but it may still be enough for certain purposes.
Bob, I stumbled across something surprising regarding InCopy’s track changes function.
If you implement an InDesign/InCopy work, enable track changes within the incx, then check it back in, the file will track changes when editing it within InDesign. If you then re-open the file within InCopy you will see the changes made in InDesign.
Albeit, it’s not visible within Story Editor, but it’s on the right track. Hopefully that request is on the project list.
Hi,
I’d like to have a history palette in InDesign, comparable to Photoshop’s history palette but I’d also like to be given the option to undo e.g. step 6 without undoing the steps that followed ? just that one step.
Greetz, Sacha
Sacha, this history feature is accessible via a plugin.
It costs 40$ but maybe useful :
https://www.dtptools.com/product.asp?id=hsin
Loic
Footnotes to span 3 column text, and not under each column individually.
Tags to be included in paragraph and character styles.
Add effects to tables as you would a text box or graphic frame.
Notes to be converted to Comments in adobe option thing.
A good one brought up here before was to have a text before a ToC as you can have after etc.
I would love to have an actions panel. Save and record specified steps as you would in Photoshop.
I would love for automatic numbers when a character style is applied that InDesigns variables could read these character styles and apply them in a running head.
A highlighter would be useful.
A simple break the autoflow would be good too, I’ve a couple of documents that link around to the first page, very annoying.
I’d love to see an auto-number violation or something. Hard to describe that one, but sometimes the autonumbers double up when there is another paragraph style between them with a different autonumbering system.
Track changes would be useful.
Would it be possible to select text in different parts of lines or even paragraphs?
A transpose key, for transposing stuff that needs it I suppose.
GREP is good and I’m starting to understand it better, but some comprehensive documentation would be nice.
To be able to select multiple objects across multiple pages, so you can apply a style to objects, tables etc.
Oh and why I’m on about tables, why can’t InDesign autosplit the cell so it goes onto the next page, surely nobody wants cells to go off the page. Common sense here. I continuously splitting cells and copying an pasting.
A “Convert to Web” button.
That’s all I think of now.
Just for the record I love InDesign, especially CS3, I would not have finished a title on time if it wasn’t for CS3 Variables and the autonumbering feature. Although I had to work it out on my own, and if I can do it anyone can!
Thanks to David for this lovely list of Donny Don’t Do what Donny Don’t Does, and thanks to all for the excellent replies.
I cannot figure out why anyone would want their text to negatively indent past the frame. It just baffles me.
Hi Loic,
I just tried the demo of history palette from DTPTools. It’s not bad, although it seems to lack exactly the feature I’m missing: to undo just one step without undoing the steps that followed … It’s sure that this will be far more complex because actions can depend on each other …
Sacha, I see your point, but I’m not sure what you’re suggesting is possible. How can you undo step 6 of 10 if steps 7 and 8 rely on the change you made in step 6?
Same thing goes for time travel, by the way: You can go back in time and change what you did 10 years ago, but everything you’ve done since then will change, too. (What? You didn’t know time travel was possible? You need to hold down the Option/Alt key.)
In a previous podcast about scaling… AM said it was not possible to scale both image and frame at the same time while holding shift and cmd key….It works perfectly for me in CS3.
Is it really what she said or did I get it wrong ?
(maybe not the best place to this post )
Sophie, no, I think she said you can’t do it with the keyboard shortcuts Cmd-shift-period/comma anymore (in cs3).
In prepress, I wish I could alias CMY or K to another color in the Ink Manager. Everyday, I get pdfs or other artwork set in Black and then the client wants to see a pdf proof that is some spot color such as Reflex Blue. What a pain it is to try and explain why its going to cost more to have that done. If I could just alias it with a couple of clicks, no need to charge any more for that!
Terry… just dump the Black Swatch in the trash of the Colour Panel. Then you will be asked to select a colour to replace it. Hey presto you’re done.
Don’t save it though, make a copy first so you have a go-back-to-file.
Oh that just works for objects that are coloured in InDesign.. obv.
Ummm….I can’t throw away the Black swatch in CS2 or CS3. Any other swatch, yes…no problem, but not the Black. Plus sometimes items are set in Magenta that should be Pantone 185. There is no Magenta swatch to throw away, and you can not alias it in the Ink Manager.
Oh I see what you mean there. It would be very useful. Have been out of the loop prepress-wise for a bit now, getting forgetful.
while you can’t set the indent of text to go outside of the text box, you *can* trick the first line into doing that with the “add a space before the first letter and then kern back over it” trick that is so useful with drop caps.
I’m still struggling to figure out the purpose of getting your text to appear outside the box??? Can you not just move your box a little to the left. Insert an indent to the rest and a first line indent where appropriate?
There is no way, that I can find, to select discontinuous rows or columns in an InDesign table, like you can in Quark …
Just because there are workarounds doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nicer if we could just bend InDesign to do what we want in the first place.
Sure, you can make a big left indent and use negative first line indents, but why should we have to find a kludgy workaround? Sure, you can add a space and do huge negative kerning, but why should we have to?
I mean, I wrote that tip up in 1991’s QuarkXPress Tips & Tricks book! Jeez, we’re still using those workarounds after 16 years?
(That said, it’s great that people are mentioning these workarounds, because we still do need to use them for the next year or two. ;) )
There are also a number of features in Corel Ventura, which is a serious long-document publishing tool, that InDesign would do well to copy. ID is, quite frankly, pretty crappy when it comes to long documents. [sigh]
Along the lines of the Redo command David mentioned (repeat formatting) … something Word has had (“Repeat”) forever, I sincerely hope these are in CS4:
1. About to Do (Command-Shift-Z). Pressing this keyboard shortcut will do the thing you want to do next. I could just hit these keys 50 or 100 times and then leave work early.
2. Should Have Done (Command-Option-Z). Why does InDesign allow me to make mistakes and then force me to Undo and correct them? I’d love a command that would do these two actions at once.
3. Doo-Do (Option-Shift-Z). Press this to make Bezier stink lines appear above design/prepress errors, like rasters below 225ppi or hyphens instead of em dashes.
AM
FFFish
I agree that Ventura has many features that InD could copy. But man is Ventura pants when it comes to long documents. Text disappears. Alterations are there one day and gone the next. Image placement is rubbish.
How dare you compare InDesign to Ventura :P (that should be a wink symbol there).
InDesign is getting there as far as long documents are concerened, but I was told when first introduced to InDesign that it’s Design package and not a Typesetting Package. Always keeps me sane when trying to do stuff that Ventura can and InDesign can’t.
That said I my list of preferred apps goes like this
Ventura
Word
Quark or Pagemaker
InDesign
Very cute, Anne-Marie. ;) However, the “Repeat Last Command” feature would obviously be extremely helpful. Repeat transformation is a good first step, but there are so many times that I want to repeat applying the same style, or repeat drawing the same frame on a different page, etc.
Eugene and FFFish: The argument over Ventura is the same as PageMaker or QuarkXPress: InDesign is the better program, but YES we wish it had some features from Ventura (and FrameMaker, for that matter).
I’d be interested in hearing what features people miss from programs such as FrameMaker, Ventura, Ragtime, ReadySetGo, or MultiAd Creator.
For example, I remember one person writing to me asking for rectangular starbursts (starbursts that are more rectangular than oval), which is apparently easy to do in MultiAd.
Casey, yes, I’m aware that ID changes can be tracked in IC, but I’d like to see them in ID.
As an extension of this, I’d like to be able to turn that feature on while exporting the IC assignment or stories. It would be one less thing for the writer to remember to do.
Two simple ones: Rounded-corners cells in tables and multiple-objects “paste into”.
There’s an oddity with respect to multiple-object pasting in: InDesign’s underlying object model supports it. The UI doesn’t, except when pasting graphics from Illustrator — starting with an Excel chart. Take it into Illustrator, then drag that into InDesign. Using the Select buttons on the Control panel, you’ll quickly discover that there are objects where which have multiple objects “Pasted” inside them.
Or, select a frame holding an image and run this Javascript:
myBounds = app.selection[0].geometricBounds;
myFrame = app.selection[0].textFrames.add();
myFrame.geometricBounds = myBounds;
myFrame.parentStory.contents = “I’m pasted into the same frame as the image.”;
Dave
Dave S. you’re amazing but I didn’t understand a word what you wrote. :P So much to learn…
David, what did you mean by “knowhow panel” in Illustrator?
Laura, knowhow is like context-driven help in Illustrator. It watches what you’re doing and gives you suggestions for tips, help, and so on. It’s really cool!
Few items from my personal wishlist
Multiple columns as a paragraph property (but leave also as text frame property)
Illustrator like symbols (can be achieved with placed indd file, but sounds like hassle when using same swatches in multiple docs)
Illustrator like brushes. (Stroke options might get quite limiting)
Ability to place image into table cells
Groups spanning over multiple layers (probably with a checkbox in the preferences to set the default behavior )
Ability to place image into table cells
This is possible already, and easily so: just copy and paste.
I’m still on CS and just testing the trials for higher versions. But I’m afraid that following your suggestion I’d only ended up with an inline object inside a text cell
Yes, that’s exactly what you get: Images are always inline objects in table cells, which I personally find annoying and frustrating. QX does this right: A cell can be either a text frame cell or a graphic frame cell.
Adding the ability to unthread 2 text frames and keep the text in both frames, Quark has this feature. I know you can use a script to do this but you shouldn’t have to. InDesign allows you to thread two text frames with text in each frame, why not the other way.
Brian
Another one which Quark has, Underline words. Quark terms here, InDesign performs an underline Sentence but not underline words.
Brian
If you’re stuck for this underline option.
If you select the paragraph and then choose to just change the selection then it works fine.
Make your character style and apply the underline to it.
Then do a grep search for
[\d\w]+
and replace it with the character style you just made.
It will underline the individual words and digits, but not the punctuation.
If you’re stuck.
Is there a script someone could write that would have InDesign do my laundry?
If not, maybe the Adobe engineers can start working on that for CS4….
Can you imagine the leg up they’d have on XPress with that feature?
:)
Wouldn’t moving to Framemaker give you most of the features you’re missing in InDesign?
But moving to Framemaker would lose you most of the features that are in InDesign.
InDesign CS3 cannot place text on a 45 degree angle in a table. I would certainly use this before I made my text upside down.
>Automatically add page while you?re editing or typing text.
It doesn’t? I just tried this in CS2 and it works. Isn’t the key to have an automatic text frame? Wouldn’t that be the same as in XPress?
David W., if you’re in InDesign and you’re typing at the end of a text frame and InDesign suddenly adds a new page and text frame, then you either have a plug-in (such as Em Software’s InFlow) or you have a very special copy of InDesign. ;)
Here’s another where Qx does it better, and it seems few people understand this. IF you have a PSD with vector type in it, then place it into in ID doc, it will rasterize when sending to RIP or making PDF. With Import PSD, Quark will keep the type as vector. The alternative is to EPS the PSD. This would then work, but if you later re-open it, the type will rasterize.
The one thing I *really* need is conditional text, preferably multiple-category conditional text, ala FrameMaker, which I’ve had to abandon because Adobe has dropped Mac support. EG: I have a 100-page FrameMaker doc containing exam questions, answers, and marking instructions, and want to be able to print reflowed versions containing only the first, only the first two, or all three.
Is there any conversion tool available,m which can convert pdf to InDesign and retain all formatting including Math equations.
Rahul: There is a tool that is coming from Recosoft. But I doubt it would be able to handle math equations! That would be a miracle. ;)
Re the Keyboard-scalingin CS3… that was a major set-back and because we needed that Keyboard-Scaling a lot, we fixed it with a Script…
https://www.hdschellnack.de/?p=1937
(It’s German, sorry ;-D. Just download the Scripts, put them in the scripts-Folder and assign a Shortcut to each of them in Indesign and that’s all. You can edit the Script and thus change the Scaling-Factor).
@John Beatty: I find the easiest way to accomplish that in ID (assuming you don’t have to truly reflow, only hide elements) is to put each in a seperate layer and simply hide the layer(s) that you don’t want to output.
For the Jabberwocky equivalent, have you tried the free ChatterGoofy plug-in?
Customizable and DOCKABLE toolbars. I’d rather have a slightly smaller work area than have a floating toolbox that always seems to be covering something crucial (as it so often is). The pop-out palettes in ID are really helpful — why can’t I get the Toolbox out of the way as well? I really miss Extensis’s PageBars for PageMaker, which let me create exactly the toolbars I wanted.
You wrote:
>If an imported TIFF/PSD contains more than one
>alpha channel, you can choose which one you want
>to use as the transparency mask after you import
>the image. (You can only do this at import time
>in ID, as far as I know.)
Nope.
I’ve used the wrong channel by accident, and it’s easy to fix (if I understand the problem you’re describing correctly).
If one of the channels saved with your image is called “Alpha” or “Alpha 1,” that’s probably the one that Clipping Path will choose. But you can specify a different one. If your image is using the wrong Clipping Path, just go to Object>Clipping Path and set it to “none.” Click OK. Then pull down the same menu again, go to Clipping Path, and choose “Alpha channel”. It gives you a drop-down list of all the alpha channels saved with the image (providing your link is up to date).
Chris, you’re right that you can choose a different alpha channel for a clipping path, but I try to avoid those hard-edged clipping paths whenever possible. No, I was talking about choosing a real transparency alpha channel.
For example, when you import an image with alpha channels, you can turn on Show Import Options, then choose which channel you want to use for the transparency.
Actually, this brings up a good point: I just want to be able to open the Import Options dialog box for every image I import (after it’s imported). There is a script that lets you do this for PDF files, but it’d be helpful to do it for all images.
I would love it open psds in in design and save them out as indd. I have templates in photoshop that I would rather use in in design. I can created them one at time in indesign but there are 200 of them.
Two dumb things I’ve seen. The first dates to InDesign 1.0, and it involves selecting text, which InDesign handles differently from any other high-end app I’ve ever used. Namely, selecting several words by using cmd-shift-rightarrow works, but once one releases the keys, trying to “reverse” the selection, by using cmd-shift-leftarrow, actually selects additional text to the LEFT of the selection, instead of moving the “end point” backwards. Curiously, this does not happen when one holds down the selection keys, but only after releasing them. In other words, InDesign uses BOTH the beginning and the end of an already-existing selection to determine where to begin contiguous selection, depending on whether one releases the keys first.
Another minor annoyance is pushing cmd-uparrow to get to the beginning of a paragraph if some text is already selected. InDesign first DE-selects the text, and then on a second press moves to the top of the paragraph. But there’s already a key — leftarrow — to move to the beginning of the selection, so this is not only a hindrance, but redundant as well.
These are probably non-issues to people who use the mouse more than the keyboard, but to inveterate keyboard users like me, this is a pain in the ass.
Second, and more frustrating: If a paragraph has a rule above, and one places an inline graphic to the left of the paragraph (but partially within the paragraph), the paragraph rule will be bumped to the right, even to the point of extending outside the text box, and even if “Keep within frame” is selected. The only way I see to fix this is to select each affected rule and set a precise right indent to force it inside the box (and, presumably, margin). Needless to say, this is not a clever implementation. But otherwise, I’m really enjoying CS3 so far.
Thanks for posting all of this stuff, David!
Peter
Footnotes in Tables (seriously, why wouldn’t you be able to do this). The second project I did for my little company was a price list with footnotes describing when a TBAs were going to be released. Had to do it manually (luckily there were only two). Bummer.
“Endnotes,” meaning, in this case, being able to collect the footnote text into a text frame of our own choosing, not just at the same, linked text frame.
P.S. Yes, I know I’m late to the party, I just starting using InDesign a month and a half ago. Love the podcasts (and yes, I did listen all 66 in the last month and a half – along with all 45 of theindesigner). Great work!
why cant we put a vertical paragraph rule in InDesign??? Drawing a vertical line yourself doesnt make you feel that you are working on a professional design software!!
An excellent list David.
Actually you can make a grayscale PDF if you do it through the Print command and select Adobe PDF 8.0 or whatever version you have, there will be a grayscale option. Now this is not the best way to make PDF files, but it does make a true grayscale PDF, turning all colors, RGB, CMYK, and spot, automatically into a grayscale image.
Best wishes for the new year,
John
Thanks, John! Yes, but unfortunately it’s not entirely as simple as that. See this post for more on that.
The list of what ID can’t do is very helpful, won’t waste time trying to figure those things out. However I do have two questions 1) Can you create 3D images in ID, say like the boxes you can create in Powerpoint and add 3D dimensions? 2) Does ID have the capability to recognize fonts, meaning if I have a logo from someone else and I’m trying to figure out what font was used to create it (does any software have that capability)? Thanks in advance for any help, loving this site :)
Two words: kerning tables
Quark lets you set up pairs that apply every time you use the font. InDesign inexplicably lacks this option.
Wish List Item: automatically marking/identifying imported paragraph & character styles.
Tiffany, although not software this site will help identify fonts in logos or for whatever you need: https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/
– Try it, its great!
Hi Guys
Can somebody please help me!! I have ai files with images and text and i need to get them into ID (just purchased) but still edit? Caan i do this or should i give up, have tried various things but text comes into ID totally different. Sorry i am such a newbie here, but desperate to crack this. Any suggestions please, i would greatly appreciate. By the way i do have the books and watched the tutorials…… Still cant do it. Thanx
Sam, unfortunately, that’s another thing ID cannot do. If you import Illustrator files, you can’t edit them in ID. If you copy and paste the text from AI, you lose the formatting.
You said that indesign doesn’t do this: The ability to map font styles to specific fonts.
However can I map a missing font to an existing one?
Can you set-up InDesign to do automatic number of pages i.e. Page 2 of 6?
Sarah: Yes, this can be done with the text variables feature in CS3.
Why oh WHY can’t I find a way to ‘show master page items’ to all the pages at one time??? Is it not possible in InDesign? Is there some kind of default setting I can turn this feature to ‘on’ or something??? Any help with this would be most appreciated.
I’d like to have the footnotes in a diferent column, not at the end of the main column. ¿could it be possible?
Viceversa: Please add your feature request to the list of “no can do” items above. Oh well.
ID needs Super Step and Repeat. Unless someone already said it, or it actually exists and I just can’t find it.
I would like to be able to:
1. print a list of my links — not the whole preflight file of info, just my image links by name and page (yes, I could do a screenshot of the links panel).
2. scroll through my paragraph styles instead of opening and closing each one. Better would be a table/grid of all the styles along one axis and all the categories along the other axis.
“You cannot snap one object to another obect, as you can in some other programs (e.g. Illustrator); objects only snap to guides.”
This feature is sorely lacking!
I am having issues with Data Merge’s Content Placement Options setting overriding my Object Styles Frame Fitting Option settings. I do realize that there are Data Merge’s Content Placement Options that effect how an image is placed. However the pull down menu list is limited and doesn’t give me the option to preserve or even recreate the alignment settings specified within my object styles.
Scenario: I have designed one Master page with text and image placeholders to be applied and merged into a 150 page document. The image placeholder boxes have been manually set by my Object styles/Frame Fitting Option/Alignment Settings to have an anchored reference point of “Bottom Left”. When I import my data, it always places my images “Top Left”. So to troubleshoot, I went ahead and generated the 150 page document anyway, allowing data merge to place my images where ever it wanted to thinking “Ok, I’ll just go back to my master page and force the images to Align Bottom Left and all should follow suit”, but it will only affect one page at a time.
To me this seems like a pretty common use for Data Merge and Object Styles in general and am thinking that it defeats the purpose if you have to go in and manually align images for each page.
Have I been defeated and is this an addition to the “CAN’T DO LIST?”
Suggestions? Experience?
Thanks,
MG
I have been using the Data Merge with Object Styles since CS4. While you had to readjust (basically change the frame fitting offset then change it back) to get it to apply to the merged document, if worked. Adobe broke something in CS5 and it hasn’t worked properly since. All objects with object styles are “modified” and need the over rides cleared per object to apply the original style. This basically renders using variable data and data merge useless if you do anything other than “scale to fit” on images.
For this reason I still use CS4 for data merging.
@DanS: I’ve tried this in CS6 and a beta of CC and it works fine. You might check to make sure the Frame Fitting Options are disabled (unchecked) in the object style definition. Data Merge can apply its own “image frame fitting” features, which can look like overrides.
@MG: Unfortunately, it appears that this is another “can’t do in InDesign.” Probably a bug, in this case. How frustrating!
Hello,
i’m trying to create a calendar in Indesign in the easiest way possible. I have downloaded a script which i found on the net, (https://downloads.indesignmag.com/supportfiles/) and have located it in the javascript folder under scripts.
Does anyone know how to access it whilst in Indesign?
Cheers
@Louise: You run scripts by double-clicking on them in the Scripts panel (Window > Automation > Scripts). Sometimes scripts are compressed into .zip files, which you need to extract before putting them in the Script Panel folder. (Yes, in CS3, you need to put them in the Script Panel folder, not just the Scripts folder.)
my whish (now for cs5): the ability to link object frames to turn possible place multiple objects in a sequence of frames just in one place method. (a better contact sheet in fact)
Useful for catalogs
(if anyone knows a script for this…)
this is a small wish, but I sure loved it in Quark when I wanted to delete a character to the right of my curser (the next character), I could just press Shift-Delete. Man that was cool. InDesign makes me run ahead and come back on it. This was especially nice for deleting returns after a period.
dw
@David: You can press the forward delete key on your keyboard. On my MacBook Pro laptop, I press Fn-Delete to get that key, which is pretty close to Shift-delete. Works in most programs.
I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that one day I could insert alternate master pages automatically… Dragging one by one does not exists, definitely!
I’m curious…has anyone been able to find a way to get ID to work from say…a server located in one office, but, accessed by several within that office? We have several projects we work on which require the use of ID, and it would be so much more helpful if we could all access it, rather than only one guy on a Mac, over in the corner.
Can anyone help with this? I have heard there was something that was downloadable, but, figured I’d ask before trying any new tricks.
Thanks,
Cate D
As far as I know, you can have a character style automatically applied to some numbers in an index (by checking the “Number Style Override” box in the “Page Reference Options” dialog box) BUT you CAN’T have two references to the same page (in different styles) in the index.
For example, suppose your index has references to text on pages 1,2,3 but you also want a reference to an illustration on page 2…
You’d like to have 1, 2, 2, 3 to appear in the index — but you can’t!
Can you?
Someone just asked me if there is a way to change the highlight color when selecting text. Nope. That’s another thing InDesign should be able to do, but can’t. The default highlight color is the opposite of whatever you’re selecting. If it’s a white/none colored text frame, the highlight will be black. If the text frame is magenta, the highlighter will be green.
Hi,
I get a thickening of the type around pics with drop shadows and anything inside a frame. It only shows on the printed job. What could be causing this? Very frustrating.
Please help,
thanks,
Lan
@Lan: That sounds like a typical problem that sometimes happens when you put text behind transparency. Try moving the text to a higher layer.
Is this something ID CS3 should be able to do?
I have some text on each master page of a series of documents that are part of a book. I’d like to use Find/replace to change the text. I’ve tried the ‘All Documents’ setting and Find resolutely refuses to find the text in any of the other documents (all are open). Even when I go through each document and display the Master Pages it still won’t find the text.
@Andrew:
In Find/Change dialog box you need to choose the option Include Master Pages (it is an icon looking like two facing pages situated under the Search optins)
I am importing a 245 page word table with text flowing across pages in the same cell. Can the text flow across pages Indesign as it does in Word?
@Teri: Word can break a single cell across two pages, but InDesign cannot; it only breaks at cell boundaries.
“Word can break a single cell across two pages, but InDesign cannot”
And a good thing too, I’d say. Broken cells in Word look like extra cells to me.
They look that way to others too. Recently I gave a client a copy of Hamlet in Word table form — one numbered line per row — so that they could add comments which would stay locked to the right line.
Alas — this Hamlet was a bit of a tragedy!
I’d like indesign to break cells across pages and to put a “continued” in the header line for tables that span more than 1 page.
Cells should be able to span pages, and they can look different to other cells using the table options for colouring the cells.
I understand though that breaking cells can look confusing, so it should be a table option rather than a rework of how the cells work.
It’s particularly troublesome when you have a cell that is over half a page in text and it automatically goes to the following page leaving a half page blank – it would be preferable that the table actually split the cell and inserted a “continued” or similar wording at the top of the split cell.
David, I’m not sure if anyone else has said this already, but your point “If an imported TIFF/PSD contains more than one alpha channel, you can choose which one you want to use as the transparency mask after you import the image. (You can only do this at import time in ID, as far as I know.)” is incorrect.
Simply place a TIFF or PSD file with multiple alpha channels and/or clipping masks in InDesign and hit Ctrl + Alt+ Shift + K and you can set which alpha channel to use, among other settings to fine-tune the results. As far as I can recall this was already possible in IDCS3 and perhaps even CS2, but my memory doesn’t go back that far :)
@Roland: Unfortunately, that lets you set which clipping path to use. I was referring to a soft-edged transparency mask. I rarely use clipping paths anymore; too much hassle, too sharp edges.
I had to edit as I misunderstood your point (the second time apparently). Setting which alpha channel to use isn’t the same as using a layer mask… interesting. There must be a way.
Roland, here’s the alpha channel thing I was talking about.
@ David: I’m the someone from the conference in SF.
I’m working on a solution to move every annotation from PDFs back into InDesign. Please check out my website and let me know if you’d like to beta test it.
https://www.factum-est.com/FE/Factum_Est_Products.html
Sorting the swatches palette! Aargh! (Is this remedied in CS4? I’m still using CS3.)
Hoping desperately to find CS5 has the option to import PDF annotations into ID. That could free out time up by 4 hours a day per person!
ican not place any text on cs3
CS3 is better for me. And how for you?
I want to create an e-book with a cover and spline does Indesign do this easily?
Heh heh. A cover with a spine, nope. You can’t do that with InDesign — or any other application for that matter.
Not for an e-book.
There’s one thing that Quark did that I start to automatically try in InDesign and only just stop myself from doing a nano-second before I push the keys. It used to be that if you selected modifier keys (I think they were command, option, and shift) and the down-arrow key, you could select all of the remaining text in a story from where your cursor was placed. I loved this because it meant that if you had overflow because you accidentally pasted something in twice, or because the original text had too many paragraph returns at the end, you could instantly delete all of the text without have to drag or scroll around to find it.
Am I correct in thinking that a way of doing this is still not available in InDesign?
Shift+(Ctrl/Cmd)+End selects everything to the end of the story from your current cursor position …
@Leslie & Jongware: Yes! See https://creativepro.com/select-text-all-the-way-to-the-end.php
There are things I know to do in WORD but don’t see how to do in InDesign (!). I know I have large gaps in my knoweldge, and would be grateful if someone could tell me if and how these are possible. I’m using CS2 on a PC.
(1) Select all copy based on its formatting (for example, everything with a particular character style and a particular paragraph style). In WORD I use Search and Replace. Tried that here–didn’t work. I think InDesign wanted to search for actual words. Once I select, I want to apply a new paragraph style to everything at once. Doable? How? I do not want to redefine existing styles.
(2) Select multiple instances of text, both within the same text box and/or in separate text boxes. (CTRL + mouse does that in WORD).
(3) Repeat the last formatting change I made in one place to something else. (CTRL + Y in Word)
(4) Pick up a formatting info and apply elsewhere (like Format Painter in Word).
I really can’t believe these things would not be possible in InDesign. Are they really?
1) is possible, just don’t enter anything into the Find What and Change To fields. Click the More Info button there to reveal the Find Formatting and Change Formatting controls … far more robust and easier to use than Word’s.
(2) and (3) are not possible in ID. I’d love to see those features.
(4) is possible with the Eyedropper tool, that’s exactly what it’s for.
It would be really nice too if InDesign could let us “Enable All ICC Profiles” for the images on a previously saved document, without having to check “Ask when opening” on the “Color Settings”.
Today, either you do that or you have to go right-clicking image by image. Really annoying.
That is particularly useful when you have to make a PDF/X-4 file with all the ICC profiles into each image, in a controlled color management workflow.
Hope Adobe will do something about that in CS6…
Beautiful article!
Now it’s time to add [CS5] to a few of these…
the answer for the request of importing pdf annotations into indesign:
https://www.dtptools.com/product.asp?id=anid
When I have to move back to Quark for something I always groan, but there are little things in it that still make me smile. For instance Quark highlights to you if there are missing links in your doc at export stage, then lets you go and relink them – whereas ID just dumps you back out to the layout and you have to go and relink them the long way before exporting again. Not a ‘feature’ per se, but a welcome little tickle.
1) Is there any way in InDesign to run the script from interactive button on its OnClick() event.
2) Interactive text-boxes and buttons can be created in InDesign but is there any way to get the text in Textbox and send it to next page on button click.
I am asking above questions in InDesign to PDF export context.
the script .jsx added in InDesign does not run in PDF
@Asad: In general, you will get more answers if you post technical questions like this on the Forum (indesignsecrets.com/forum). But I think the answer is: No, you cannot do that in InDesign.
May i add a couple more thing to your list that could be very helpful if Indesign would have, but it doesn’t:
– Using and creating pattern fill, not as links but as in illustrator so you would have a pattern fill in your text frame for example (i cannot emphasise enough how much i would love to see this in ID, it has so much applications)
– In object style to have the option to lock anchored objects, so when you click and select all text in your frame and replace it, the anchored object doesn’t get deleted in the process
So, if you follow them, it will only make you look like a copycat.
There should be a proper anchor text that carries keyword.
Does your company have a website and a mobile friendly site.
4@$23vdylmh@#gyili working some other job above a person’s apple iphone some boost app store search white-colored, it’s possible to tune in to the different sound information from your if it
is compatible. There are Word – Press plugins for ecommerce,
Joomla extensions for the same. While convenience store suppliers don’t
generally target the dollar store market many often carry items that fit well
in a variety of specialized categories.
Aw, this was a really nice post. Taking the time and actual effort to generate a great article… but what can I say… I
procrastinate a lot and don’t manage to get anything done.
They manage all of the formalities like the insurance, licences, tranfer papers, etc.
But, with newer regulations of car lighting in the modern day productions, it has become
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I’ve driven millions of dollars worth of sports cars but the Scorpion stands head and shoulders above them all.
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Can you tell us more about this? I’d like to find out more details.
Did not have a chance to read all the comments but here is one item to tag onto our wishlist.
Have Conditional Text take advantage of either GREP, and or character styles, or both. So that Conditional Text tagging can be automated.