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Tip of the Week: Collecting Fonts on Hidden Layers

This InDesign tip was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on October 18, 2018.

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As part of my regular freelance work, I design brochures and posters in several languages for a large international company. After consulting with my printer, we decided to put the type for various languages in separate Layers within the same layout. The printer’s output department would then click on the Eye icons next to each language Layer leaving only one language Layer visible for output. Because only visible Layers will be output, this layered language technique can be incredibly efficient.

But keep one important point in mind. If you are using different typefaces for some of the languages, by Default, typefaces and graphics in hidden Layers will not be Packaged. So when you are ready to put the finished job on disk, go to File > Package and in the dialog box that opens, make sure to select the option “Show Data for Hidden and Non-Printing Layers.”

The first time I forgot about this option I received a call from my printer’s Preflight specialist who has a wonderful sense of humor. He said, “It may be Greek to you, but without the fonts it’s total gibberish.”

 

Jeff Witchel graduated from Pratt Institute in 1973 with a B.F.A. (Cum Laude) in Advertising Design and Visual Communications. He has been an award-winning advertising art director, writer, designer, illustrator, and TV producer ever since. Before starting his own advertising agency in New Jersey, Jeff built his career at top New York ad agencies such as Young & Rubicam, Grey Advertising, and Wells, Rich, Greene. Over the years, he has created award-winning work for many clients including AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Jell-O Pudding, The Plaza Hotel, and Pfizer. His many prestigious awards include N.Y. Art Directors Club Gold Award, One Show Gold Award, N.J. Art Directors Club Award, multiple Andy Awards, Graphis Annual, numerous readership awards, plus an Emmy Award nomination. Jeff is a self-taught computer artist with over 23 years of experience. His initial introduction to the computer was with PageMaker, but he switched to Quark 1.0 when it was first introduced in 1987. Having arrived on the desktop publishing scene so early, Jeff became the ?go to? guy for answers when others started getting into computer graphics. As an Adobe Certified Expert, he?s provided online support for Adobe and is now an Adobe Certified Training Provider for both Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Adobe InDesign CS4. Jeff is also a Quark Certified Expert in QuarkXPress 6, which comes in handy in helping ?switchers? to make a smooth transition to InDesign. He counts among his training clients ad agencies, design studios, magazines, newspapers, illustrators, and photographers. Jeff writes for both Layers magazine and InDesign magazine and has authored and been the Instructor for various training DVDs as well as online videos for both InDesign and Illustrator. He also writes online tutorials for www.LayersMagazine.com and is the author of ?Layers Magazine Tip of the Day,? which is received by nearly 20,000 subscribers each weekday.
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