Plug-ins and Scripts

*** FROM THE ARCHIVES ***

This page is no longer current or being updated.

Welcome to the Plug-ins and Scripts page, where we post links to commercial plug-ins and scripts that we recommend. More of these are discussed and linked to in our Plug-ins and Scripts blog category.

If you have questions about installing or running scripts, see this post that explains it all for you.

Here’s some more FREE stuff!

  • Need to make a QR code? This free QR Code plug-in from Meadows Software does it for you!
  • SWFpresenter script: This is a must-have for anyone creating interactive documents (such as slideshows in InDesign CS5). Download the script here. Read more about it in this blog post.
  • Slide Show script: Want to make a self-running slide show? Check out Keith Gilbert’s great free script here.
  • Zoom to 140 Percent: This small javascript written by Dave Saunders sets the current magnification to 140%. We discuss the uses of this in Podcast Episode 4.
  • Highlight On-Off: Cross-platform script that toggles all the Preferences > Composition Highlighting settings on and off. This script was written by Gerald Singlemann in his comment he made to a post about Compositing Skills.
  • Type Any Unicode Character: This script (called “dotless i.jsx”) simply types a unicode character. You can edit this tiny script in any text editor, such as the free Text Wrangler (Mac) or NotePad (Windows). There are instructions at the top. Just change the Unicode number in the script and save it (you probably want to save it with a different file name).
  • Preserve Local Formatting: Dave Saunders wrote this cross-platform Javascript that can run through a selection of text (or the whole document, if nothing is selected) and replace locally-formatted bolds and italics (among others) with equivalent Character styles. The script adds the styles to the Character Styles palettes on its own,no need to create them yourself.

Scripts mentioned in our videos

  • ApplyALT from XMP pulls text from an image’s XMP field for Title, Description, or Headline and copies it to the Alternate Text field for every image in the document.
  • PerfectPrepText scans through the active story or document looking for local overrides of bold, italic, superscript, etc. When it finds an instance, it creates a character style (if one doesn’t exist already) and applies it to the text. This script relies on the presence of an earlier script, PrepText, at the same level in your Scripts folder. The download link includes both scripts.
  • StorySplitter lets you break up a threaded story into individual frames, or break it at any selected frame.
  • LoremIpsum-izer: Changes a selected text frame’s contents to placeholder-like text but retains existing text formatting. Written by InDesign scripter Haakenlid (screen name), you can read the original thread on the Adobe InDesign Scripting forum thread where he posted it here.
  • MergeFiles-2016.zip: Need to combine several InDesign documents into one, but don’t want to do it manually? This wonderful script written by one of our forum friends, Michael Zaichenko, will do the job. It merges copies of all the files in an InDesign Book panel, or all the open InDesign files, or all the ones in a folder you point the script at, into a single, long INDD file. CAUTION:  The script doesn’t rename master pages or style sheets. If any names for these are the same among your batch of documents (e.g., A-Master), the script will use the one(s) in the first INDD file in the list as the “style source,” ignoring conflicting attributes in other same-named styles/pages.
  • Kern Tables: Peter Kahrel’s script lets you build a kerning table for any font and then apply it by running the script.
  • UnAnchor: Our friend Loic Aignon wrote a script for Anne-Marie for her to use in her Using InDesign with MS Word course on Lynda.com. Run the script to quickly unanchor text frames (not image or groups) in a story. To help you find the newly in-line text, the script applies an “Unembed” condition (in the Conditional Text panel) to it with a non-printing lavender highlight. Change the text to Unconditional to remove the highlight.
  • Export JPEG or PNG at Specific Size: Keith Gilbert did a great job at creating scripts that help you export a selection at a particular pixel width or height. Helpful!
  • Deb-o-Matic: Need to apply a cell style to a whole row at a timeā€”for example, for headings and subheadings? Chuck Weger’s Deb-o-Matic script can do it in a jiffy!
  • Replace PS/AI/PDF: The Replace.jsx script lets you show import options for any already-placed graphic.
  • Fill Empty Cells: This script looks for all the empty table cells in your document and applies a cell style called EmptyCell (the style must already be present to work)
  • Swap Text and Images: The Swimmer script from Kris Coppieters at Rorohiko lets you search for text and replace it with an inline image.
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