InDesign CC

Linda’s InDesign Basics for Rookies Spark page describes the tool and shows best uses.

Now available is Linda’s video training course at LearnKey on InDesign CC. The course is self-paced and comprehensive, covering all the objectives of the Adobe Certified Associate exam.

Also, go to Adobe’s InDesign Learn and Support page for help in getting started, tutorials for all levels, and the user guide.

Enjoy these InDesign Tips and Tricks

For those of you already comfortable with InDesign, here are a few tricks that aren’t easily discovered on your own:

  • Presentation Mode—Press SHIFT-W to hide the interface and center the document on the screen with a black background. Press G to change the background to grey, W to change it to white, and B to change it back to black. (W without SHIFT changes between Preview and Normal mode.) Escape closes the presentation view.
  • Change ruler measurement on the fly with a right-click on the ruler (this has been around for several versions).
  • To change the stroke or fill of an object, try these keyboard shortcuts:

D = Default (no fill, black stroke)
X = Exchange—toggles between stroke/fill indicators
Shift+X = Exchange—fill color and stroke color swap places
/ = None—sets current fill/stroke to None
Comma (,)—applies last used color
Period (.)—applies last used gradient
(These shortcuts also work in Illustrator)
Look at the Control Bar next to the stroke width menu for a new way to access the Swatches to control fill or strokes.

  • Change a Polygon—While dragging the Polygon tool, press SPACE, then use the up and down arrows to choose the number of sides. Left and right arrows control the inset. (If you don’t press SPACE first, you get duplicate shapes.)
  • Gridify tool—To create multiple equal sized frames on a page. (First check margin gutter settings: Layout>Margins and Columns) While dragging with the frame tool, tap the arrow keys. Up/Down change the number of rows and Right/Left change the number of columns. The space between is determined by the settings in Layout>Margins and Columns.
  • Place Multiple Images—When doing File>Place, select several pictures to “load” the cursor. While the cursor is loaded, toggle through them with the arrow keys to decide which to place.
  • Object>Fitting>Fill Frame Proportionately—make images fit into frames (some edges may be cropped).
  • Autofit checkbox—In the Control Panel, this option now links the image to the frame, making them one object instead of two. Now the frame and the image can be resized at the same time. New in InDesign CC is the preference to automatically to Content-Aware-Fit which automatically fits an image inside a frame based on the image content and frame size. Turn this on in the Preferences panel>General settings.
  • Object>Captions>Generate Live Captions—will generate captions based on filenames. Captions can be customized in Object>Captions>Captions Setup.
  • Live Corner Effects—Click the yellow box on the frame to activate live corners, then drag the yellow diamond to round the corners. The tool-tip explains how to customize.
  • Document Fonts—Always do a File>Package before sending the document to an outside printer, or when transferring the project to another computer. A Document Fonts folder is created inside the package folder. When the document is opened on another computer, the fonts that this document needs are automatically installed! When the document is closed, those fonts are automatically uninstalled!
  • Multiple Page Sizes—In the Pages Panel, insert a new page and select it in the panel. Click the Edit Page Size icon at the bottom of the panel to choose the size for that page.