InDesign Docs

Starting a Document with Page 1 on the Left Side

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (13)

[Note: This article applies only to InDesign CS4 and earlier versions. In InDesign CS5, you can simply add an even number for the Start Page # option in the New Document dialog box to start a document with a two-page spread.]

Here’s another buried treasure from the Help files. By default, documents you create with facing pages include a single-page spread to begin the document, like this:

spreadstart before.jpg

How do you start a document with a two-page spread, like this?

If you try to delete the first page, the other page numbers just move up, and page 2 replaces page 1. The Start a document with a two-page spread Help topic gives the answer:

Start a document with a two-page spread

Instead of beginning the document with a right-facing (recto) page, you can delete the first page and begin your document with a left-facing (verso) page that’s part of a spread.

Important: Because of the settings that make it necessary to keep a left-facing page as the starting page, it can be difficult to insert spreads into a document when following this method. To avoid this difficulty, it is best to work in the document with a right-facing page starting page (which should be left blank). When you have inserted all of the pages needed in the document, delete the first page by following the steps below.
Make sure page 1 of the document is blank.

1. Choose File > Document Setup. Be sure the document contains at least three pages and that the Facing Pages option is selected. Click OK.

2 In the Pages panel, select all the pages except page 1. (The easiest way to do this is to select page 2 and then Shift-select the last page of the document.)

3. In the Pages panel menu, deselect Allow Selected Spread To Shuffle.
Select page 1. In the Pages panel menu, choose Delete Spread.

TIP: To add a spread to a document that starts on a left-facing page, first make sure Allow Selected Spread To Shuffle is deselected and Allow Document Pages To Shuffle is selected. Then, insert three pages, and delete the extra page.

Tabs and Indents Gallery

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (25)

It’s show and tell time. I’ll show you pictures of tabs and indents, and I’ll tell you how to create the effect. Or, at least I’ll point you to the Help topic that tells you how to do it.

Simple tabs

When you press the Tab key, the insertion point moves to the next tab setting. If you haven’t manually entered any tab settings, default tab settings appear every 3p. These tab settings don’t appear on the Tabs ruler.

tabs simple before.jpg

1. Choose Type > Tabs to display the Tabs ruler (also called the Tabs dialog box).
2. Click above the ruler where you want the tab setting to appear.
3. On the left side of the Tabs ruler, click to indicate which type of setting you want (Left, Center, Right, or Decimal).

tabs simple left.jpg

See the Tabs and indents Help topic.

Using Adobe Products with Snow Leopard (Mac OSX)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (36)

If you’re a Mac user and you’ve upgrading or are thinking about upgrading to the new version of Mac OS X 10.6 (called Snow Leopard), you may run across a few issues, which are not specific to Adobe products

Applications crash when saving to file servers through SMB protocol (Mac OS X 10.6)

Files may not open in original authoring application (Mac OS X 10.6)

Firefox 3.x crashes when trying to use the Adobe Downloader (Mac OS X 10.6)

Acrobat 9 “Save As Adobe PDF” Support in Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)

(For more details on this PDF issue, see Steve Werner’s article: Acrobat’s Adobe PDF Printer Replaced in Snow Leopard)

Here’s the Snow Leopard FAQ.

AIR App for Searching CS Shortcuts

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (1)

Check out this AIR application that lets you search and browse keyboard shortcuts in any Creative Suite product.

Adobe Shortcut App for Creative Suite

Here’s what it looks like:

AIR shortcuts2.jpg

This application contains a database of all of the keyboard shortcuts for all of the applications in Creative Suite 4.

To see all of the shortcuts, be sure to click “All Categories.” The default “Essentials” view shows only a small subset.

The information appears to be taken from the “Keyboard shortcuts” section of each product’s Help. If you want to search for keyboard shortcuts in InDesign CS4 Help, you can do that, too.

For information on editing keyboard shortcuts and printing a complete list of shortcuts, including custom shortcuts, see the Use keyboard shortcut sets Help topic.

Also see Mike Witherell’s handy Keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Creative Suite 4.

Page Numbering Gallery

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (44)

We recently did a usability study on page numbering in InDesign. Participants worked through a series of page numbering tasks that I asked them to perform. Although I made a few changes to a couple of Help topics, I kept thinking that what people really needed was pictures of page numbering effects and brief descriptions of how to create those effects. So that’s what I’m doing here. Perhaps later, I’ll clean up the pictures and add this to Help.

Simple page number

page number simple.jpg

Adding page numbering isn’t the most intuitive task in InDesign. You basically create a text frame on a master page and insert the Current Page Number marker (choose Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number). If your document has facing pages, remember to add page number markers to both master pages. See Add basic page numbering in Help.

Twitter Bug

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (0)

I haven’t blogged much in the last month or two, and I probably won’t be blogging much over the next several months. If someone asks me whether I’m busy working on the next version of InDesign, I would say, “That information is confidential.” By the way, InDesign CS5 has some cool new features. You know, in theory.

I am, however, tweeting on twitter. When I run across a good link or need to make a quick announcement, I’ll tweet about it. And then, at the end of the month, I’ll combine many of the tweets into a “Best Links” blog entry.

Here’s my twitter page:

http://twitter.com/indesigndocs/

(Yes, that is a picture of me from last year, about a week before I shaved my head.)

Community Publishing System is live

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (0)

A number of web sites serve as an excellent resource for InDesign. At the top of the list is InDesign Secrets, and places like Instant InDesign, Creative Mentor, Jetsetcom.net, and Gilbert Consulting offer tons of tips, tricks, and tutorials.

In the comments section of individual Help topics, I link to specific articles on these web sites. In some instances, I linked to these “community sites” within Help topics, and I plan to do more of that.

The Community Publishing System (CPS) is another resource for contributing to the InDesign community. Perhaps you don’t have your own web site but would like to make contributions. Or perhaps you’ve started an InDesign website and would like to let more people know about it. You can use the CPS to help other Adobe users.

Here’s what the CPS folks have to say about it:

We’re pleased to announce the Adobe Community Publishing 1.1 beta is live. This new AIR application lets anyone with an Adobe ID publish content on Adobe products and technology directly to Adobe.com.

Community members can contribute tips, movies, code snippets, and more with easy-to-use templates. Contributions are moderated by community experts. Plus, everyone in the community can rate and comment on contributions.

Contributing is easy
1. Download the Community Publishing app: Community Publishing System (CPS)
2. Author your tip using a simple template
3. Publish it to Adobe.com

Content goes live within minutes and is automatically added to community help search. Exceptional contributions will be promoted in Help & Support pages, Developer Connection, Design Center, and considered for inclusion in Adobe partner publications.

You can see all of the submissions here: Community Publishing index page.

So, take it for a spin. I’ll be keeping an eye on the submissions for InDesign and including links to the especially good stuff when I update the InDesign Help document.

Help Updates – June

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (0)

I updated a number of topics based on feedback, and uploaded the new version of InDesign Help. I also added three new topics, which I need to link to so that they show up in search results.

Fixing low-resolution images – This topic addresses several reasons that images can appear pixelated or fuzzy when placed in InDesign. These various issues are addressed in several different topics, but I wanted to gather them into a single topic.

Apply colors to grayscale images – Again, several topics allude to applying colors to imported grayscale or bitmap images, but it’s a common task that should be addressed in its own topic.

Troubleshooting booklet printing – This issue addresses the most common problems people have when they’re using Print Booklet. If you’re aware of any other issues, leave a comment.

Page Numbering on a Single Spread Page

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (21)

Have you ever wanted to create page numbering (such as “Pages 4-5″) on one page of the spread? Me, neither. But there must be some trendy new design style that puts both spread numbers on a single page. That’s the only way I can account for the number of times this issue has come up in the forums.

The good news is that it’s relatively easy to do in InDesign CS5. The bad news is that a bug prevents it from working smoothly in InDesign CS4. But the good news is that there’s a fairly simple workaround. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s Good-2, Bad-1.

Here’s how to create this quirky page numbering technique.

Step 1. In the Pages panel, open the master page where you want to add the page numbering, and create a text frame. In my case, I’m putting the numbering on the right master. Type any text that’ll go along with the page numbering, and format the text.

For example, you may want to use a paragraph style that right-aligns the text and applies a font style used for headers.

Step 2. Choose Type > Insert Special Characters > Markers > Previous Page Number to insert the page number from the left-hand page. Insert a hyphen (or en dash), and then choose Type > Insert Special Characters > Markers > Current Page Number.

Of course, if you’re adding the page numbering to the left master, you’ll want to insert the current page number first and then insert the Next Page Number character after the hyphen.

In a perfect world, you’d be done. But there’s a catch — and we haven’t even gotten to the real bug yet. You have to thread the text frame on the right-hand page to a text frame on the left-hand page. You need to do this because the Previous Page Number and Next Page Number work on a story level, not on a document level.

Step 3. Create a text frame on the left master page, and thread it to the text frame on the right master page (click the out port, and then click the other text frame). Then place the insertion point at the beginning of the text that belongs in the next frame and choose Type > Insert Break Character > Frame Break.

In InDesign CS5, it works. On the document pages to which the master is applied, you’ll see “2-3″ and “4-5.” But in InDesign CS4, you’ll see “3-3″ and “5-5″ — the Previous Page Number is the same as the Current Page Number.

Unfortunately, InDesign CS4 stumbles on the Previous Page Number if it’s in a text frame that’s based on a master page. You need to override the master page item on every page where it appears. Ouch.

Step 4 (CS4 only). On each document page to which the master is applied, hold down Ctrl/Command+Shift and click the text frame with the page numbering.

Now that I’ve written out the steps, I think a more accurate score is Good-2, Bad-2.

Buried Treasure: Creating Quick Contact Sheets

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Bob Bringhurst | Comments (6)

[This article refers to InDesign CS4. In InDesign CS5, you can create grids while placing files, while drawing frames and shapes, and while duplicating objects.]

In the Creating contact sheets help topic, I mention how to place multiple graphics into a grid. It’s a pretty neat trick, especially if you use the modifier keys to change the number of rows and columns as well as the spacing between the images.

You can also create a simple contact sheet in InDesign by placing multiple images in a grid.

1. Choose File > Place, select multiple images, and choose Open.

2. Hold down Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS) and click or drag.

3. While still dragging, release the other modifier keys and press the arrow keys to determine the number of rows and columns. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to change the number of rows and the Left and Right arrow keys to change the number of columns. To change the spacing between frames, use the Page Up and Page Down keys or hold down Shift while pressing the arrow keys.

4. Release the mouse button to place the grid of images.

Even though the images may have different sizes, the frames in the grid are the same size. Use the Object > Fitting commands to fit the images within the frame. If images need to be moved within the frame, use the Direct Selection tool to select and move the image.

I'm Bob Bringhurst, the lead writer for the Digital Publishing Suite.