17. Customizing the Way You Work

Introduction

No description of Adobe InDesign would be complete without that well-known, but little utilized area called Preferences. InDesign preferences serve several purposes. They help customize the program to your particular designing style, and they help you utilize available computer resources to increase the overall performance of the program.

As you use InDesign, you’ll come to realize the importance of working with units and rulers. Precision is the name of the game when you are working with graphic designs and text. What about the color of your guides and grids? No big deal, you say. Well, if you’ve ever tried viewing a blue guide against predominantly blue artwork, you know exactly why guide color is important. By setting your own preferences, such as Display Performance, you can increase speed by up to 20%.

In addition, customizing the program helps make you more comfortable, and studies show that the more comfortable you are as a designer, the better your designs. Plus, being comfortable allows you to work faster, and that means you’ll accomplish more in the same amount of time. What does setting up preferences do for you? They make InDesign run faster, you work more efficiently, and your designs are better. That’s a pretty good combination. InDesign doesn’t give you Preferences to confuse you, but to give you choices, and those choices give you control.

Setting General Preferences

InDesign’s General preferences help you configure some of the more general features of the program. Some of the options include how to implement page numbering, font downloading and embedding, and text scaling. You can also enable or disable the use of JavaScript in your document. Disabling JavaScript can protect your computer from harmful security threats. Enable it only when you know the script is safe. You can also click the Reset All Warning Dialogs to allow warnings for which you previously selected the Don’t Show Again check box.

Set General Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click General.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Page Numbering View. Select Absolute Number to use the physical placement number of the page or Section Numbering to use section numbers.

• Font Downloading and Embedding. Enter a minimum number of glyphs to activate the use subset of fonts.

• When Scaling. Select Apply to Content to scale text with point size changes or Adjust Scaling Percentage to scale text with point size changes, but still display new and old scale.

• Scripting. Select to use scripts. Deselect to prevent scripts from being executed.

• Reset All Warning Dialogs. Click to allow warnings for which you previously selected the Don’t Show Again check box.

Click OK.

Setting Interface Preferences

Interface preferences give you control over some user interface features. When you place text or graphics or transform objects, the cursor changes to display information. If you prefer not to see the information, you can deselect cursor options. In addition, you can also set options to automatically collapse icon panels or show hidden panels when you click away from them, and instruct InDesign to allow you to open documents as tabs instead of individual document windows.

Set Interface Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Interface.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Tool Tips. Specify an option for showing tips when you point to an onscreen element, such as a button. Select Normal, None, or Fast.

• Show Thumbnails on Place. Select to show the text or graphic preview with the loaded cursor when you place an item.

• Show Transformation Values. Select to show transformation values in a gray tag as you size, rotate, or create an object (New!).

• Floating Tools Panel. Specify an option for displaying the Tools panel.

• Auto-Collapse Icon Panels. Select to have an expanded panel icon automatically collapse when you click away.

• Auto-Show Hidden Panels. Select to have a hidden panel icon automatically revealed when you click away (New!).

• Open Documents as Tabs. Select to open documents in tabbed windows. Deselect to open as floating windows.

Click OK.

Setting Type Preferences

InDesign is by definition a typesetting application, so it contains some very powerful type features. For example, Adobe InDesign allows you to set options to customize the way you display, select, and drag-and-drop text. In addition, InDesign’s type menu lets you see fonts exactly as they will print or display. For designers who use a lot of fonts, this WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) font menu is a timesaver. Instead of manually threading text from text frame to text frame, you can let InDesign add or remove pages automatically when you type text or change your text flow (New!). You can use Type preferences to help you select the type and font options you want to use.

Set Type Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Type.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Use Typographer’s Quotes. Select to automatically change straight quotes to curly quotes as you type.

• Type Tool Converts Frames to Text Frames. Select to be able to double-click a frame to change from one of the Selection tools to the Type tool.

• Automatically Use Correct Optical Size. Select to automatically set the correct value for the optical size of multiple master fonts.

• Triple Click to Select a Line. Select to use triple-click to select a line. Deselect to use triple-click to select a paragraph.

• Apply Leading to Entire Paragraphs. Select to apply leading to an entire paragraph.

• Adjust Spacing Automatically When Cutting and Pasting. Select to prevent from adding two spaces when pasting text from one location to another.

• Font Preview Size. Select to enable font preview on the Type menu, and then specify the size of the preview fonts (Medium is default). The Large option takes longer to display.

Select the Drag and Drop Text Editing options you want to use:

• Enable in Layout View. Select to enable drag-and-drop text within frames.

• Enable in Story Editor. Select to enable drag-and-drop text within the Story Editor.

Select the Smart Text Reflow options (New!) you want to use:

• Smart Text Reflow. Select to enable Smart Text Reflow.

• Limit to Master Text Frames. Select to limit the use of reflowed text to master text frames.

• Preserve Facing-Page Spreads. Select to preserve facing-page spreads during a reflow of text to new pages.

• Delete Empty Pages. Select to delete empty pages when text is removed during a reflow.

Click OK.

Setting Advanced Type Preferences

Advanced Type preferences allow you to control text character setting options for superscript, subscript and small caps, and specify the language you want to use. For superscript, subscript and small caps, you can set size and position values to control the size and position above or below the baseline of characters. Latin typefaces, such as English, French, and Spanish, use a different character structure than other non-latin languages, such as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. If you want to use a non-Latin language, you need to enable an option to use the Windows or Macintosh operating system controls for language input.

Set Advanced Type Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Advanced Type.

Select the following options for the size and position of text for Superscript, Subscript, and Small Cap text:

• Character Settings for Size. Enter Size values to control the size of characters.

• Character Settings for Position. Enter Position values to control text position above or below the baseline.

Select the Use Inline Input for Non-Latin Text check box to use non-latin text, such as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, for the Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

Click OK.

Setting Composition Preferences

Composition preferences enable the program to highlight text when composition or typographic violations and substitutions are made by InDesign based on other settings, and control how text wraps around an object. For example, you can highlight text with tracking or kerning applied or substituted fonts or Open Type characters with glyphs. When you wrap text around an object, you can set options to justify text, and adjust leading, change text position.

Set Composition Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Composition.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Keep Violations. Select to display lines that violate Keep With settings.

• H&J Violations. Select to highlight text that violate hyphenation or justification settings.

• Custom Tracking/Kerning. Select to highlight text with tracking or kerning applied.

• Substituted Fonts. Select to highlight substituted fonts.

• Substituted Glyphs. Select to highlight substituted Open Type characters with glyphs.

• Justify Text Next to an Object. Select to justify text that is wrapped around an object.

• Skip by Leading. Select to adjust text to the next leading increment that is wrapped around an object.

• Text Wrap Only Affects Text Beneath. Select to wrap text around an object only below the object.

Click OK.

Setting Units & Increments Preferences

Units & Increments preferences allow you to set ruler measurement units, the number of points per inch, and the amount that keyboard shortcuts change text. When you use a ruler in a document, InDesign uses the settings in the Ruler Units section to display the ruler with the measurement system and origin you want. You can also set the number of points per inch. Typically this is set to PostScript (72 pts/inch). This is the recommended setting unless a commercial printer asks you to change it. When you change text, such as size/leading, baseline shift, or kerning/tracking using keyboard shortcuts, you can specify the amounts you want to apply for each keystroke.

Set Ruler Units Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Units & Increments.

Click the Origin list arrow, and then select an option:

• Spread. Displays rulers for two pages at a time, as in a book or magazine.

• Page. Displays rulers for one page at a time.

• Spine. Displays rulers for the area where two page spreads are bound together.

Click the Horizontal and Vertical list arrows, and then select a measurement from the available options.

• If you selected Custom, enter the number of points for each unit on the ruler.

To set an exact number for points per inch, click the Points/Inch list arrow, and then select an option.

Click OK.

Set Keyboard Increments Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Units & Increments.

Enter the Keyboard Increment values you want to use:

• Cursor Key. Enter a value to move objects with the arrows keys.

• Size/Leading. Enter a default value to control type size and leading.

• Baseline Shift. Enter a default value to control text baseline shift.

• Kerning/Tracking. Enter a default value to control text kerning and tracking.

Click OK.

Setting Dictionary Preferences

Dictionary preferences allow you to specify and use different languages and dictionaries for text in your documents and set options to avoid flagging correctly spelled words as unrecognized words. Many words are flagged as misspelled because of hyphenation. You can set options for hyphenation exceptions to reduce the annoyance. If you work with a unique set of words for your profession, you can create a new dictionary, which you can share with others.

Set Dictionary Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Dictionary.

Click the Language list arrow, and then select a language for the dictionary.

Use any of the following to work with User Dictionaries:

• Relink User Dictionary. Relinks an existing dictionary that has been moved to another folder.

• New User Dictionary. Creates a new user dictionary.

• Add User Dictionary. Adds an existing user dictionary for use in your documents.

• Remove User Dictionary. Removes a user dictionary from the list. The default dictionary cannot be deleted.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Hyphenation. For installed special hyphenation preferences, select a preference option.

• Spelling. For installed special spelling preferences, select a preference option.

• Double Quotes. Specify a default style for double quotation marks.

• Single Quotes. Specify a default style for single quotation marks.

Click the Compose Using list arrow, and then select an option to apply hyphenation exceptions:

• User Dictionary. Uses only the hyphenation exceptions set by editing the dictionary.

• Document. Uses the hyphenation exceptions list in the document.

• User Dictionary and Document. Merges the hyphenation exceptions in the user dictionary and document.

Select the User Dictionary options you want to use:

• Merge User Dictionary into Document. Select to merge the hyphenation exceptions in the document with the user dictionary.

• Recompose All Stories When Modified. Select to apply the new hyphenation exceptions in the user dictionary or any added or deleted dictionary words to all stories in the document.

Click OK.

Setting Spelling Preferences

Spelling preferences allow you to set options to control what types of words and sentences get flagged as unrecognized, misspelled, repeated, or incorrectly capitalized in the spelling checker, and enable and set options for dynamic spelling. Dynamic spelling highlights errors in your document as they happen. You can specify underline colors for the different types of errors that appear, such as misspelled words, repeated words, and uncapitalized word or sentences.

Set Spelling Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Spelling.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Misspelled Words. Select to find and flag unrecognized words in the spelling dictionary.

• Repeated Words. Select to find and flag repeated words next to each other in a document. For example, “The the Spelling preferences dialog box ...”

• Uncapitalized Words. Select to find and flag uncapitalized proper nouns in the spelling dictionary (for example, proper name, such as “Steve”).

• Uncapitalized Sentences. Select to find and flag uncapitalized words in the spelling dictionary that begin sentences.

Select the Dynamic Spelling options you want to use:

• Enable Dynamic Spelling. Select to enable dynamic spelling, which highlights errors in your document as they occur.

• Misspelled Words. Select a color to highlight unrecognized words in the spelling dictionary.

• Repeated Words. Select a color to highlight repeated words next to each other in a document. For example, “The the Spelling preferences dialog box ...”

• Uncapitalized Words. Select a color to highlight uncapitalized proper words in the spelling dictionary (for example, proper name, such as “Steve”).

• Uncapitalized Sentences. Select a color to highlight uncapitalized words in the spelling dictionary that begin sentences.

Click OK.

Setting Notes Preferences

When you work with more than one person on the same document, it’s important to communicate changes and other information with each other. Notes are a great way to communicate with others and keep a record of it along with the document. Notes preferences allow you to select a user note color to make it easier to identify who wrote notes, show or hide note tooltips, and specify whether to include Notes text when you check spelling or use the Find/Change command.

Set Notes Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Notes.

Select the various options you want to use:

• Note Color. Specify a color for user notes.

• Show Note Tooltips. Select to display the text for a note when you point to it.

• Include Note Content When Checking Spelling. Select to check spelling for text in notes.

• Include Note Content in Find/Change Operations. Select to include text from notes in the Find/Change command on the Edit menu.

• Inline Background Color. Specify a background color for notes in the Story Editor.

Click OK.

Working with Appearance of Black Preferences

If a printer uses a combination of CMYK inks instead of the actual 100K black tone to create a rich black look, you can set options in the Appearance of Black preferences to specify how you want to create the appearance of black in your documents. There are two available options to determine the appearance of black in your document: one for On Screen and another one for Printing/Exporting. Each of the options allows you to specify how you want to work with the appearance of black (true black or rich black) in your documents.

Work with Appearance of Black Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Appearance of Black.

Select from the following Appearance of Black options:

• On Screen. Select Display All Blacks Accurately to display blacks based on actual CMYK color values or select Display All Blacks as Rich Black to display all blacks as rich blacks (a mix of CMYK values).

• Printing/Exporting. Select Output All Blacks Accurately to print blacks using actual CMYK color values on RGB and grayscale devices, or select Output All Blacks as Rich Black to print blacks as rich blacks (a mix of CMYK values) on RGB devices.

Select the Overprint [Black] Swatch at 100% check box to improve printing or saving separations for objects that use the [Black] (100K) swatch. This applies to PostScript and PDF output. Deselect to knock out objects below.

Click OK.

Setting Story Editor Display Preferences

The Story Editor is a separate window that only displays the text in your document. This is helpful when you want to focus just on the text and not on any of the other elements in your document. Story Editor Display preferences allow you to set text and background display options for the Story Editor window. You can specify the display font, font size, line spacing, text color, background or theme, and cursor or insertion point, style. A theme is a preset background and text color. If you want to display smoother text, you can enable the anti-aliasing option and select the type of anti-aliasing that best works for you. If the insertion point cursor is hard to see in the Story Editor, you can select cursor options to make it easier to see.

Set Story Editor Display Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Story Editor Display.

Select the Text Display options you want to use:

• Font. Specify a font typeface.

• Font Size. Specify a font size.

• Line Spacing. Specify a line spacing option: Singlespace, 150% space, Doublespace, or Triplespace.

• Text Color. Specify a text color.

• Background. Specify a background color.

• Theme. Specify a preset font color and background: Ink on Paper, Amber Monochrome, Classic System, or Terminal.

Select the Enable Anti-aliasing check box to soften the edges of text.

If you selected the Enable Anti-aliasing check box, click the Type list arrow, and then select one of the following options:

• Default. Uses normal anti-aliasing.

• LCD Optimized. Optimizes the display for light colored backgrounds with black text.

• Soft. Creates a softer look than the default setting.

Select the Cursor options you want to use:

• Cursor. Select a cursor display type: Standard (default), Barbell, Thick, or Block.

• Blink. Select to have the cursor blink on and off within the text.

Click OK.

Setting File Handling Preferences

File Handling preferences allow you to specify a document recovery data folder, create a preview thumbnail with saved documents, control the location of imported snippets when you drag them into a document, and control how graphic links are maintained and updated. You can also specify the number of files you want to display in the Recent Items list on the Welcome Screen or the Open Recent submenu on the File menu.

Set File Handling Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click File Handling.

To specify a document recovery data folder, click Browse (Win) or Choose (Mac), navigate to the folder, and then click Select.

Select the Saving InDesign Files options you want to use:

• Number of Recent Items to Display. Specify the number of files you want to display in the Recent Items list on the Welcome Screen or on the Open Recent submenu on the File menu.

• Always Save Preview Images with Documents. Select to save a preview image of the InDesign document along with the document for preview purposes in Open dialog boxes and other thumbnails.

Click the Preview Size list arrow, and then select a thumbnail size.

Select the Snippet Import option you want to use when you drag a snippet onto a page:

• Position at Original Location. Places the snippet at its original location.

• Position at Cursor Location. Places the snippet at the current cursor location instead of the original location.

Select the Links options you want to use:

• Check Links Before Opening Document. Select to check graphic links before opening a document (New!).

• Find Missing Links Before Opening Document. Select to prompt you to locate missing linked graphics before opening a document (New!).

• Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files. Select to create links to styles from original text and spreadsheet files to your new document.

• Preserve Image Dimensions When Relinking. Select to maintain graphic size when relinking the file (New!).

Click OK.

Setting Clipboard Handling Preferences

When you copy and paste information into an InDesign document, the information is temporarily stored on the Clipboard until something else replaces it. Copying and pasting information from other programs is an important part of creating an InDesign document, so InDesign allows you to set Clipboard preferences. Clipboard preferences allow you to specify how you want information to be pasted into a document. For example, you can have graphics or data pasted into a document as a PDF file, or paste text and tables from other programs with or without formatting.

Set Clipboard Handling Preferences

Click the Edit (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then point to Preferences.

Click Clipboard Handling.

Select the Clipboard options you want to use:

• Prefer PDF When Pasting. Select to paste graphics as independent PDF files.

• Copy PDF to Clipboard. Select to copy data as PDF files.

• Preserve PDF Data at Quit. Select to maintain copied PDF information on the Clipboard when you exit InDesign.

Click the All Information or Text Only option to either maintain formatting for all imported information or remove formatting for imported plain text.

Click OK.

Defining Shortcut Keys

A wise man once wrote “time is money,” and InDesign is a program that can consume a lot of time. That’s why the InDesign application uses keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard Shortcuts, as their name implies, let you perform tasks in a shorter period of time. For example, if you want to open a new document in InDesign, you can click the File menu, and then click New, or you can abandon the mouse and press Ctrl+N (Win) or (Mac) to use shortcut keys. Using shortcut keys reduces the use of the mouse and speeds up operations. InDesign raises the bar by not only giving you hundreds of possible shortcut keys, but also actually allowing you to define your own shortcuts. In fact, you can select options to create shortcuts for menus, panels, tools, and object editing (New!), such as scaling and sizing objects. In addition to adding shortcuts, you can delete any of them you don’t want and even print out a summary of shortcuts defined in InDesign.

Create or Edit a Keyboard Shortcut

Click the Edit menu, and then click Keyboard Shortcuts.

Click the Set list arrow, and then select a set.

Click the Product Area list arrow, and then select the area that contains the command for which you want to create or edit a shortcut.

Select an item from the Commands list.

Use the keyboard to create or change the shortcut. For example, press Ctrl+N (Win) or (Mac), and then click Assign.

Click OK.

Customizing Menus

InDesign’s pull-down menus actually contain hundreds of options (yes, I did say hundreds). If you find navigating through menus a hassle, then Adobe has the answer to your problem with a customizable user interface. In InDesign, you have the ability to choose what menu items appear on the pull-down menus and you can even colorize certain menu items for easier visibility.

Customize Menus

Click the Edit menu, and then click Menus.

Click the Set list arrow, and then select a listing of modified User Interfaces (if available) or customize the InDesign Defaults set to make your own.

To create a new set based on the current active set, click Save As, enter a name, and then click Save.

Click the Category list arrow, and then click Application Menus or Context & Panel Menus with the items you want to modify.

Click an arrow (left column) to expand the menu that contains the command you want to modify.

Click the Visibility icon associated with a command to show or hide the command.

Click the Color list arrow, and select a color for the selected command.

Click Save to save the new customized User Interface.

Click OK.

Configuring Plug-Ins

Plug-ins are external programs that provide additional functionality for the program. InDesign uses plug-ins to perform standard operations in the program. If you want to add more functionality, you can import a plug-in. Check the Adobe web site at www.adobe.com for information on the different plug-ins that are available for InDesign. The Configure Plug-ins dialog box gives you the ability to work with InDesign plug-ins. Typical plug-in options include enabling, disabling, deleting, and importing plug-ins.

Configure Plug-Ins

Click the Help (Win) or InDesign (Mac) menu, and then click Configure Plug-ins.

Click the Set list arrow, and then select a set, such as All Plug-ins, Adobe Plug-ins, or Required Plug-ins.

Select the plug-in you want to change.

Select check box options for Enabled, Disabled, Adobe, Third Party, Required, or Optional.

Use any of the following buttons to perform an operation:

• Duplicate. Click to duplicate the selected plug-in.

• Rename. Click to rename the selected plug-in.

• Delete. Click to remove the selected plug-in.

• Import. Click to import a plug-in.

• Export. Click to export a plug-in.

• Show Info. Click to display information about the selected plug-in.

Click OK.

Customizing the Control Panel

The Control panel appears at the top of the document window. The Control panel displays the options for the currently selected tool. However, if you want to display additional tools, you can use the Customize Control Panel dialog box to select the tools you want or remove the ones you don’t. If you prefer the Control panel in a different location, you can select options on the Control Panel menu (located on the far right-side of the panel).

Customize the Control Panel

Click the Control Panel menu, and then click Customize.

Click the triangle to expand the settings category.

Select or deselect the check boxes with the options you want and don’t want on the Control panel.

Click OK.

To change the position of the Control panel, click the Control Panel menu, and then select one of the following:

• Dock at Top. Docks the Control panel at the top of the document window.

• Dock at Bottom. Docks the Control panel at the bottom of the document window.

• Float. Undocks the Control panel into a floating window.