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Entries in InDesign (10)

Wednesday
Aug042010
DateWednesday, August 4, 2010 | | CommentPost a Comment |

Corner Effects in InDesign  

Every so often, when working in InDesign, I want a frame or box with rounded corners. And that’s really easy if you need to round all corners. But what if you want to round just one corner? Or opposite corners? There are lots of ways to do it, but it’s a little tougher. And more time consuming.

Yesterday, I was looking at solving a repetitive production problem by using a script in InDesign CS4. (I haven’t upgraded to CS5 yet.) I dove into scripting in InDesign to automate the process.

Most people have never opened the scripting panel (Window>Automation>Scripts). But in the scripting panel are sample scripts in Applescript and Javascript. I noticed a script titled “CornerEffects.applescript.” This struck me as odd, because there is a “Corner Options” command in InDesign. What made this script different? I opened it and got a dialog box…

The top part of the dialog box essentially provides the same options as the “Corner Options” command. And the offset box allows you to adjust the size of the corner. But what about the Pattern combo box? It defaults to “all points,” but take a look at the options available: first point, last point, second point, third point, odd points, even points and more…

Left: The starting shape. Middle: Rounded corners on odd points. Right: Beveled corners on first two points.

When applied to a box, it gives you the ability to round or bevel selected corners. Sometimes, it takes a little trial and error to figure out which point the “first” point is. The first point usually seems to be point in the upper left and then selection moves counterclockwise.

You can also use the odd and even points patterns on a star shape. “Odd points” effect the inside points. “Even points” modify the outside points.

Left: The starting shape. Middle: Rounded corners on odd points. Right: Rounded corners on even points.

I’m assuming this is still here in CS5 and I don’t have a copy of CS3 handy to see if its there, too. But if you need to round select corners on a shape in InDesign, this is a time-saver. (And check out the rest of the sample scripts, too.)

Friday
Feb052010
DateFriday, February 5, 2010 | | CommentPost a Comment |

Customizing InDesign's Links Panel

I’m primarily a print designer. So when it comes to linked files in InDesign, I need to know two main things – what is the color space of the linked file and what is the resolution of the file. InDesign CS4 makes it easy to find this info. If you click the arrow in the lower left hand corner of the Links Panel, you’ll see a link information box that gives you all sorts of data about the selected link including color space, actual PPI and effective PPI. (Actual PPI measures what the resolution of the file in it’s native form. Effective PPI calculates the output resolution based on how it is scaled within InDesign.)

It’s great and very handy, but you can only see one link at a time. And if you are trying to scan a document quickly to find low-res or RGB files, you still have to click on each link. Thankfully, Adobe offers another option. On the Links Panel, go to the flyout menu and select “Panel Options.” 

Select “Panel Options” from the flyout menu…

…and you can fully customize the appearance of your Link Panel.

Here you can customize what information is shown in the Link Info Box AND you can add information to show up in the Link Panel itself. Very handy for scanning a document quickly.

Link Panel showing color space and effective resolution.

Tuesday
Oct062009
DateTuesday, October 6, 2009 | + | Comment2 Comments |

How GREP can save you time in InDesign 

I received a file containing 100 pages of information in a table. The table needed to be placed into InDesign. No problem…

Well, of course there was one problem. Randomly, the lines began with spaces. Not every line, but most lines. So the left edge of the table looked ragged. So how do you take out random spaces at the beginning of text? In a table? Without doing it manually? (Because I have much better things to do than going through a 100+ page document line-by-line…)

What is GREP?

In InDesign CS3 and CS4, you can choose to do GREP find and change. GREP is a text search function originally written for UNIX. Basically, it lets you look for patterns and allows you to do find and replace based on those patterns.

So back to the random spaces…

What I had was a pattern. Find all spaces at the beginning of the paragraph and replace with nothing. GREP was the perfect solution. 

Next to the find and change fields are flyout menus (marked with “@”) that give you shortcuts to all of the variables. For example, go to “Locations>Beginning of a Paragraph” and InDesign inserts a “^” into the field.

So I typed “^ ” (there is a space after the ^) in the “Find what” field – which tells InDesign to find one space at the beginning of any paragraph. I left the “Change to” field blank, clicked “Change All” and several thousand instances were changed instantly. Without having to go through line-by-line…

EDIT: Above, I set up the search with the ^ (to find the beginning of the paragraph) and a space after it. And while it works, a reader pointed out correctly that a better search would have been “^\s+” which would have found one or more spaces at the beginning of a line.

What else can GREP do?

I’ve used GREP to replace dashes or periods at the beginning of lines. And GREP is perfect for standardizing the formatting of a phone number across an entire document. GREP is amazingly powerful and you can build a GREP search for anything with a pattern. I’ve only scratched the surface…

You can save queries to be reused. (Several sample searches – including a phone number formatting query – are already saved as a sample searches in InDesign. It’s located at the top of the dialog box.)

InDesign also lets you apply GREP-based character styles – for example, telling it to find all prices in a document and apply a particular style.

It’s probably not for everyone.

You aren’t going to need GREP find/change unless you are doing some pretty heavy duty, long document work like magazines, catalogs and directories.

I’m pretty sure most InDesign users aren’t doing that kind of work. But if that type of project comes across your desk, keep in mind that GREP might be a great – and time-saving – solution for your project. 

More resources

Want to learn more about what GREP can do for you? If you do a search for GREP, there are lots of resources out there. Two that I have found helpful:

 

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