InDesign

A Brief Manual

By Tom Clanin
California State University, Fullerton

Copyright 2009

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Introduction
InDesign is pagination software used to create newspapers, magazines, brochures and other publica-
tions, including this manual. The program was created by Adobe Systems Inc., and its tool bar and
other tools look and work similar to Adobe PhotoShop. It is also very similar to Abode PageMaker,
which InDesign replaced.

InDesign can be used for more elaborate publications than newspapers, but we are going to focus on
the tools and techniques needed newspapers.

We will use InDesign to

• Import stories and photos and other graphics onto a page and place them where desired
• Format text to the newspaper’s style
• Create columns of text
• Wrap text around photos or other objects
• Jump text to a different page
• Crop and size photos
• Put frames around photos
• Create boxes and place text in them

Linking imported text and images

The photos and other images you see on the screen are low resolution facsimiles of the original im-
ages. This helps the computer run faster.

Those images are linked to the “real,” high resolution images in the folder from which you placed the
image. When the document is printed, InDesign looks for the linked images and prints those rather
than the low-resolution images.
Keep all your photos and graphics in one folder to reduce the chances of breaking the links.

Viewing the page

To see the entire page on the computer monitor, hit Ctrl + zero on a PC and Apple + zero on a Mac.
To make the page bigger, hit Ctrl + the plus sign on a PC and Apple + the plus sign on a Mac.
To make the page smaller, hit Ctrl + the hyphen on a PC and Apple + the hyphen on a Mac.
You can also click on the zoom tool in the Tool bar and then drag the mouse over the area you want
enlarged.

Undo
Ctrl + Z on a PC and Apple + Z on a Mac will undo your last action. You’ll find this handy if you acci-
dently replace a photo or story with a new photo or story or delete text in some other way.

Save often
This is a powerful program and does freeze occasionally. Saving you document often will avoid a
great deal of grief. Once the document is created and named, hit Ctrl + S on a PC and Apple + S on
a Mac to save.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The best way to learn this and other programs is to use them. Take the time to drill yourself before
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you are on deadline

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Tool bar Use the Tool bar to create or edit text, create a text box, and size, crop and
frame photos.

The Tool bar has other functions, as well.

Use the black arrow, called the Selection Tool to move, change the shape of the
box or to set text wrap. Shortcut key: V
Use the white arrow to change the size of photos within their frames or to move
photos within their frames. Shortcut key: A
Use the Type Tool to create text boxes and to edit or type text. Shortcut key: T

The Rule (line) tool creates lines. Hold the shift to get a horizontal or vertical rule.

The Rectangular Frame tool creates boxes to use as place holders. Shortcut
key: H

The Hand tool move the document on the computer monitor. Shortcut key: H

The Zoom tool enlarges or reduces the size of the page view.
Hold the Alt key on a PC to reduce the size of the page. Shortcut key: Z

Preview hides the column guides and other guides so you can see what the
actual page looks like.

Shortcut key: W

This button turn Preview off.

If the Tool bar is not on the

screen, click on Window at the top
of the screen and then click on
Tools.

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Control bar
The Control bar (at the top of the screen) allows you to manipulate text and box sizes.

When clicked on the Text (T) tool on the Tool bar

Paragraph control bar

adjusts quading, leading and any other non-font formatting in the text box

Font control bar

adjusts font, size, leading etc.

When clicked on the black arrow on the Tool bar

shows size, position and proportion of text or photo frames

If the Control bar is not on the screen, click on Window at the top of the screen and then click on
Control.

You can set rulers and Control

bar measurements in inches,
picas, points, millimeters or cen-
timeters. To change the measure-
ments, click on Edit at the top of
the scree, then Preferences and
then Units & Increments.

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Text
Importing text
To import text onto the page, click on File at the top of the
screen and click Place.
You can also hit Ctrl + D on a PC or Apple + D on a Mac.

Find the folder with the story and click on the story. An icon
that looks like the upper-left hand corner of a page of text will
appear.

If you have created a text box and it is highlighted the story

will flow into that text box.

If you have not highlighted a text box, click where you what
the text on the page and it will be placed there in a one-
column text box.

It usually is easier to create a text that is the desired width

and number columns before placing the text.

Changing the number of columns in a text box

Highlight the text box with the black arrow in the Tool bar.
Change the number on the right end of the Control bar.

Trouble shooting
Be aware that text or photos will automatically place in any highlighted box on the page.

Any photo or text in the highlighted box will be replaced by the new text or photo.

Sometimes text will disappear behind a photo or appear on be top of the photo. Click on Object at
the top of the screen and then Arrange to correct the problem.

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 Paragraph styles
byline style By Susan McRoberts caption Nobody's idol
Staff Writer
(9.5 pt Garamond) SOUTH WHITTIER -- Parked big- headline
rig trucks are an eyesore and pose a
danger to children on the streets of style (for
body text style unincorporated South Whittier, said stand-alone
(9.5 pt Garamond community activist Joan Kato, who
has been fighting for more than a year photos)
with 10 pt leading) to have parking for tractor-trailers and
(18pt
other trucks restricted.
This week, she got what she want- Garamond)
continued lines See Parking Page 4

style (9 pt Tahoma)

“The county section

pull quote style of Whittier has turned
(Garamond) into a truck stop, and Charles Devalle, 29, was
dressed as the "Adams
some of the drivers caption text Family" characters Uncle
don’t even live here." style
Fester and Thing for his audi-
tion for the "American Idol"
Joan Kato, (10 pt Tahoma TV show Tuesday at the Rose
with 12 pt Bowl in Pasadena. An esti-
community activist mated 10,000 people attended
leadding) the auditions. (Staff photo by
headline style Walt Mancini)
(Tahoma with “auto-
matic” leading)
This is a 30 point headline
drop heads This is a drop, or deck head; it
(decks) style is one sentence using correct
(15 pt Garamond grammar and complete verb
with “automatic” phrases
leading)

1 pt rule (line)
continued headline style Parking
(18 pt Garamond) From Page 1
ed.
continued lines style On March 4, signs were post-
(10 pt Tahoma) ed by the Los Angeles County
Department of Public Works on
the west side of Painter Avenue
between Mulberry Drive and
Walburg Street. On Wednesday,
crews hung them on the east side.
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Parking of commercial vehi-
cles over 3 tons is now prohibited
there.
“We are not a parking lot,”
Kato said, pointing to a white
truck she says has been parked in
the same spot for two weeks. “The
county section of Whittier has
turned into a truck stop, and some
of the drivers don’t even live here.
They park and have someone in a
car pick them up and take them to
their own neighborhood. Can you
believe that?”

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Linking text boxes
Linking text boxes allows the text to jump (continue) to another page.

Linking boxes is preferred to cutting the pasting the jump into a new text box because it allows you
to make changes in the story after it’s been linked without having to move text from one text box to
another.

This plus sign near the lower right corner of a text

box indicates that not all of the story is visible.

Create a text box using the T in the Tool bar if the

jump is more than one column wide. Don’t bother
creating a text box is the jump is one column.

Using the black arrow in the Tool bar, click on the

plus sign. The pointer will change to look like a
rectangle with text.

Click in the text box on the page the story is

jumping to. Type will flow into the next text box or
the one-column default text box.

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Making the bottom of the columns even
The bottoms of the columns of text have to be even, like the example at the bottom of this page.
Lining up columns can be tedious. Here are some suggestions.

If the story is one line short, look for a multi-sentence paragraph that you can breaker into shorter
paragraphs to create an extra line.

If the story is one or two lines long, combine paragraphs or edit the story to fit.

You can also manipulate the text by using the tools in the Control bar.

Click on the
text tool on
the Tool bar

Click on the text icon in the

Control bar top of the screen

The arrow on the right is pointing to the kerning setting in Control bar at
the top of the screen. Kerning allows you to change the space between
letters and words. The default is zero. Highlight all the story text (not the
byline) and try increasing the number to 5 or 10. This will cause the text
to spread onto new lines. Do not increase the spacing enough to make
the change noticeable

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Making the bottom of the columns even
If the last column is one-line short, you can also create a sepa-
rate text box for that column, link the text to it, and then add
leading to that column.

original, 3-col text box:

2-col text box + 1-col text box:

You can also try aligning text vertically using Text Frame Options

Select the text box using the Selection Tool.

At the top of the screen, click on Object
and then Text Frame Options.
Choose Justify to vertically align justify the
text.
You can specify the paragraph spacing limit
to control the space between paragraphs.

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Making the bottom of the columns even
You can also change the leading – the space between the lines – to make the story longer.

The setting for leading is in the Control bar when a text box “A” is
highlighted.

If the story is one line short, highlight the last column of text and in-
crease the leading a few tenths of a point.

If the story is several lines short, highlight the entire story.

Do not increase the leading so much that the change will noticeable to the reader.

You can also put blank lines between the paragraphs, and then set
the leading for the blank lines at 1 to 4 points.

Sometimes if the text is only one line short, you can click on
Align Baseline Grid in the Control bar’s paragraph settings.

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Hiding and viewing guides and text and frame edges
Use either arrow. At the top of screen, click on
View > Show/Hide Frame Edges
and View > Grids & Guides > Show/Hide Guides

Shortcut key: W

You can also click on the

Preview button on the Tool bar

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Putting stories and/or photos in boxes
There is probably more than one way to do this, but I have found that this method causes
the least amount of problems for me.

Basically, I create one box the full column width, and then create a second text box for
the text and put that box inside the first one.

To put a screen over text:

• Create the box that will be the outer frame; use the space holder box.

• On the pasteboard, the area on the monitor that’s not part of a page, create a text box
and place the story in it.

• Drag that text box into the box that will frame the story.

If the box with text disappears behind the first box, highlight the text box with the black arrow and
click on Object > Arrange > Bring to Front at the top of the screen.

• Create a second text box on the pasteboard for the headline and drag it onto the box.

Leave one pica (0.167 inches) of space between the box that frames the story and headline and the
type. You can change the measurements on the ruler to picas by clicking on Edit > Preferences >
Units & Increments at the top of the screen.

Click on the ruler at the top and left of the screen to drag a guide onto the page to set the proper
amount of white space.

To screen the box, click on the box framing the story and headline with the black arrow. Click on
Swatches at the right edge of the screen, or click on Windows > Swatches. Click on black.

Click on Color at the right edge of the screen, or click on Windows > Color. Set the percent of fill at
about 15%.

Students may be allowed to carry cell phones

Students could be allowed to bring
cellular telephones to school next year
under legislation the state Senate Education
Committee approved Wednesday on a 12-
0 vote.
Senate Bill 1253, which is expected to
go the Senate floor in a couple of weeks,
would give school districts the discretion
to make their own decisions on whether to
allow cell phones on school grounds. State
law now bans cell phones from schools.
Whittier-area educators applauded the
bill, saying it would give them more local
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policy changes they might adopt.
“We will have a pretty good discussion
on that topic before we allow them,” said
Anthony Avina, superintendent of the
Whittier Union High School District.
“Safety is a big concern because kids
are often times waiting for parents to pick
them up,” Avina said. “On the other hand,
(cellphones) can interrupt the classroom.
How many cellphones can go off in an
hour?”
The bill was one of three dealing with
the issue that went to the Senate committee
the version by state Sen.. Liz Figueroa,
sending it to the floor for a vote, which
could happen within a couple of weeks.
“This was the hardest committee. We
should enjoy a positive result now,” said
Figueroa, D-Fremont.
Sen. Bob Margett, R-Arcadia, and
Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-Pasadena,
carried similar bills.
Their measures were in essence folded
into Figueroa’s legislation and they will
now be listed as principal co-authors of

control but said they aren’t sure what Wednesday. Lawmakers voted to move Figueroa’s bill.

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Putting stories and/or photos in boxes
Nobody's idol
To put text and/or photo in a framed box:
• Create the box that will be the outer frame; use the space
holder box. Set the stroke (frame width) at 1 pt.

• On the pasteboard, the area on the monitor that’s not part of a

page, create a text box and place the story in it.

• Drag that text box into the box that will frame the story.

If the box with text disappears behind the first box, highlight the
text box with the black arrow and click on Object > Arrange >
Bring to Front at the top of the screen.

• Create a second text box on the pasteboard for the headline Charles Devalle, 29, was
and drag it onto the box. dressed as the "Adams
Family" characters Uncle
Fester and Thing for his audi-
Leave one pica (0.167 inches) of space between the box that
tion for the "American Idol"
frames the story and headline and the type. You can change the TV show Tuesday at the Rose
measurements on the ruler to picas by clicking on Edit > Prefer- Bowl in Pasadena. An esti-
ences > Units & Increments at the top of the screen. mated 10,000 people attended
the auditions. (Staff photo by
Walt Mancini)
Click on the ruler at the top and left of the screen to drag a guide
onto the page to set the proper amount of white space.

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Grouping items
Grouping items – such as a story, headline and photo in a box – allows you to move them or cut and
paste them as one unit. This saves time and eliminates the possibility of individual items accidently
being moved or deleted.

Using the black arrow on the Tool bar, click on the first item; hold down the Shift key and click on the
other items.

You can also press the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the items you want to group.

Click on Object > Group or Object > Ungroup on the Control bar.

You can also hit Control + G on a PC or Apple + G on a Mac to group and Shift + Control + G on a
PC and Shift + Apple + G on a Mac to ungroup.

Spell check
To access the spell check, click on Edit > Spelling > Check
Spelling on the Control Bar, or hit Ctrl + I on a PC and Apple +
I on a Mac.

You can set it to check one text box or the entire document.
I recommend the entire document. That will include the
headlines and captions.

Be aware that like all spell check programs, this spell check is
comparing words in the document with words in its dictionary.
It does not check word usage.

Using Edit > Spelling > Dynamic Spelling will flag words in the
text that are not in the program’s dictionary with a red underline when they are typed or imported.

En dash
The en dash, which is used in the first sentence of “Grouping items,” serves as a comma when
commas are in the portion of the sentence normally set off by commas. It is the width of the letter N.

To insert an en dash, click on Type > Insert Special Character > En Dash in the Control bar, or hit
Control + hyphen on a PC or Apple + hyphen on a Mac.

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Creating rules

Rules (lines) may have zero stroke (thickness)

as a default. Use the Stroke tool box to set
the point size of the rule or box. Click on
Window > Stroke to access the Stroke tools.

A weight of
1 pt usually is
sufficient.

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Photos
Importing photos
You can use the text or either arrow tool

Click on File > Place, or hit ctrl + D on a PC and

Apple + D on a Mac

Find and click on the photo you want to import.

Click on the page where you want the upper left

corner of the photo placed. The photo will appear.

Text wrap prevents type from running over or

behind the photo. Click on Window > Text Wrap;
Click on second option from the left.

Cropping and sizing photos

Click on the photo with the black arrow. Hold the mouse over the lower left corner of the photo until
the mouse looks like a line with arrows at both ends.

Press the shift key and drag the photo frame to the desired column width. (Using the shift key keeps
the photo proportional.) Keep the shift key pressed until you stop using
the mouse.

Click on Object at the top of the screen > Fitting > Fill Frame
Proportionally. The photo will change size to fill the frame. You can
also right click on the photo and then click on Fitting > Fill Frame
Proportionally.

Click on the photo with the white arrow. The frame should turn brown. Change the percentage in
the Control bar to increase or reduce the size of the photo. Make sure the chain to the right of the
percentages is linked so the height and width percents remain the same. If the height percent is
different than the width percent, the photo will become distorted.

You can also change the size (on a PC) by holding down the Crtl and Alt keys while pressing the <
and > keys to the right of the M key.

Highlight the photo with the black arrow and move the frame to the desired size and cropping.

Highlight the photo with the white arrow. The mouse will turn into a hand. Use the hand to move the
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photo within the blue frame.

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Photos
Cropping and sizing photos
To change the size of a photo or graphic after it’s been cropped,
Highlight the photo with the Selection Tool (black arrow).
Hold down the shfit and control (apple) at the same time.
Put the cursor on any corner of the photo and drag it to the correct size.

Framing photos
Photos needs a rule (line) around You can also click on
them. the photo with the black
arrow so the blue frame
Using the black arrow, click on the appears, and then right
photo. Click on Window > Stroke, click on the photo.
set the weight at 0.5 pt. Then click on Stroke
Weight.

Setting text wrap

Text wrap is the amount of space between the
photo and text or between two text boxes.

Normally, you don’t need to

set a text wrap. It generally is only needed
when a pull quote or half-column mug (called a
thumbnail) is inserted into the text.

If you need a runaround, use or 9 points, or

0.125 inches.

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Printing with an Apple computer
Click on File > Print
(or hit Apple + P)

Click on Setup

Make sure orientation

matches the page

Click on Scale To Fit

Click on Print
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Shortcut keys on the Mac
New document: Apple + N Fit content proportionally: option + shift + Apple
Open document: Apple + O +E

Copy: Apple + C Group items: Apple + G

Cut: Apple + X Ungroup items: shift + Apple + G
Paste: Apple + V
Paste in place: opt + shift + Apple + V All caps: shift + Apple + K
Small caps: shift + Apple + H
Select all: Apple + A
Deselect all: shift + Apple + A Underline: shift + Apple + U

Duplicate: opt + shift + Apple + D Align center: shift + Apple + C

Undo: Apple + Z
Redo: shift + Apple + Z
Save: Apple + S
Save as: shift + Apple + S
Save all: option + shift + Apple + S
Close file: Apple + W
Close program Apple + Q
Print: Apple + P
Align force justify: shift + Apple + F
Align justify: shift + Apple + J
Align left: shift + Apple + L
Align right: shift + Apple + R
Bold: shift + Apple + B
Italics: shift + Apple + I
Hide/show grids: Apple + ;
Hide/show rulers: Apple + R
Hide/show guides: W

Export: Apple + E Use selection tool: V

Use text tool: T
Place content on document: Apple + D Use photo tool: A
Use create box tool: F
Decrease document size: Apple + - Use hand tool: H
Increase document size: Apple + +
Zoom Z Underline: shift + Apple + U
Bold: shift + Apple + B
Bring forward: Apple + ] Italics: shift + Apple + I
Bring to front: shift + Apple + ]
Send backward: Apple + [
Send to back: shift + Apple + [

Drop shadow: option + Apple + M

Center content: shift + Apple + E

Fit content proportionally:

option + shift + Apple + E

Fit content to frame: option + Apple + E

Fit frame to content: option + Apple + C
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