ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS

David Blatner \ david@creativepro.com \ @dblatner

Adobe MAX \ S6312 and S6111 \ November 2019
ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

RESOURCES Bio: David Blatner is the author of 15 books and

dozens of videos about InDesign, Photoshop,
n indesignsecrets.com and many other topics—including the mysteries
n creativepro.com of pi (π), science, and religion. He’s the co-host
of InDesignSecrets.com, CreativePro.com,
n InDesign Magazine (indesignsecrets.com/magazine) and The InDesign Conference; the founder
n lynda.com or linkedin.com/learning and publisher of InDesign Magazine, the
(including many free videos in the InDesign Secrets title) creator of the PatternMaker plug-in (from
TeacupSoftware.com) and the Blatner Tools
n YouTube:
suite of plug-ins (from DTPTools.com).
n https://www.youtube.com/indesignsecrets
n https://www.youtube.com/creativepro
Free keyboard shortcuts
n Free Stuff: indesignsecrets.com/free poster and pin: First 1000
n Plug-ins and Scripts: indesignsecrets.com/resources/ people to the CreativePro
plug-ins-and-scripts booth #815

n Real World InDesign from Peachpit Press

Available Now: Adobe MAX
n The InDesign Conference
show special —visit the
n Ps/Ai: The Photoshop and Illustrator Conference for Designers
“Digital Guru” bookstore in the
n PePcon: Bridging Print + Digital Publishing
community pavilion. Tell them
n Click: The Presentation Design Conference
“David Blatner says hi!”
June 1–5 in Austin, Texas
creativeproweek.com

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

OUR GOALS: Download the App:

You will need the
A. Look into the nooks and crannies of InDesign, exploring features you
Adobe MAX app on
normally don’t have a chance to look at, or maybe don’t even know your phone or tablet.
about. Fill out the survey and
you could win a free
B. Smile more when you’re working. Adobe Press ebook
or an awesome 27”
ViewSonic monitor!
SECTION 1: DON’T FORGET THESE STEPS Please install it now
from the App Store or
Google Play:
1.  Preflight
Too many people just jump right to print or export without checking over
their document carefully. Run a spell check! Proof read! And then:
A. Preflight: Be sure to make your own preflight profile!
Window > Output > Preflight
Alternatively, open by double-clicking to the right of the green or red
dot in the lower-left corner of the document window.

B. Choose Define Profiles from the Preflight panel menu.

C. Click the + icon to add a new profile and then use the list of check-
boxes on the right to turn on important preflight checks. Here are my
favorites:
n Spot Color (in Color Spaces and Modes Not Allowed, in Color)
n [Registration] Applied (in Color)

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

n Font Missing (in Text)

n Glyph Missing (in Text)
n Non-Proportional Type Scaling (in Text)
n Minimum Type Size (set to 4 pt)
n Non-Proportional Scaling of Placed Object (in Images)
n Minimum Stroke Weight (set to .25 pt)
n Bleed/Trim Hazard (set to 6 pt on all sides)
n All Pages Must Use Same Size and Orientation (in Document)

D. Click Save, then Done. Then choose your new profile in the popup
menu at the top of the Preflight panel.
Test the profile on your document.
Note that the Bleed/Trim Hazard doesn’t work when an object is
aligned with the page edge (perhaps a bug?)

Other things to check:

n Overprint Preview: The only good way to get an accurate view of your
colors
n Proof Colors (Can even show you a grayscale version of your
document)
n Choose Window > Output > Separations Preview
Set the View menu in the panel to Separations and move your cursor
around the page. Watch the “densitometer” readings in the panel.
n Proof Colors (Can even show you a grayscale version of your
document)

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

2.  Ink Manager

n Ink Manager: Find it in the Swatches panel menu (or 4 other places)
n This is critical for finding when spot colors have been used—which is
unfortunately common.

SECTION 2: HTML: THE NEXT FRONTIER

Remember that InDesign is a page-layout app, but those “pages” can be
either print or on-screen pages!

Interactive file formats include PDF, EPUB, Publish Online, and HTML. You can
create: hyperlinks, buttons, animations, timing, multi-state objects, video, etc.
n eBooks

n eMagazines

n Explainers

n Portfolios

n Training

n Web sites/microsites

n Apps

n Presentations (why are you still using PowerPoint?!)

Tools:
n EPUB (fixed layout)

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

n Publish Online is a Creative Cloud service that converts your InDesign

document into HTML (and CSS, JavasScript, and SVG) and posts it on an
Adobe server for distribution. You cannot download the HTML or put it
on your own server. (I hope they’ll add this in the future.)
n HTML Export Script (Keith Gilbert; The free is cool, but very limited.)
n in5 from AjarProductions.com
This now lets you create presentations (including auto-build bullets,
page transitions, and more)

SECTION 3: AUTOMATION
1.  Automation Through Styles
You probably already know how important styles are—if you’re not diligently
using character and paragraph styles (and probably even object styles!), you
are not being efficient in InDesign.

Note: Never apply a character style to an entire paragraph! That’s what

paragraph styles are for.

GREP is a great way to find patterns in text. You can use it for Find/Change
or inside paragraph styles (to apply formatting automatically, via character
styles).

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

Here are some sample GREP expressions you can use:

n P[\w-]+?k
(words that start with P, contain either a letter, number, or hyphen,
and end with k)
n \b\w+-\w+\b
(all words that contain a hyphen)
n “.+?”
(all words inside double-quote marks, including the quotes)
n (?<=\( ).+?(?=\))
(all words inside parentheses, not including the parens)

More GREP resources:

n Look inside the small @ menu to find other special codes

n See page 14 of this handout for many more examples of GREP codes
you can use.
n GREP in InDesign book (show special at the MAX bookstore)

n indesignsecrets.com/grep

2.  Six easy and free scripts every InDesign user should have
InDesign is highly extensible through add-ons (plug-ins, scripts, extensions).
n Sample Scripts:

n MakeGrid
n FindChangeByList

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

n Learn more about the “sample” scripts that ship with InDesign, in the
Scripts panel:
http://indesignsecrets.com/default-sample-scripts-indesign.php
n Layout Zone
http://www.automatication.com/index.php?id=12
n CalendarWizard
http://calendarwizard.sourceforge.net/
n BreakStories / StorySplitter
https://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-split-long-story-into-smaller-
pieces-unthreading-middle-story.php
n Photo Flinger
https://www.premediasystems.com/scripts.html

Bonus scripts:
n Number Adjuster
http://indesignsecrets.com/free-script-to-change-all-numbers-in-a-
document-using-math.php
n MultiPageImporter
http://indesignsecrets.com/zanelli-releases-multipageimport-
er-for-importing-both-pdf-and-indd-files.php
n Page Exporter Utility
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.
cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=1254518
n Table Sort
http://www.kahrel.plus.com/indesign/tablesort.html

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

n Table Transpose (switch columns and rows)

https://indesignsecrets.com/switching-rows-columns-indesign-table.
php

How to install scripts you find on the web:

n http://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-install-scripts-in-indesign.php

n http://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-install-a-script-in-indesign-that-
you-found-in-a-forum-or-blog-post.php

3.  Data Merge and Beyond

Data Merge is a feature inside InDesign that too few users know about! It’s
actually very easy to use for creating multiple versions of a layout with vari-
able text and graphics.

However, Data Merge is relatively simple, so it’s usually not powerful enough
for catalogs, directories, or massive/complex projects.

Resources:
n LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com)

n InDesignSecrets

4.  InDesign Server

n Silicon Publishing Inc (siliconpublishing.com)
n PrintUI (printui.com)
n Priint (priint.com)

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

n Typefi (typefi.com)
n More specific verticals: Wave2, MediaWide, XMPie, Meadows, 65bit

SECTION 4: Q&A AND FILL IN THE SURVEY

Note: If you don’t get your question answered, email me at
david@indesignsecrets.com (and remind me that you were in my class at Adobe MAX).

Please use the Adobe MAX app to fill out the quick survey for this Session,
which you can find in “My Schedule”

One survey will be randomly drawn for a prize: a free Adobe Press ebook or
an awesome 27” ViewSonic monitor!

And don’t forget:

n your free poster and pin at booth #815

n $100 off CreativePro Week (with code MAX)

n 50% off InDesign Magazine (see flyer or booth)

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

SECTION 5: BONUS TIPS (EXPLORE ON YOUR OWN)

n Spacebar Distribution
n Scaling objects to a precise size
n Two articles you must read about RGB vs CMYK:
n Why You Should Import RGB Images Into InDesign and Convert to CMYK
On Export: https://indesignsecrets.com/import-rgb-images-inde-
sign-convert-cmyk-export.php
n RGB Workflow from Photoshop to Final PDF: https://creativepro.com/
rgb-workflow-from-photoshop-to-final-pdf/
n Convert text to outlines the right way: If someone says “convert all
your text to outlines,” you should really question them. This may be a
reasonable request when making signage, or promotional products,
or other custom print situations. It is not reasonable for normal print-
ing! That said, if you’re going to do it, do it right. Export PDF as usual
and then use Acrobat DC: Open the Print Production panel and choose
Preflight. In the Search field, search for “outline” to select the “Converts
fonts to outlines” fixup. Click Analyze and Fix and then save as…
https://indesignsecrets.com/outlining-fonts-the-2016-edition.php
n Setting Text on an Angle: https://indesignsecrets.com/mak-
ing-text-lines-sit-diagonal.php
n Making transparency masks in InDesign: Make a mask object and set it
to zero percent opacity; group it with another object (the object you’re
masking); turn on Knockout Group in Effects panel.

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 Adobe InDesign CC
Secret Keyboard Shortcuts The essential resource for all things InDesign
www.indesignsecrets.com

Documents Object editing

New default document zUN Ctrl+Alt+N Edit Original U doubleclick Alt+doubleclick
Close all open documents zUXW Ctrl+Shift+Alt+W Decrease size / scale by 1% 5% z, zU, Ctrl+, Ctrl+Alt+,
Rebuild Preferences (press during Ctrl z U X Ctrl+Shift+Alt Increase size / scale by 1% 5% z. zU. Ctrl+. Ctrl+Alt+.
program launch until Alert appears) Nudge by 1/10 z X Arrow Keys Ctrl+Shift+Arrows
Document History & Plug-in Info z About InDesign Ctrl+About InDesign Nudge by 10× X Arrow Keys Shift+Arrow Keys
Toggle Measurement System zUXU Ctrl+Shift+Alt+U Toggle Live Corners Mode 4 4
Override Master Page item z X click Ctrl+Shift+ click
Tools panel Select Container, Content esc, Xesc esc, Shift+esc
Temporary Hand Tool U Spacebar Alt+Spacebar Transform Sequence Again zU4 Ctrl+Alt+4
Temporary Zoom Tool z Spacebar Ctrl+Spacebar Transform: Move Item zXM Ctrl+Shift+M
Apply default fill and stroke colors D D Hide z3 Ctrl+3
Swap fill and stroke activation X X
Show All On Spread zU3 Ctrl+Alt+3
Swap fill and stroke colors XX Shift+X
Toggle color affects text/its frame J J
Text navigation
Preview mode on/off W W
Move to the start of the line Home Home
Move to the end of the line End End
Text Move to beginning of story z Home Ctrl+Home
Load Find and Find Next instance X F1 Shift+F1 Move to end of story z End Ctrl+End
Load Find with selected text z F1 Ctrl+F1 Select to end of story z X End Ctrl+Shift+End
Load Replace with selected text z F2 Ctrl+F2 Move to the next paragraph z Down Arrow Ctrl+Down Arrow
Replace Change To text and Find Next X F3 Shift+F3 Move to the previous paragraph z Up Arrow Ctrl+Up Arrow
Recompose all stories zU/ Ctrl+Alt+/ Go to first frame in thread z U X Page Up Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Pg Up
Toggle Typographer’s Quotes Pref. UXz’ Ctrl+Shift+Alt+’ Go to last frame in thread z U X Page Down Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Pg Dn
Create outlines (text remains) zUXO Ctrl+Shift+Alt+O Go to next frame in thread z U Page Down Ctrl+Alt+Page Down
Align to baseline grid zUXG Ctrl+Shift+Alt+G Go to previous frame in thread z U Page Up Ctrl+Alt+Page Up
Auto-hyphenate on/off zUXH Ctrl+Shift+Alt+H Select current line zX\ Ctrl+Shift+\
Toggle Table Cell/Text Selection Escape Escape z = Command (“Apple”), U = Option, X = Shift

©2015 Creative Publishing Network, Inc. n indesignsecrets.com n indesignconference.com n pepcon.com Designed and produced by David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepción
 Character formatting Display views
Auto leading zUXA Ctrl+Shift+Alt+A Fit Selection in Window zU= Ctrl+Alt+=
Increase/Decrease Baseline shift U X Up/Down Arrow Alt+Shift+Up/Down Arr. View Scale 50%, 200%, 400% z 5, z 2, z 4 Ctrl+5, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+4
Increase/Decrease Baseline shift 5× z U X Up/Down Arrow Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Up/Down Toggle current/previous view scale zU2 Ctrl+Alt+2
Increase/Decrease Kerning/Tracking U Right/Left Arrow Alt+Right/Left Arrow Force screen redraw X F5 Shift+F5
Increase/Decrease Kerning/Tracking z U Right/Left Arrow Ctrl+Alt+Right/Left Arrow Clear Object-Level Settings z X F2 Ctrl+Shift+F2
5× Presentation Background: Black/White B or W B or W
Increase/Decrease Leading U Down/Up Arrow Alt+Down/Up Arrow Show/Hide Conveyor UB Alt+B
Increase/Decrease Leading 5× z U Down/Up Arrow Ctrl+Alt+Down/Up Arrow
Increase/Decrease Text point size z X . or , Ctrl+Shift+. or ,
Page navigation
Increase/Decrease Text point size 5× z U X . or , Ctrl+Shift+Alt+. or ,
Next window z` Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+ `
Increase/Decrease Word space z U \ or Delete Ctrl+Alt+\ or Backspace Previous window zX` Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Increase/Decrease Word space 5× z U X \ or Delete Ctrl+Shift+Alt+\ or Bckspc First Spread U X Page Up, Home Home
Reset font style (to “Regular”) zXY Ctrl+Shift+Y Last Spread U X Page Dn., End End
Reset kerning and tracking to 0 zUQ Ctrl+Alt+Q Next Spread U Page Down Alt+Page Down
Reset horizontal text scale to 100% zXX Ctrl+Shift+X Previous Spread U Page Up Alt+Page Up
Reset vertical text scale to 100% zUXX Ctrl+Shift+Alt+X

Panel tricks
Special characters Show/Hide all panels Tab Tab
Bullet U8 Alt+8 Show/Hide all panels except X Tab Shift+Tab
Copyright Symbol UG Alt+G Tools and Control
Registration Symbol UR Alt+R Open/Close all docked panels z U Tab Ctrl+Alt+Tab
Em Dash UX– Alt+Shift+ – Activate last-used field in panel zU` Ctrl+Alt+`
En Dash U– Alt+ – Jump to Control Panel z6 Ctrl+6
Ellipsis U; Alt+ ; Switch Character and Paragraph zU7 Ctrl+Alt+7
Modes in Control Panel
Right Indent Tab X Tab Shift+Tab
New index page reference z7 Ctrl+7
Add new index entry zUX[ Ctrl+Shift+Alt+[

z= Command (“Apple”), U=Option, X=Shift

The essential resource for all things InDesign
www.indesignsecrets.com

©2015 Creative Publishing Network, Inc. n indesignsecrets.com n indesignconference.com n pepcon.com Designed and produced by David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepción
ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

Introduction to GREP in InDesign

by David Blatner, InDesignSecrets.com
INTRODUCTION TO GREP IN INDESIGN
©2009 David Blatner

GREP Basics: Finding Text Using Codes (“regular expressions”)

Shows up in InDesign in 3 places: Find/Change, GREP Styles (CS4), and scripts (?<=\d)(rd|th|st) Find st, rd, or th ordinals (such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd) that
You don’t need to remember codes. Always look for that @ flyout menu. follow a digit—in order to apply superscript to just
the ordinal (not the digit).
Expressing Or (?<=\().+?(?=\)) Find any text inside parentheses, but not including
(Milk|Dark) Chocolate Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate the parentheses. This uses “Positive Lookbehind”
and “Positive Lookahead”
(m|M)ilk (c|C)hocolate Milk Chocolate, milk chocolate, milk Chocolate,
Milk chocolate Escape!
[mM]ilk chocolate milk chocolate or Milk chocolate \$\d\.\d\d Find a dollar sign followed by one digit, a period,
and two digits. Note that the dollar and dot have to
[^m]ilk ailk, bilk, etc., but not milk be “escaped” because they normally mean some-
(?i)milk Case insensitive: Milk, milk, mILk, etc. thing different.
colou?r color or colour (the ? means the previous character \(.+\) Find anything inside parentheses (again, parens
need to be escaped)
or expression may or may not be there)
\Q(a+b*c?)\E Escape everything; that is, find (a+b*c) exactly,
Wildcards without having to worry about escaping each spe-
cial character.
[cC][\l\u]+e Any string of letters that starts with c and ends with
e, such as chocolate, Chocolate, case, coarse, etc.
Fun Tricks
\<c\w+e\> Any whole word that begins with c and ends with e
Description Find Change to
\bc\w+e\b Exactly the same as above, but using \b for “word Add an anchored object at the ^(.) ~C$1
boundary” beginning of each paragraph
\s+$ All spaces at the end of a paragraph (cut object to clipboard first)
Reverse first and last name (but ^(\w+)([ .\w]+)? (\w+) $3, $1$2
\s+\Z Remove spaces at end of story watch out for middle names or
[\l\u\d.]+@[\l\u\d.]+ Simple e-mail address (e.g. david@indesignsecrets. initials, too)
com or d2@AB.net) After reversing the names (see ^(\w+, [ .\w]+) (Van|De) $2 $1
\d{4} Find any four digits (the curly brace expression is above), fix any last names that
started with Van or De.
not found in the InDesign @ menu)
Find and remove duplicate \b(\w+)\b \1 $1
[-\u\l\d._]+@[-\u\l\d_]+\.[\u\l] More “robust” email (e.g. david-blatner_2@63P. words
{2,4} com) Find and remove duplicate ^(.+\r)\1+ $1
\d+/\d+ any fraction, such as 1/2, 22/7, or 355/113 paragraphs/lines in a list
Find lists in which people have ^\d+\. ?(.) $1 (and apply para-
(?<!\d)(?<!/)\d+/(?!11)(?!0) Robust fraction grep: Will find fractions, but leave
actually typed a number fol- graph style that in-
(?!9)\d{1,3}(?!/)(?!\d) out dates such as 6/98, 9/11, or 6/17/2012. Unfor- lowed by a period followed by cludes auto numbers)
tunately, it fails on 355/113 (which happens to be a a space, and apply automatic
reasonably good approximation of π, proving that numbered list style.
nothing is perfect).
[[=a=]] Find any kind of a, no matter the accent, including Learning More About GREP
a, á, à, ä, etc. www.indesignsecrets.com/grep

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ADOBE INDESIGN: PRO-LEVEL SECRETS
David Blatner • Adobe MAX 2019
IndesignSecrets.com \ creativepro.com

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