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Course Reference Handout

ADOBE INDESIGN -
HANDOUTS
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DAY 2
 ADOBE INDESIGN
Module 03
Creating Color Swatches: ■■ Hold down Alt/Option + New Style button.
■■ Name Styles > Choose Apple Style to Selection.
Swatches are saved colors which make it easier to apply colors
quickly and have global changes.
Working with Paragraph Rules:
To Create a New Color Swatch: To place a horizontal line above or below a paragraph, insert your
■■ Select an existing color
Text tool cursor in a paragraph, and choose Paragraph Rules
■■ Click on Add to Swatches in the Color Picker. from the submenu of the Paragraph panel. Turn Rule Above/
■■ Click the New Swatch button at the bottom of the Swatches Below On. Make necessary formatting changes.
panel. (This duplicates the selected color.)
■■ Double-click the color swatch to name it, and mix your
CMYK color, or choose a color from the Libraries menu, such
Working with Tabs:
as Pantone Solid Coated. To create tab stops, select one or several paragraphs and choose
Tabs from the Type menu.
Tint Swatches:
■■ Tabs is a floating panel, so you can leave it open as long as
Choose Tint Swatch from the Swatches panel menu to create
a swatch with a screen tint percentage in the swatches panel. needed and change selections easily.
Note that if you adjust the color of the base color, all tints are ■■ Click the magnet button to automatically align the panel to
also adjusted. the left edge of the text frame.
■■ Choose a type of tab stop (such as left, right, center) and
Gradient Swatches: click on the ruler to create a tab stop.
To create and save gradations (linear or radial) choose Gradient ■■ Drag the tab stop off the ruler to remove tab stops.
Swatch in the Swatches panel submenu.

Copying Swatches from Other Documents: Search and Replace:

Swatch panel menu > Load Swatches and browse to the
To search for text and replace text, or change attributes, or apply
document you want to copy them from.
styles, use Search and Replace, in the Edit menu (or Ctrl F).

Text Formatting: Find Font:

The Find Font utility (in the Type menu) can be helpful to check
■■ Select text with the Text tool or with the Selection tool. which fonts are being used in a document, and to replace fonts.
■■ With the Text tool, double-click to select a word, triple-click Missing fonts are indicated in InDesign documents with pink
to select a line, quadruple click to select a paragraph, and highlighting. Find Fonts allows you to search through your
quintuple-click to select an entire story. (Or use Ctrl/Cmd+A document to locate missing fonts and replace them with other
to select an entire story.) fonts.
■■ Format text with the Character and Paragraph panels (Type
Insert Placeholder Text:
menu).
If you need dummy text (lorem ipsum) just create a text frame
(drag with the Text tool) and choose Placeholder Text from the
Character Attributes: Type menu.

The Character panel includes the following text attributes: Font,
Size, Style, Leading, Tracking, Kerning, Underline, Strikethrough,
Ligatures, Subscript and Superscript.
Paragraph Attributes:
Insert Glyphs:
To insert symbols (British Pound symbol, a yen symbol, a
registered trademark symbol) or foreign characters (accent
mark) choose Insert Glyphs from the Type menu.
OR

The Paragraph panel includes the following text attributes: Choose Glyphs from the Window menu.
Alignment, Drop Caps, Indents, Space between Paragraphs,
Hyphenation, Keep Options, and Paragraph Rules.

Many text attributes are located in the

submenus of the Character and Paragraph
panels. Make sure you click on the triangles!

Creating Paragraph and Charater Styles:

To create a text style:
■■ Format Text with Character and Paragraph attributes, and
color.
■■ Select the sample formatted text.
■■ Open Paragraph or Character Styles Panel (Window>Styles)

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 ADOBE INDESIGN
Module 04
Linked Pictures:
When you use the Place command to select a picture or text file,
it is linked by default and will appear in a list in the Links panel.
Linking allows you to place large quantities of images without
creating an excessively large InDesign document. When printing
or creating PDF files you will need to have the linked images and
the InDesign document available.
Links Panel:
■■ Open the Links panel from the Window menu.
■■ Select any text files and choose Unlink from the Links panel
submenu.
■■ Select any Missing links and click the Relink button in the
panel.
■■ Select any Modified pictures and click the Update button.
Corner Effects:
To create special corners (beveled, rounded, fancy) on shapes
(such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons, or frames) select the
object, then choose Corner Effects from the Properties Panel.
Object menu:
To change settings or remove special corners, select the object
and choose Corner Effects again from the Object menu.
Pathfinder Panel:
Use the pathfinder panel to combine shapes or frames together.
Select objects and click Add or Subtract to join shapes or create
holes.
Info Panel:
Select images, and check the Info panel for the dpi and color
space of the linked graphic. Effective dpi reflects the effect of
scaling on your dpi.
Creating Libraries:
Use CC Libraries to collect objects that are frequently used in
your publications. Using a Library item is the same as copying
and pasting an object. You can place anything into a Library
such as Text, Shapes, Pictures or Guides. CC Libraries can be
shared with other users and other documents.
Access CC Libraries from the Window menu.
Working with Tables:
Tables can help you work with rows, column, and cells. You
can create tables within InDesign, or you can place Excel
spreadsheets or Word documents containing tables, and they
are treated as InDesign tables.
To Create a Table:
■■ Create a Text frame.
■■ Choose Table menu > Insert Table.
■■ Choose a number of rows and columns and click Ok.
You can change the thickness of borders using
the Stroke panel.
The Table menu includes options for cells,
borders, and spacing of text and other options.
Creating Templates:
Create a document that includes pages, master pages, colors
and text styles that you frequently use. Then choose Save As
and choose Template format in the dialog box. Saving your
document in Template format means every time you open the
template you are producing a copy of your template.
Creating PDF Files:
Go to the File menu and choose Export > PDF to create a copy
of your InDesign document in PDF format. PDF files can be
emailed or printed and viewed using Acrobat Reader. PDF files
can include linked images and fonts and make it easier to share
documents.
Choose Acrobat Settings to suit your project needs:
■■ Smallest File Size: Produces the smallest file size, but does
not embed fonts. Downsamples images to 72 dpi and
changes colors to RGB.
■■ High Quality Print: Produces a medium file size, and does
embed fonts. Downsamples images to 300 dpi. Good for
documents requiring high quality laser or inkjet printing.
■■ Press: Produces the largest file size, and does embed
fonts. Downsamples images to 300 dpi and leaves colors
unchanged. Use this setting for commercial offset printing
requiring separations.
■■ Choose Security settings.
■■ Choose PDF viewing options.
Packaging Files:
When you are finished with your print publication, choose
Package from the File menu to collect your InDesign document,
fonts, and linked graphics into a single folder.
Shortcuts:
To select objects below other objects:
Ctrl/Cmd+click with the Selection tool repeatedly to click
through the stacking order.
To unlock a master page element on a particular
document page:
Ctrl/Cmd+Shift click the object with the Selection tool.
Show/Hide Guides:
Ctrl ;
Show/Hide Frames:
Ctrl/Cmd+H
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 ADOBE INDESIGN
Duplicate: Show Color panel:
Ctrl/Cmd+Alt-D F6

Show Stroke panel: Show/Hide Hidden Characters:

F10 Ctrl/Cmd+Alt-I

If in the Selection tool, double-click a Text Frame to switch to the Text tool.
Hold Alt and double-click a picture to edit it in another program.
Hold Alt and double-click a text frame to automatically open Text Frame Options.
Hold Control (or Control-Shift) while resizing a Text Frame to also resize the text inside the frame.

04