10 Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Workflow in InDesign CS5

10 Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Workflow in InDesign CS5

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  10 TIPS ANDTRICKS TO IMPROVE YOUR WORKFLOW IN INDESIGN CS5 Things you have probably heard about, but aren’t using… Yet. Nicolette D. DeGroot Creative Director UNC-CH Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery
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  ABOUT THE PRESENTER v Three years of UNC-Chapel Hill Communications experience •  Department of ENT since January 2011 •  Division of Gastroenterology (2008-2011) v  Daily user of InDesign CS5, by no means an “expert” v  Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology degree, Appalachian (2006) v  Fine art background, budding photographer v  Freelance graphic designer v  Sharing topics that are helpful to me, in hopes that it will help you!
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  BY A SHOWOF HANDS… v  How many are actively using InDesign for layouts? v  Would you describe your experience as: •  Rookie •  Passable •  Old hand v  What do you use InDesign for? •  Books/long documents •  Newsletters •  Posters/signs/fliers •  Something else?
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  TOPIC LIST* v  MasterPages v  Data Merge v  Paragraph Styles v  Multiple Page Import v  Page Numbering v  Placing Images v  Table of Contents v  Preflighting & Packaging v  Image Grid v  Shortcuts *Basic understanding of ID is assumed. Each topic has much to cover, and are listed here merely as a brief introduction, and deserve further examination.
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  MASTER PAGES v  Masterpages or spreads are non-printing pages that provide repeating “background” elements which can be made to appear on every page portions of a publication. •  Page numbers •  Headers/footers •  Watermarked images •  Guides and grids ! •  Graphic Elements !
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  PARAGRAPH STYLES v  Foruse with long publications with uniform text layouts or pages of the same style. •  Annual reports •  Newsletters v  Play! Use paragraph styles while playing with text bodies to determine what the best look for your publication will be. v  Create a new paragraph style whenever you create a unique body of text, even if you only use that typeface once.
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  PAGE NUMBERING v  Createa text box where you want your page number to appear. v  With Type tool selected in the text field, go to Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number . The number initially appears as a letter in master view, but once you go back to the pages view all pages are numbered. v  To continue pagination, Go to Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Next Page Number , and the next page number has been set. v  Style your page number adjusting color and size, choose fonts and, if suits, add words or symbols before/after the number. (Sect., URL, Page 1 of 5, etc.)
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  TABLE OF CONTENTS v Create a frame for your TOC. v  Type the first TOC entry in the frame, followed by a shift-tab, followed by the page number for that entry, followed by a return. Repeat this for each TOC entry. The shift-tab creates a "right indent tab", a special kind of tab stop that causes the text after the tab stop to always right-align with the right edge of the frame.
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  IMAGE GRID v  SelectFile > Place, and select multiple images by clicking on one image, and then command-clicking (Mac) or ctrl-clicking (Windows) on subsequent images. v  Click the Open button. InDesign will import all the images you selected, and then display the "place cursor" with a number showing how many images you've imported. v  Hold down command-shift (Mac) or ctrl-shift (Windows), and drag out a rectangle. You will see a grid of frames appear. Don't release the mouse button, but you can now release the command/ctrl-shift keys.
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  IMAGE GRID (CONT.) v While continuing to hold the mouse button down, you can adjust the number of rows and columns using the cursor (arrow) keys on the keyboard. The up/down arrows increase/decrease the number of rows in the grid, and the right/left arrows increase/ decrease the number of columns in the grid. v  Again, while continuing to hold the mouse button you can adjust the space between the rows and columns using shift+the cursor keys on the keyboard. Shift + the up/down arrows increases/ decreases the vertical space between rows, and shift + the right/left arrows increases/decreases the horizontal space between columns. v  Release the mouse button, and a precise grid of frames will be created, with an image placed in each frame. v  The grid is not grouped, and each image may have to be manipulated to fit their frames.
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  DATA MERGE v  Mailinglabels (re: Word) v  Personalized letters, postcards, etc v  Contact directories v  Nametags
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  MULTIPLE PAGE PDFIMPORT v  Import more than one page of a multi-page PDF in InDesign simply by turning on the Show Import Options in the Place dialog box. Once the options box is open, choose which pages from the PDF you want to import (or select All to bring them all in). v  Once you click OK, you’ll see the normal Place PDF cursor, except that every time you click, another PDF (in order) is placed until all PDFs have been placed in your document.
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  PLACING IMAGES For theslimmest possible InDesign files : 1.  Don’t copy and paste content from Photoshop or a web browser 2.  Don’t leave extra items floating around (stuff on pasteboards, extra master pages). 3.  Do go to File > Save As to create a duplicate of your document. 4.  Do resize images and set their resolution in Photoshop, not InDesign.
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  PREFLIGHTING & PACKAGING v Best thing you can learn for your printer. v  Click File > Preflight. Open the Preflight Check dialog screen. You will find categorized sections to check documents for errors and missing files. v  A small warning icon indicates problem areas. v  Missing files can be replaced those from the Preflight Check dialog screen.
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  SHORTCUTS v  The secrethandshake between InDesign users. v  They are your friend! They expedite your workflow by leaps and bounds. v  Job security! A graphics teacher once told me that someone who uses shortcuts in Adobe products appears to be an expert to the untrained eye! v  http://gilbertconsulting.com/resources-misc.html
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  QUESTIONS?
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  Contact Nicolette: Office 919.843.7323 Mobile 919.926.8094 [email protected] Adobe InDesign Users Group Contact: Kelly Vaughn: [email protected] Resources: -  InDesign Secrets Thank you! -  O’Reilly Digital Studio -  Adobe.com -  Trial and error