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- InDesign User Guide
- Get to know InDesign
- Introduction to InDesign
- Workspace
- Generative AI
- Introduction to InDesign
- Create and layout documents
- Documents and pages
- Create documents
- Work with parent pages
- Work with document pages
- Set page size, margins, and bleed
- Work with files and templates
- Convert PDFs to InDesign files in InDesign (Beta)
- Create book files
- Add basic page numbering
- Number pages, chapters, and sections
- Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents
- Share content
- Understand a basic managed-file workflow
- Save documents
- Grids
- Layout aids
- Documents and pages
- Add content
- Text
- Add text to frames
- Threading text
- South-East Asian Scripts
- Arabic and Hebrew features in InDesign
- Create type on a path
- Bullets and numbering
- Glyphs and special characters
- Text composition
- Text variables
- Generate QR codes
- Edit text
- Align text
- Wrap text around objects
- Anchored objects
- Linked content
- Format paragraphs
- Format characters
- Typography
- Format text
- Review text
- Spell check and language dictionaries
- Add references
- Styles
- Tables
- Interactivity
- Graphics
- Color and transparency
- Text
- Find and replace
- Share
- Publish
- Place, export, and publish
- Printing
- Extend InDesign
- Automation
- Troubleshooting
Learn the basics of workspace in InDesign for efficient design workflows and panel organization.
To create and manage documents in Adobe Creative Cloud applications, you can use various elements, such as panels, bars, and windows. Any arrangement of these elements is called a workspace. These workspaces share a consistent appearance for easy application switching. You can customize them to suit your workflow by selecting preset options or creating your own.
Home screen
The Home screen appears when you launch InDesign or have no documents open. Use it to access tutorials, create documents, or open existing ones.
The Home screen has the following tabs and buttons:
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Select this button to create a new document. You can create a document by selecting one of the numerous templates and presets available in InDesign. |
Open |
Select this button to open an existing document in InDesign. |
Home |
Select this tab to view the files that you've recently modified. |
Learn |
Select this tab to open a list of basic and advanced tutorials on InDesign to get started with the application. |
To disable the Home screen from the Preferences dialog, deselect Show Home Screen When No Documents Are Open (Preferences > General). The keyboard shortcuts Ctrl/Cmd + O and Ctrl/Cmd + N continue to be available for use.
Workspace overview
The workspace in InDesign provides a customizable layout for windows, panels, and tools that allows you to create a personalized design environment.
A. Tabbed Document windows B. Workspace switcher C. Search bar with autocomplete suggestions D. Panel title bar E. Collapse To Icons button F. Panel groups in vertical dock G. Status bar H. Tools panel
- The Application frame integrates all workspace elements into one window, ensuring they function as a unified unit. Resizing or moving the frame and its elements triggers responsive adjustments to prevent overlapping. Panels remain visible when switching or clicking outside the application. If you're working with multiple applications, you can arrange them side by side or across multiple monitors. On macOS, the traditional user interface can be enabled or disabled by selecting Window > Application Frame.
- The Application bar across the top contains a workspace switcher, menus (Windows only), and other application controls. On macOS, the application bar is available only when the Application frame is off. You can toggle it on or off using the Window menu.
- The Tools panel contains tools for creating and editing images, artwork, page elements, and so on. Related tools are grouped.
- The Control panel displays options for the currently selected object.
- The Document window displays the file you’re working on. Document windows can be tabbed and, in certain cases, grouped and docked.
- Panels help you monitor and modify your work. Panels can be grouped, stacked, or docked.
Change screen modes
To modify the document window visibility, choose View > Screen Mode menu. When the toolbox is in a single column, select the current mode button to access and choose different modes from the menu.
Normal Mode |
Displays artwork in a standard window with all visible grids and guides showing, non-printing objects showing, and a white pasteboard. |
Preview Mode |
Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects) and the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences. |
Bleed Mode |
Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences, and any printing elements within the document's bleed area (defined in Document Setup) showing. |
Slug Mode |
Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences, and any printing elements within the document's slug area (defined inDocument Setup) showing. |
Presentation Mode |
Displays artwork as if it were a slideshow presentation, with no menus, panels, or tools displayed. See Use Presentation Mode. |
Use the status bar
The lower left status bar in the document window provides file information and enables page navigation. Access its menu to:
- Reveal the file in the file system (Windows) Reveal In Explorer, or (macOS) Reveal In Finder).
- Reveal the file in Adobe Bridge (Choose Reveal in Bridge).
In macOS, you can display the zoom percentage in the status bar by hiding the application bar (Window > Application Bar). In Windows, you cannot hide the application bar.
The Control panel (Window > Control) provides easy access to options, commands, and related panels for selected page items. It is initially docked at the top but can be docked at the bottom, converted to a floating panel, or hidden.
The Control panel shows different options based on your selection:
- Frames: Resize, reposition, skew, rotate or apply object styles.
- Text: Character or paragraph options. Select the icons on the left to switch between them.
- Tables: Adjust dimensions, merge cells, align text, and add strokes.
As the options in the Control panel change, you can get more information about each option by using Tooltips. Tooltips are the pop‑up descriptions that appear when you hover over an icon or option label with the pointer. To open dialog boxes associated with Control panel icons, Alt‑click (Windows) or Option‑click (macOS) as you select a Control panel icon.
Use context menus
Context-sensitive menus show tool or selection-related commands, unlike the top screen menus. They provide a convenient option for accessing commonly used commands quickly. To use it, hover the pointer over the document, object, or panel, and right-click the mouse.
(macOS) If you don’t have a two-button mouse, you can display a context menu by pressing the Control key as you click with the mouse.
Change Interface preferences
To change the Interface Preferences, choose Edit > Preferences > Interface (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Interface (macOS).
Specify the following settings:
Color Theme |
Select the color theme for InDesign interface. Choose from Dark, Medium Dark, Medium Light, or Light Color Theme. |
Match Pasteboard To Theme Color |
Select this option to match pasteboard color with the theme color of interface. |
Tool Tips |
Tool tips appear when you hold the pointer over interface items such as tools in the toolbar and options in the Control panel. Choose None to turn off tool tips. |
Show Thumbnails on Place |
When you place a graphic, a thumbnail of the image appears in the loaded graphics cursor. Similarly, a thumbnail of the first few lines of text appears in the loaded text cursor. Deselect this option if you don’t want thumbnails to appear when placing graphics or text. |
Show Transformation Values |
When you’re creating, sizing, or rotating an object, the cursor displays the [x,y] coordinates, width and height, or rotation information. |
Enable Multi-Touch Gestures |
Select this option to allow Windows and Mac OS multi-touch mouse gestures to work in InDesign. For example, when you use the Magic Mouse in Mac OS, the swipe gesture scrolls up or down or moves to the previous or next page or spread, and the rotate gesture rotates the spread. |
Highlight Object Under Selection Tool |
Select this option to highlight the frame edges of objects when the direct selection tool is moved over it. |
Floating Tools Panel |
Specify whether the toolbar appears as a single column, double column, or single row. |
Auto-Collapse Icon Panels |
When this option is selected, clicking the document window closes the open panel automatically. |
Auto-Show Hidden Panels |
When you hide panels by pressing Tab, holding the pointer over the side of the document window temporarily reveals the panels if this option is selected. If this option is not selected, you must press Tab again to display panels. |
Open Documents As Tabs |
When this option is deselected, documents you create or open appear as floating windows rather than tabbed windows. |
Enable Floating Document Window Docking |
If this option is selected, you can dock floating documents with each other as tabbed windows. If this option is deselected, floating document windows aren’t docked with other document windows, unless you hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) while dragging. |
Large Tabs |
Select this option to increase the height of panel and document tabs. |
Hand Tool |
To control whether to greek text and images when you scroll a document, drag the Hand Tool slider to the desired level of performance versus quality. |
Live Screen Drawing |
Select an option to determine whether the image redraws as you drag an object.
|
Greek Vector Graphics On Drag |
Select this to increase the speed of a complex vector object's movement. |
Integrate Adobe Asset Link
You can directly access the content in AEM Assets without logging into AEM Assets. Adobe Asset Link is installed as an extension in the InDesign application. Your IT admin has to configure and deploy the panel. Once installed and configured, choose Window > Extensions > Adobe Asset Link.
For easy access, you can configure your workspace to include the Adobe Asset Link panel and manage it.
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