InDesign Secrets
Adobe InDesign tips, techniques and insider info from Anne-Marie Concepcion and David Blatner.

In this episode:

  • News: InDesign Conference; PePcon; Lynda Weinman creative keynote!
  • Neglected Panels (some you may not even know about)
    • Worth a(nother) look: Info, Tool Hints, Kuler, Background Tasks, Story, Attributes
    • Forgettable for most users: Trap Presets, Timing (until HTML 5 export!), Script Label, Tags, Transform (redundant!), Flattener Preview
    • Wait-and-see: Adobe Exchange
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Consolidate All to Here

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Em Software is the developer of DocsFlow Pro (among other cool InDesign plug-ins) that allows you to do real-time collaboration with off-site editors using Google Docs. Place early-draft stories or spreadsheets from Google Docs into your layout, map its styles to your InDesign styles and start your production work while your authors and editors continue working on the original documents. Merge their updated work at any time into your InDesign layouts with a single command, without losing anything, and with InDesign notes left at any points of conflicts. Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners: Pro 2.0 is 25% off in the EmSoftware.com store (for new licenses only) using the code DFP1213 until the end of December 2013!
>> Recosoft: Open and convert PDF and Windows XPS documents directly in Adobe InDesign CC right from InDesign's File menu with their latest version (4.0) of PDF2ID, the amazing InDesign plug-in. Earlier 3.5 version still available for InDesign versions CS4 to CS6. Be sure to check out their other amazing plug-in for InDesign users, ID2Office: export your InDesign files to Word or Powerpoint! Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners, through January 2014, get 25% discount off PDF2ID v3.5 or ID2Office v1.5 with code ID_Secrets


Links mentioned in this podcast:
export-bgdtasks
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-205.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:30pm EDT

CreativePro.com reader survey; Getting started with InCopy; Obscurity of the Week: Apply Gamma Correction

In this episode:

  • News: CreativePro.com survey
  • Getting Started with InCopy
    • Cost (comes with Creative Cloud!)
    • Basic setup for small and large groups, local and remote
    • Using its unique features for InDesign purposes
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Apply Gamma Correction

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Lynda.com  is the nation's premiere provider of online instruction for creatives in the design, photography, and publishing fields. Check out David's latest title: Insider InDesign Training: Interactive PDFs, and Anne-Marie's Using Word and InDesign Together. They also have an ongoing series of free and subscriber-only videos called InDesign Secrets. Check out all the InDesign videos at lynda.com!

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-204.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:25am EDT

The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.

In this episode:

  • Adobe Creative Cloud — 6 Months Later
    • Working? Broken? Anne-Marie and David argue it out
    • Reports from the field
    • Some options that could help those who are stuck
    • Issues specific to InDesign users and developers as opposed to other Adobe apps
    • Open source and other page layout competition
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Adobe Product Improvement Program

News and special offers from our sponsors:

>> Rorohiko has this neat add-on called Frame Reporter. It adds a little label next to any page object which you can configure to show whatever information you need to see without having to dig through panels: Effective resolution, Name and/or path of the placed image, so many more, and now, stacking order, crucial to creating accessible PDFs. They've written up a detailed explanation of all the options and how their customers have used FrameReporter to streamline their work.  Normally $39.00 US, you can get it for 30% off if you enter the coupon code INDESIGNSECRETS203 upon purchase.

>> Recosoft: Open and convert PDF and Windows XPS documents directly in Adobe InDesign CC right from InDesign's File menu with their latest version (4.0) of PDF2ID, the amazing InDesign plug-in. Earlier 3.5 version still available for InDesign versions CS4 to CS6. Be sure to check out their other amazing plug-in for InDesign users, ID2Office: export your InDesign files to Word or Powerpoint! Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners, until Nov. 30, get 25% discount off PDF2ID v3.5 or ID2Office v1.5 with code ID_Secrets


Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-203.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:08am EDT

Call for speakers; TypeKit; Text Wrap Rap; Obscurity of the Week: Largest Area

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  • A little bit of news:
  • Text Wrap Rap
    • Confusing bits clarified
    • Little-known tips and tricks
    • What are all those contour options?
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Largest Area

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Em Software is the developer of DocsFlow and WordsFlow, two "time machine" plug-ins for your production workflow. Place early-draft stories or spreadsheets from Google Docs with DocsFlow, or Word/Excel documents with WordsFlow, and start your production work while your authors and editors continue working on the original documents. Merge their updated work at any time into your InDesign layouts with a single command, without losing anything, and with InDesign notes left at any points of conflicts. Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners: DocsFlow Pro 2.0 is 25% off in the EmSoftware.com store until the end of October 2013! Grab it now.
>> Certitec, an Adobe Authorized Training Centre in the UK, is a premiere provider of Adobe InDesign, EPUB, and Adobe DPS training. They are officially in the Cloud! (Creative Cloud that is.) Certitec hold classes in Cardiff, London, or Bristol. Get booked today onto a Certitec course and experience the latest and greatest software experience from Adobe! Follow them on Twitter at @Certitec and keep up with their Facebook page. If you sign up for a seminar or class and mention you heard about them on InDesignSecrets, you get 20% off the fee!

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-202.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 2:27pm EDT

PePcon.com is live; Word to InDesign Nightmares and Fixes; Obscurity of the Week: InDesign 2.0 Compatibility

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  • A little bit of news:
  • 5 Word-to-InDesign "Nightmares" and how to solve them!
    • Formatting, links, pictures, styles, oy!
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: InDesign 2.0 Compatibility

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>>  Rorohiko brings the illusion of multiple strokes and fills to InDesign frames with its Magneto Paths plug-in for InDesign! Only $19.00, or try a fully-functional (time limited) demo. Illustrator's Attributes panel ... we're coming for ya!

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-201.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 7:48pm EDT

200th episode spectacular extravaganza; Memories, time travel, and outtakes; Obscurity of the Week: Credits

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  • Our 200th episode! (and our 25th year (each) in the field)
  • Milestone memories from David and Anne-Marie
  • Time traveling through the podcast episodes
  • Podcast outtakes!
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Credits

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Recosoft: Open and convert PDF and Windows XPS documents directly in Adobe InDesign CC right from InDesign?s File menu with their latest version (4.0) of PDF2ID, the amazing InDesign plug-in. Earlier 3.5 version still available for InDesign versions CS4 to CS6. Be sure to check out their other amazing plug-in for InDesign users, ID2Office: export your InDesign files to Word or Powerpoint! Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners, until Sept 30, get 25% discount off PDF2ID v3.5 or ID2Office v1.5 with code ID_Secrets

Links mentioned in this podcast:
We used to be in the credits! creditsCS6
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-200.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 5:57pm EDT

News; Five Gotchas and their fixes; Obscurity of the Week: Comb

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The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.

  • News
  • Five Common (and easily-fixed) InDesign Gotchas!
    • Jumping text, disappearing guides, copy/paste between versions, and more
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Comb

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Certitec, an Adobe Authorized Training Centre in the UK, is a premiere provider of Adobe InDesign, EPUB, and Adobe DPS training. Certitec hold classes in Cardiff, London, or Bristol.Their "Uncovered Series" seminars cover the cutting-edge technologies in Adobe's latest products — view them all at seminars.certitec.com. If you sign up for a seminar or class and mention you heard about them on InDesignSecrets, you get 20% off the fee!
>>  Rorohiko has two things they want InDesignSecrets podcast listeners to know about. First, they have a 20% discount off their QR plug-in for InDesign CS5 and later, "Tada QR!" (which Sandee and David talked about in the last podcast episode, and you can watch Rorohiko's video on it here). Enter the code INDESIGNSECRETS199 at the Rorohiko store and get the Tada QR! plug-in for $12.00 instead of $15.00. Second, they're in early beta for a new plug-in that adds an Actions panel to InDesign, similar to the ones in Photoshop and Illustrator. Record a series of actions and then play them back on another selection or page ... very cool. If you want to beta test ActionRecorder, click the link and read the instructions. (Here's a video on how it works!)

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-199.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:08am EDT

QR Codes; Sandee Cohen guest co-host; Obscurity of the Week: Warn if Link Update Will Overwrite Local Edits

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  • Sandee Cohen, our guest star in the studios!
    • Innovative use for InDesign CC's QR Code feature!
    • More tips for QR codes than you can imagine
    • The cool TaDa! QR plugin from Rorohiko
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Warn if Link Update Will Overwrite Local Edits

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Em Software is the developer of DocsFlow and WordsFlow, two plug-ins for Adobe InDesign that dynamically link your text frames to online Google Docs (DocsFlow) or placed Word files (WordsFlow). These products enable a breakthrough publishing workflow, one where your authors and editors can keep changing the source document, and you can merge in their changes automatically and painlessly, even after you?ve made changes to the InDesign story (without losing your changes or formatting!). Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners: Use the coupon code ids0813 in the EmSoftware.com store when buying either of these plug-ins and get 20% off! This code is only good until August 31 2013, so grab them both!

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-198.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 6:10pm EDT

Getting HTML out of InDesign; Obscurity of the Week: Create Acrobat Layers

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  • Getting HTML out of InDesign
    • Layout "geometry" issues
    • Useful plug-ins
    • HTML and CSS options
    • Resources (aka Michael Murphy)
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Create Acrobat Layers

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Recosoft: Open and convert PDF and Windows XPS documents directly in Adobe InDesign CC right from InDesign’s File menu with their latest version (4.0) of PDF2ID, the amazing InDesign plug-in. Earlier 3.5 version still available for InDesign versions CS3 to CS6. Be sure to check out their other amazing plug-in for InDesign users, ID2Office — export your InDesign files to Word or Powerpoint! Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners, until July 31, get 25% discount off PDF2ID or ID2Office with code ID_Secrets
>> Rorohiko has this neat add-on called Frame Reporter. It adds a little label next to any page object which you can configure to show whatever information you need to see without having to dig through panels: Effective resolution, Name and/or path of the placed image, Name of the currently selected story, word count, and many more (you can even make your own if you know a little Javascript!). They’ve written up a detailed explanation of all the options and how their customers have used FrameReporter to streamline their work.  Normally $39.00 US, you can get it for 50% off if you enter the coupon code INDESIGNSECRETS197 upon purchase.

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-197.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:26am EDT

HOWDesign and print; Paper love; Obscurity of the Week: Candy

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  • David re-fell in love with print at HOW!
    • Sappi, washi, and plastic!
    • Hamilton Type Museum
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Candy

News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Em Software is the developer of DocsFlow and WordsFlow, two plug-ins for Adobe InDesign that dynamically link your text frames to online Google Docs (DocsFlow) or placed Word files (WordsFlow). These products enable a breakthrough publishing workflow, one where your authors and editors can keep changing the source document, and you can merge in their changes automatically and painlessly, even after you’ve made changes to the InDesign story (without losing your changes or formatting!). Special offer just for InDesignSecrets listeners: Use the coupon code ids0613 in the EmSoftware.com store when buying either of these plug-ins and get 20% off! This code is only good until July 31, so grab them both!
>> Certitec, an Adobe Authorized Training Centre in the UK, is a premiere provider of Adobe InDesign, EPUB, and Adobe DPS training. Adobe and Certiport released the InDesign (and Illustrator) ACA qualification a month ago – so visit Certitec, take one of their InDesign ACA courses and get Certified!  Certitec hold classes in Cardiff, London, or Bristol. If you sign up for a class and mention you heard about them on “InDesignSecrets,” you get 20% off any class! 

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-196.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 6:44pm EDT

InDesign CC ships; Upcoming appearances; All About Frames; Obscurity of the week: Link Images

Direct Link http://traffic.libsyn.com/indesignsecrets/InDesignSecrets-195.mp3

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Show Notes:


News and special offers from our sponsors:
>> Rorohiko: Check out their newest plug-in, RepeatAfterMe (CS1 to CS6). It lets you make simple changes to a single object, and then repeat those changes for all similar objects throughout your entire document! You get to pick in which way the other objects must be similar from a dropdown list. It's like a combination of Illustrator's "Select Similar" and "Transform Again. RepeatAfterMe is $19.00 per seat, but you can use the coupon code: INDESIGNSECRETS195 to get 30% off.

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-195.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:10am EDT

PEPCON 2013 recap; InDesign CC new features; Creative Cloud pros and cons; Obscurity of the week: Autotag


In this episode (41:01 minutes):

  • PEPCON 2013 recap! We share some of our favorite moments
  • InDesign CC is coming June 17! What's it all about? What are the new features?
  • Adobe moves all-in to the Creative Cloud: The good, the bad, the undecided; we duke it out!
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Autotag
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-194.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Diane Burns guest co-host; Multilingual Publishing; Sharing DPS apps; Obscurity of the Week: Swap Fill and Stroke

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Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-193.mp3 (17.8 MB, 33.54 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode.
Special! David and guest co-host Diane Burns rock this episode.
  • How to publish in more than one language
  • How to share a DPS app with a group (bypassing the App Store)
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Swap Fill and Stroke
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-193.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 8:14am EDT

News, Kelly Vaughn co-host, Conditional Text; Quizzler 190 Answer; Obscurity of the Week: Hidden Destination

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Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-192.mp3(14.4 MB, 27:45 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode.
A very special episode with guest co-host Kelly Vaughn!
  • News
  • Deep Dive into Conditional Text
  • Quizzler 190 Answer! (see below) .. And the winner is announced
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Hidden Destination
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-192.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:36pm EDT

CreativePro and InDesign Magazine now part of InDesignSecrets; PEPCON networking and sponsors; Spell checking tips; Quizzler reminder; Obscurity of the Week: Sort Items

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Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-191.mp3(13.1 MB, 23:53 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode. The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-191.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:39pm EDT

Conference News; Overlooked InDesign Resources; Wacky New Quizzler; Obscurity of the Week: Desaturate Black

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Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-190.mp3 (12.5 MB, 23:17 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode. The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.
  • Conference News: SXSW, MAX, HOW, Maine Media Workshop, new PEPCON speakers
  • Overlooked InDesign Resources (sites, pubs, books,etc.)
  • Quizzler! "Awesome and Wacky," says David
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Desaturate Black
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-190.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 5:11pm EDT

PEPCON Facebook page, Creative Cloud news, Vectors and Bitmaps in InDesign, Obscurity of the Week: Show Linked Files

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Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-189.mp3 (13.9 MB, 25:45 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode. The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.
  • News: PEPCON networking site and Facebook page, New Adobe pricing for Creative Cloud
  • Vectors vs. Bitmaps: What they are, how to get them, when to use one over the other
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Show Linked Files
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-189.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:15pm EDT

Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-188.mp3(12.5 MB, 23:20 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode. The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.
  • News:  PEPCONIDUG site and our forum
  • All about the "Forbidden Formats" in InDesign: JPEG, GIF, and PNG
  • Bonus! We get sidetracked and rant about Adobe Digital Editions (epub reader utility)
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Letter V
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-188.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:37pm EDT

Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-187.mp3(18.6 MB, 34:47 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode. Special episode with Anne-Marie and co-host James Fritz!
  • News: Upcoming speaking gigs at Macworld, PEPCON, and Adobe MAX
  • Solving Paragraph Composer Annoyances
  • Fritz's UberCool Moo.com Business Card Project with InDesign
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Protractor
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-187.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:38pm EDT

Listen in your browser: InDesignSecrets-186.mp3 (17.4 MB, 32:37 minutes)

See the Show Notes for links mentioned in this episode. The transcript of this podcast will be posted soon.
  • News: Upcoming speaking gigs, InDesign User Group web site, Scripts for Indexes in EPUBs, Our mascot Zoey (picture below!)
  • New Year's InDesign Resolutions (and non-InDesign related)
  • About the Primary Text Frame
  • "Negative Number" Quizzler Answer and Winner
  • Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Relink File Extension
Direct download: InDesignSecrets-186.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:34pm EDT