TIP: Nail Down That Text Wrap! 
It can be very quick and easy to base a text wrap on the edges of a placed graphic. But one downside of this method is that when someone edits the graphic, even just tweaking the color a little, your text wrap may unexpectedly change. To prevent this, select one of the text wrap points with the Direct Selection tool and nudge it just a tiny bit. Your text wrap won’t change, but the Contour Options Type in the Text Wrap panel will now be User-Modified Path, and it will not change if someone changes the graphic.
- Mike Rankin
This tip is from the August/September 2010 issue of InDesign Magazine, now available at www.indesignmag.com.

TIP: Select All Guides 
Don’t drive yourself crazy by trying to Shift-click on all the rulers in a document to select them and move or delete them. Instead, use this handy shortcut: Command-Option-G/Ctrl-Alt-G to select all guides. You can always Shift-click on the few you don’t need before moving or deleting.
- Erica Gamet
This tip is from the August/September 2010 issue of InDesign Magazine, now available at www.indesignmag.com.

TIP: Apply Colors Quickly 
To apply a color quickly, drag a swatch onto a frame, stroke, or table cell. This is also the easiest way to colorize a grayscale TIFF or PSD image.
- Claudia McCue
This tip is from the August/September 2010 issue of InDesign Magazine, now available at www.indesignmag.com.

TIP: Keep Tabs on Preflight Errors 
Look in the lower-left corner of InDesign's document window to see whether you have any preflight errors. If the error number starts creeping up, go to the Preflight panel for more information.

TIP: Dynamic Rotation Cursor 
In InDesign CS5, you can forever eliminate trips to the Tools panel to choose the Rotate tool. Hover just beyond any object's corner with the Selection tool, and the cursor switches to a rotate icon. If you've selected multiple objects, they all rotate together -- no need to group them.
- Michael Murphy

TIP: Bring Hidden Characters to Light 
Hidden characters (also called invisibles) indicate the presence of non-printing characters, such as spaces, tabs, and paragraph returns. Most of the time, you don't need to see these, but when you do, Choose Type > Show Hidden Characters. The characters will be in the same color as layer they're on. When that's light yellow, for example, the hidden characters may be hard to see even after you choose Show Hidden Characters. In that case, just change the color of layer in the Layers panel.

TIP: No More All-Caps in Panel Names 
When text is in all-caps, it can be difficult to read. Why then are the names of InDesign's panels in all caps? To change that, create a new, empty folder and name it "noallcaps". Place that folder in the InDesign application folder. The next time you restart InDesign, all panel names will be the more-pleasing upper/lowercase!
- Colin Fleming

TIP: Add Tabs to Table Cells 
To jump from cell to cell in an InDesign table, just press the Tab key. Handy, right? But to insert an actual tab character in a cell, you'll have to go to Type > Insert Special Character > Other > Tab.

TIP: Control Layer Guides 
Ruler guides are layer-specific: When you create them (Layout > Ruler Guides), they appear on whatever layer is selected at that moment. To hide, show, or lock ruler guides by layer, go to the Layers panel and double-click a layer. The Layer Options dialog pops up, and now you can turn the relevant options on and off.
- Terri Stone

TIP: Paste Remembers Layers
When you want objects to stay on their original layers as you cut and paste them, check Paste Remembers Layers in the Layers panel drop-down menu. This even works for cutting and pasting between different documents.
- Terri Stone

TIP: Find Out Who Changed What 
In InDesign CS5, you can track text changes in the current story or all stories in a document. You can make edits and insert notes either in the layout or Story Editor, but you’ll see changes highlighted only in Story Editor. And you must be viewing your text in Story Editor to accept or reject changes, using the new Track Changes panel.
- Claudia McCue

TIP: Make Your Own Accented Character 
When a typeface is missing an accented letter, you're not out of luck--you can make it yourself, as long as the individual parts (the character and the floating accent, also called diacritical marks) are available in the font. Check the Glyph panel (Window > Type & Tables > Glyphs) for the parts, then type the character followed by the accent. Use baseline shift to raise or lower the accent to the desired position, and use extreme reverse kerning to center the accent over the character.
- Ilene Strizver

TIP: Convert Word's Local Formatting to InDesign's Character Styles 
To quickly convert Microsoft Word's local formatting to InDesign's character styles, try these free and easy-to-use scripts: Preserve Local Formatting.jsx is by Dave Saunders and works for InDesign CS1, CS2, and CS3. PrepText.zip is by Jongware, and works with CS4 only. Both scripts can run through text and replace locally formatted bolds and italics, among others, with equivalent character styles. The scripts add the styles to the Character Styles palettes on its own — no need to create them yourself.
For links to the scripts and more information, see my article "Easy Fixes for Microsoft Word Formatting in InDesign." - Anne-Marie Concepción

TIP: Import Options Are Important 
When you place anything into an Adobe InDesign document (File > Place), you'll get a whole new level of control if you click the Show Import Options checkbox in the lower left-hand corner of the Place dialog box before hitting the Open button. These Import options affect Microsoft Word text and graphics; images (layered .psd files, .ai files, etc.), and PDFs.

VIDEO: Modified Gate Fold with Short Panels 
Has InDesign CS5's support of multiple page sizes piqued your interest in documents that go beyond the usual? Then check out Trish Witkowski's video demonstration of a modified gate fold with short panels. It's her April 7, 2010, "Super-Cool Fold of the Week". And of course, while CS5 makes it easier to work with multiple page sizes, you can use any version of the program to design such a piece.

TIP: Meet the Content Grabber
In InDesign CS4 and earlier, you have to do the Texas two-step to select a graphic in a frame: Double-click to get the Direct Selection tool, click again to select the image, double-click again for the Selection tool. In CS5, just hover over a graphic frame with the Selection tool and a viewfinder-like icon appears. (I call it the Donut, but it's official name is the Content Grabber.) Click, and -- poof -- you've selected the graphic, without even changing tools. To leave this mode and return to dealing with the frame, press Escape or double-click. To disable the Donut entirely, go to View > Extras > Hide Content Grabber.
- Claudia McCue

TIP: Clean Up Imported Word Documents
If you've imported a Microsoft Word document that's riddled with problems (for example, two hyphens instead of an em dash, or tabs instead of paragraph indents), don't repair your file line by line. Instead, use Edit > Find/Change and correct the problems with a single mouse click. In the Find/Change dialog box, on the Text tab, first define the scope of your search with the Search dropdown menu. Then use these Find What/Change To pairs to solve common problems:
Replace two hyphens with an em dash.
Find what: --
Change to: ^_
Multiple spaces after punctuation or used for indent.
Find what: [space][space]
Change to: [space]
Replace multiple tabs with a single tab.
Find what: ^t^t
Change to: ^t
Replace three periods with an ellipses.
Find what:...
Change to: ^e
Space before a carriage return.
Find what: [space]^p
Change to: ^p
Space at beginning of paragraph.
Find what: ^p[space]
Change to: ^p
Tab before a carriage return.
Find what: ^t^p
Change to: ^p
Tab after a carriage return.
Find what: ^p^t
Change to: ^p

- Pariah Burke

TIP: Convert Spot Colors to Process Colors 
To convert a spot color to process, double-click the name of the swatch in the Swatches panel and change the Color Type from Spot to Process. If you used the Pantone color library to define the color, first change the Color Mode to CMYK. You can also specify that all spot colors are automatically converted to process to automatically converted to process when the job prints. Choose Ink Manager from the Swatches panel menu. You’ll see all the colors in your document. Click the All Spots to Process option and the spot color will be converted to process.
- Sandee Cohen

TIP: Banish Ugly Hyperlink Rectangles 
To disable the Visible Rectangle option for multiple hyperlinks all at once, select them in the Hyperlinks panel, then go to Hyperlink Options in the panel's drop-down menu and set Appearance to Invisible Rectangle.
- David Blatner

TIP: What To Include When Exporting Interactive InDesign Files to PDF
In InDesign, choose File > Export Adobe PDF to open the Export Adobe PDF dialog. If you have included bookmarks, that item must be checked in the Include section at the bottom. For buttons, transitions, and hyperlinks to appear in the PDF file, check Hyperlinks and Interactive Elements. If you've placed a movie or sound file, you'll get the best results if you choose the Compatibility to be Acrobat 6 or higher.
- Steve Werner

TIP: Sync Files Across Multiple Computers
To ensure that everyone working on a project always has the latest versions of all of its related files, try a service like Dropbox or Windows Live Sync. They're platform agnostic and can synchronize files across many computers, ensuring that you, the client, and anyone else involved all have the exact same files, updated in near-real-time.
- Pariah Burke

TIP: Enlarge Characters in the Glyphs Panel 
InDesign’s Glyphs panel (Window > Type & Tables > Glyphs) reveals all the characters in a font. If you're having trouble seeing exactly what those characters look like, make the glyphs larger by clicking the mountain button in the lower right corner. You can also filter the display by choosing options from the Show menu.
- David Blatner

TIP: Quickly Escape Quick Apply
You open the Quick Apply window and begin typing, then change your mind. A menu command is currently highlighted in the Quick Apply window. The fastest way to close the Quick Apply window without triggering the selected menu command is to press the Esc key.
- Mike Rankin

TIP: Create a Snippet with Multiple Objects
To create one snippet  that contains several objects on a page, select the objects and drag and drop them to the desktop. You can also choose File > Export, then choose InDesign Snippet from the Format menu in the Export dialog box.
- Mike Rankin

TIP: Horizontal Pages Panel
By default, InDesign's Pages panel has a vertical orientation. If you'd prefer your Pages panel to be horizontal, choose Panel Options... from the Pages panel menu. In the Panel Options dialog box, you'll see a checkbox labeled "Show Vertically." Deselect the option for the pages and/or the masters.
- Sandee Cohen

TIP: Hyphenate Words Your Way 
To tell InDesign exactly where to hyphenate a word, open InDesign and go to Edit > Spelling > Dictionary. Do this with no document open to set the default for all new documents. Type the word in the Word field and then click Hyphenate. The tilde (~) characters indicate how InDesign will hyphenate the word. To change those settings, retype the word in the Word field using tildes as follows:

• One tilde (~) indicates the most desirable hyphenation position.
• Two tildes (~~) indicate a slightly less desirable hyphenation position.
• Three tildes (~~~) mark the least desirable hyphenation position.
• A tilde inserted before the word tells InDesign never to hyphenate the word at all.
Finally, click the Add Button to change the word to your customized setting.
- Sandee Cohen

TIP: No Kerning Pairs? No Problem 
In many typefaces, there are no kern pairs for the number characters, and these characters occupy equal widths -- a narrow number like a 1 uses the same amount of space as a 9 or 0. This is great for making numbers line up perfectly in columns down a page, but it can look awful when numbers are in body text. To make the numbers as beautifully spaced as the rest of the characters, place your cursor between the characters you want to kern and select Optical in the Character panel's Kerning menu. By the way, InDesign has had the Optical kerning option since version 1!
-Jeff Witchel

TIP: Change One Corner of a Rounded Rectangle to a Point 
Once you've applied rounded corners to a rectangle, you can change one or more curves to a corner point. Select the path you want to expand, and then click either the Open Path or Close Path icon in the Pathfinder panel (Window > Object and Layout > Pathfinder). Either one converts the electronic corner effect into actual path points. Choose Open Path if you're converting an open path (like a Bezier line), or Close Path if you're converting a shape (like a rectangle).
- Sandee Cohen

TIP: Change the Default Font 
To change InDesign's default font, open InDesign but don’t open any documents. On the Character panel, change the Font Family and Font Style dropdowns to your preferred default. Edit the “[Basic Paragraph]” style on the Paragraph Styles panel to match your new font. Quit or restart InDesign. From now on, every new document you create will use your chosen font. Note: You will lose this Basic Paragraph Style custom formatting if you copy-and-paste a paragraph into another document. If you’re sure all your documents will be created with this custom Basic Paragraph style, it’s probably okay. If not, create a new paragraph style and click on it while no documents are open. That, then, becomes your default paragraph style instead of the undependable Basic style.
- Pariah Burke

TIP: Find Out if an Image Is Flipped
In the past, editors and fact checkers couldn't tell for sure if an image was flipped after it was placed in InDesign. But in CS3 and CS4, you can find out the truth by clicking on the image with either selection tool. If the image was flipped in InDesign, you'll see a reverse "P" symbol in the Control panel. But beware! If the image was flipped in Photoshop, saved, and then placed in InDesign, there's no trail of evidence left behind.
- Keith Gilbert

TIP: Optical Alignment Makes You Look Good
By default, InDesign vertically aligns type in a text frame by moving the character as far left or right as it can go. Unfortunately, smaller characters (such as punctuation marks) and characters with slanted strokes (such as A, W, and V) can look indented instead of flush to the edge. You can solve this problem by selecting the text frame, opening the Story panel (Type > Story), and checking the panel's Optical Margin Alignment box. - Jeff Witchel

TIP: Is an Image Stretched?
To find out if an image in your InDesign layout has been stretched, click on it with the Direct Selection tool (the white arrow). Only then will the Control panel's Scale fields reveal the truth. To return the image to its original proportions, enter equal values in the X (width) and Y (height) scale fields.
- Keith Gilbert

TIP: InDesign Peer Help 
The free LassoSoft InDesign email list is a good source of peer help. Once you sign up at www.ListSearch.com/InDesign/, you can email your questions to the list; all of the subscribers will see your question and can choose to respond. You can also search an archive of previous conversations at www.listsearch.com/InDesign/Browse/index.lasso. To get the most accurate answers, provide clear, concise information, including platform, operating system, and the exact version and build of InDesign (e.g., InDesign CS3 5.0.4) installed on your computer. To find this information, Ctrl-/Cmdclick About InDesign under the Help menu (Windows) or the InDesign menu (Mac).
- Bob Levine

TIP: Displaying Multiple Documents
By default, InDesign CS4 displays multiple documents as tabs. To change that, go to the Arrange Documents pop-up menu in the Application Bar and select Float All in Windows. (You can also choose Window > Arrange > Float All Windows.)
- Renée Dustman

TIP: Easy Calendar Layout
Building calendars in InDesign can be an exercise in pain, but Scott Selberg's Calendar Wizard can help -- and it's free! This script takes the date ranges you provide and builds monthly calendars while you sit back and watch. It lets you start weeks on Sunday or Monday, supports styles, can include holidays and Moon phases, can add an image layer, and more. You can customize calendar layouts after the script runs, too. Download version 3 at http://calendarwizard.sourceforge.net. For a tutorial on using an earlier version of the script, see David Blatner's article in the December 2007/January 2008 (#21) issue of InDesign Magazine.
- Jeff Gamet

TIP: When Saving Copies, Control Which File Stays Open 
In InDesign CS3 and CS4, the keyboard shortcut Command+Option+S/Control+Alt+S saves a copy of your document and leaves the old document open. If you want to save a copy of your document and leave the copy open, use Command+Shift+S/Control+ Shift+S.
- George Norman, Hello Design Studio

TIP: Sort Paragraphs Alphabetically
For basic alphabetical sorting of paragraph text -- bulleted lists, numbered lists, or just plain paragraphs -- use SortParagraphs.jsx, a script that comes with InDesign.
In InDesign CS3 and CS4, go to Window > Automation > Scripts to open the Script panel, click the spinning arrow beside the Application folder to see its contents, then Samples, and finally JavaScript. That's where you'll find SortParagraphs.jsx. In InDesign CS2, first grab the script from the Adobe Web site, then drop it into the Presets/Scripts folder under your InDesign CS2 installation folder.
To sort your list, highlight a selection of paragraphs and double-click SortParagraphs.jsx on the Scripts panel.
- Pariah Burke

TIP: Document Repair With IDML
IDML (InDesign Markup Language) is an XML-based file format that InDesign CS4 can read and write. It can also help clear the cobwebs from a creaky old document. If you're having trouble with a document (especially one created in a previous version of InDesign or converted from QuarkXPress and PageMaker), export it to IDML, then open the IDML file and work with the new InDesign document. You can even strip a document of third party plug-in information by disabling those plug-ins prior to opening the IDML file.
- Mike Rankin

TIP: Break Facing Pages into Single Pages
Here's how to convert a facing-pages document into a single-page, non-facing pages document without affecting master page items:
Open the facing pages document. In the Pages panel menu, choose Allow Document Pages to Shuffle (CS3-CS4) or Allow Pages to Shuffle (CS2). (This should uncheck, or deselect, this option.) Grab the right-hand page of each spread and pull the page to the right of the spread until you see a vertical black bar appear and then release the mouse. This will separate the page from the spread, but the page will remain a right-hand page.
- Keith Gilbert

TIP: White Isn't Always White
Some white paper is whiter or brighter than others, and that can affect the colors of your inks. To better judge how they'll look, ask your print shop for a color profile targeted to the output device and substrate you've chosen. Once you have the profile, follow these steps to proof your work onscreen.
1. With InDesign closed, install the ICC/ICM file into the following path:
   Windows: \Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color
   Mac: /Library/ColorSync/Profiles
2. Open your document in InDesign.
3. From the View menu, choose Proof Setup > Custom.
4. Select the newly installed profile from the Device to Simulate dropdown menu and check Simulate Paper Color, which will also automatically check Simulate Black Ink.
Click OK and, if your monitor is properly calibrated, you'll see onscreen colors very close to what you'll get off the printing press.
- Pariah Burke

TIP: The Best Place for Almost-Instant InDesign Help 
Adobe’s very active User to User forums are such good resources, even Adobe’s technical and customer support refer people to the forums. You can subscribe to forums or specific topics via email, which lets you respond to any post the same way you would to an email without returning to the forum. You’ll also receive responses immediately after they’re posted. When plain text descriptions of your dilemma won’t do, you can also upload and attach files for others to analyze.
- Bob Levine

TIP: What Is the Registration Color Good For? 
The InDesign Swatches panel includes four undeletable swatches: None, Black, Paper, and Registration. The purpose of the first three is obvious. You probably know not to use Registration for any object to appear on the printed page, but do you know why?
The Registration color prints on every ink plate. In CMYK, that means anything with Registration applied to it prints in cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The result is usually not a nice rich black but rather the color of old mud. That's why the Registration swatch should be reserved for registration marks and other information or structures that need to print on all plates (usually in the slug area), such as the client name, job number, and other specific information. The easiest way to include that information on the film is to set it in the slug area, in the Registration color swatch.
- Pariah Burke

TIP: Wrap Text around a Silhouetted Image 
Place an image with a solid, contrasting background or an alpha channel or clipping path masking the background. Open InDesign's Text Wrap panel, choose Show Options from the panel’s menu, and you'll see seven Contour Options. From the Text Wrap panel's Type pop-up menu, choose a contour option. Some, like Alpha Channel and Photoshop Path, are only available if they’re embedded in the image file. But this doesn’t mean you have to use a collage of empty frames to wrap text around a silhouetted image! Arranging the image behind the text (Object > Arrange > Send To Back) and choosing Detect Edges from the Contour Options’ Type pop-up menu often does the trick.
- Renée Dustman

TIP: Simulate Ripped Paper
With InDesign's Pencil tool, draw a rough shape with lots of twists and turns. Take your time and go slowly. Be sure to hold the Option/ALT key as you release the mouse button so the shape is a closed path. Use the Effects panel to add an inner shadow. Place an image in the shape. By varying your drawing speed and angles, you can make your shape look like a cracked eggshell, peeling paint, torn paper, and so on.
For examples of and variations on this technique, see the August/September 2009 issue of InDesign Magazine.
- Mike Rankin

TIP: Automatic Drag-N-Drop Image Libraries 
For image-intensive page layout in InDesign, selecting images visually is better than doing it by filename, and dragging and dropping is easier than File > Place. Rorohiko's ImageLibraryLoader is a free script-based plug-in for Mac and Windows versions of InDesign CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4. It automatically builds a thumbnail library of images in a folder inside InDesign. That library is a floating panel from which you can drag entries and drop them into the layout without stepping out of InDesign. For more info and the download link, go to http://www.creativepro.com/article/free-all-just-what-youre-looking.
- Pariah S. Burke

TIP: Create Paragraph and Character Styles Automatically
If you often receive text from multiple sources that's styled every which way, you need Thomas Silkjaer's Auto-Create Paragraph and Character Styles script.
This free Mac- and Windows-compatible script scans a selected InDesign story for local formatting that differs from the Basic Paragraph style. The script then generates and applies new paragraph and character styles describing, and assigned to, the locally formatted text. Read more and download the script at http://indesigning.net/auto-create-paragraph-and-character-styles.
- Pariah S. Burke

TIP: Turn Off Multiple Layers Simultaneously
InDesign's layers are great, but sometimes you can end up with so many layers that it gets confusing. To instantly hide all layers except one, hold the Option/Alt key and click the eye icon of the layer you want to remain visible.
- Sandee Cohen

TIP: Simulate Duotones
This super-easy trick doesn't create a true duotone, where the only colors are black and a second color (and where only two separation plates would result), but if you're printing to a composite printer, it works very well.
First, place an image, then select the frame containing the image with the Selection tool. Apply a color to the fill of the frame. Select the image with the Direct Selection Tool. Choose Transparency from the Effects panel (Object > Effects > Transparency). Click on the Basic Blending Mode menu, and select Luminosity. Voila! You have a faux duotone!
- Diane Burns

TIP: One Business Card, Many Names
Using InDesign's Data Merge feature can take the tedium out of generating business cards for a company with multiple employees. You design the card as usual and then combine it with a data file prepared in Microsoft Excel that lists the names and other information that changes. In the template card, you place fields for the real information, merge the file with the Data Source, and presto! Your result is a document with as many cards as there are records in the data source.
For step-by-step Data Merge instructions, see "Automate This!" in the April/May 2006 issue (#11), also posted on CreativePro.com.
- Nigel French

TIP: Arrange Floating Windows
InDesign CS3 and earlier open multiple documents in individual floating windows. Don't waste time dragging windows around onscreen in search of a particular document. Instead, choose Window > Arrange > Cascade. The active document is brought to the top of the stack, and the other InDesign files are staggered neatly behind. To activate a different document, click on its title bar.
- Renée Dustman

TIP: Go Native
To preserve any live transparency in files you place in InDesign, Adobe recommends working with native file formats, such as .AI and .PSD. This workflow not only lets you continue editing transparency effects in placed graphics, it can also improve final results.
- Mordy Golding and Renee Dustman

TIP: Free Folder Template
If you think you'll ever have to design a presentation folder, grab this free InDesign folder template. It comes with fold and die-cut guides, including a business card holder flap complete with ready-made die-cuts. And yes, Graphire Media really is giving it away, no strings attached. For more where this came from, read my article "We Love InDesign Freebies!" in the August/September issue of InDesign Magazine, coming out next week.
- Pariah S. Burke

TIP: Sizing Up Business Cards Around the World 
Are you creating business cards for other regions of the world but don't know the standard card sizes for those regions? Well, now you do!
Australia, New Zealand (1.636 aspect ratio): 90mm x 55mm / 3.54 inches x 2.165 inches
China (1.667 aspect ratio): 90mm x 54mm / 3.543 inches x 2.125 inches
Czech Republic, Hungary (1.8 aspect ratio): 90mm x 50mm / 3.543 inches x 1.968 inches
Europe (1.545 aspect ratio): 85mm x 55mm / 3.346 inches x 2.165 inches
Japan (1.655 aspect ratio): 91mm x 55mm / 3.582 inches x 2.165 inches
US, Canada, Netherlands (1.75 aspect ratio): 89mm x 51mm / 3.5 inches x 2 inches

- Nigel French

TIP: Export InDesign Documents to Multiple Single-Page Files 
When you want to export an InDesign document to multiple single-page files, try Page Exporter Utility, a free JavaScript that runs in InDesign CS2/CS3/CS4 on both PCs and Macs.
Download Page Exporter Utility at http://tinyurl.com/2hm8fe.

- Claudia McCue

TIP: Update TOCs
The easiest way to create a TOC for a long, structured document is to use InDesign's automatic Table of Contents feature: Create your document, assign unique paragraph styles to the paragraphs you want in the TOC, choose Layout > Table of Contents, and tell InDesign which Paragraph Styles to include in the TOC.

InDesign won't auto-update this TOC when your text or page numbers change, but that doesn't mean you have to resort to manually updating the content yourself. Just choose Layout > Update Table of Contents at any time, and InDesign will make it so.

- Keith Gilbert

TIP: Two Baseline Grids in One Document
When you want the first line in a custom baseline frame to always line up with the main baseline grid, follow these steps:
1. Set the baseline grid for the document (Preferences > Grids). Let's say the increment is 18 points.
2. Apply the paragraph command Align to Baseline Grid to force the text to align to the document-wide baseline grid.
3. Select the text frame that needs the custom baseline grid. Choose Object > Text Frame Options and click the Baseline Options tab. Set a custom baseline to, say, 12 points.
4. Set the Start of the baseline grid to be 18 points from the top of the frame. When the top of the text frame is positioned along the baseline grid for the main document, the first line of text in the custom text frame will automatically align on the document baseline grid. Then, the rest of the text aligns to the custom baseline grid.

- Sandee Cohen

TIP: Convert RGB Swatches to CMYK 
If you import swatches, you may introduce quite a few RGB colors into your four-color print publication file. To quickly convert them, download and run the free RGB to CMYK script from InDesign scripting master Dave Saunders.
Note that the colors may shift significantly because many RGB colors can’t be reproduced in CMYK. Also, the printed colors may not match what you see on screen. It’s always better to pick CMYK colors from a current printed swatch book.
Thanks to Bob Levine for the tip about Dave’s script!

- Pariah S. Burke

TIP: Skip the New Document Dialog Box 
To create a new InDesign document without summoning the New Document Dialog Box, add the Opt/Alt key to the Cmd/Ctrl-N keyboard shortcut. The resulting new document will be based on whatever setting you last chose in the New Document dialog box’s Document Preset pop-up menu.

- Sandee Cohen

TIP: Universal Punctuation Keyboard Shortcuts 
You won't find em dashes, ellipses, and other common punctuation and special characters on your keyboard. Within InDesign, you can insert these characters the long way using the Glyphs palette or the Type > Insert Special Character menu. Or you can memorize the InDesign-only keyboard shortcuts. Or, you can save that bit of brain space for other things and instead use the standard keyboard shortcuts below, which work in almost any app:

- Pariah Burke

TIP: Creating Complex Shapes
While InDesign's Pen tool is the page-layout app's only tool that lets you draw complex shapes, InDesign does have a handy panel that lets you create complex shapes from two or more basic shapes. When you select two or more objects, the Pathfinder panel (Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder) provides five options for creating a single shape that's generated from the selected objects: Add, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude Overlap, and Minus Back.

- John Cruise and Kelly Kordes Anton

Test Document Bleeds 
Does your document have bleeds? Just before you output the file, test whether the objects off the page will print properly by turning on Use Document Bleed Settings in the Marks and Bleed pane of the Print dialog box (or the Export Adobe PDF dialog box).

-- Steve Werner

Combine a Roll Fold with an Accordion Fold 
This week's tip is a little different -- it's a video! To watch Trish Witkowski demonstrate a roll fold with a nested accordion fold, go to www.foldfactory.com/foldoftheweek.php. 

In just 60 seconds, Trish will help you understand a cool fold combination that makes a big impact on customers.

Frames First, Images Second
When you have to place a number of images into your layout, save yourself some effort and first set up the graphic frame with particular specifications (Fit Proportionally, fit content to frame, fit frame to content, etc.). That way you won't have to fidget as much to make the fit.
Drag out the frame to the desired size and proportion. Select Object > Fitting > Frame Fitting Options. Define the Crop Amount or the Reference Point (the point from which your sizes will emanate), and select Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally. Once you define one frame, Option/Alt-drag it to make a duplicate with the same parameters. Now when you Place (Command/Ctrl-D) an image, it will come into the frame with the predefined sizing.
This tip applies to InDesign CS3 and CS4.

-- Andrew Shalat

Using the Scissors Tool
You can use InDesign's Scissors tool to convert a closed path into an open path and to cut an open path into two separate open paths. First, select it in the Tools panel, and then move the crosshair pointer over the edge of an object. When a circle is displayed in the middle of the crosshairs -- indicating that the pointer is over the edge of the object -- click the mouse button. An anchor point is added where you click. If you select this anchor point with the Direct Selection tool and move it, you'll find another anchor point in the same place. This anchor point is the other endpoint if you cut a closed path. It's an endpoint on a separate path if you cut an open path.

-- John Cruise and Kelly Kordes Anton

Stay Away from System Fonts 
When you're preparing InDesign files for print on a Mac, stay away from System fonts. These include the Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, Courier, Symbol, and Zapf Dingbats fonts found in [Your computer] > System > Library > Fonts. They won’t print badly, but the names are the same as PostScript fonts you may also be have. Sometimes the wrong version can be substituted by mistake, causing incorrect spacing or missing characters.

-- Steve Werner

New Tabs for Document Windows 
If you're not a fan of CS4's tabbed document windows, you can disable them either temporarily or permanently.
Under Window > Arrange, there are commands that let you float one InDesign document outside the tabs or float all InDesign documents outside the tabs. Or simply drag the tab down a bit, and the document becomes a regular floating window.
For the permanent solution, go to Preferences > Interface and turn off the Open Documents as Tabs.

-- Sandee Cohen

Setting Defaults for the Polygon Tool 
To set defaults for the Polygon tool and the Polygon Frame tool, double-click either tool in the Tools panel. The Polygon Settings dialog box lets you specify the number of sides and, optionally, a star inset, which creates a starburst shape. The settings you specify are used for new polygons until you change settings again.

-- John Cruise and Kelly Kordes Anton

Remove Hyperlinks from Text in Word
Do you hate the blue links with the gray rectangles you sometimes get when you place Microsoft Word documents into InDesign? The fastest way to get rid of these automatic hyperlinks is in Word itself before you flow in the text.
Open the file in Word, select all, and type Command/Ctrl-6. (Use the 6 key on the main keyboard, not the number pad.) The URLs and e-mail addresses remain but are no longer hyperlinks, so InDesign imports them as regular text and doesn't add its default grey rectangle hyperlink formatting to them.

-- Anne-Marie Concepción

Quick and Handy Layout File Info 
Do you want to know how large your InDesign file is or which folder it’s in? Check out the Info panel (Window > Info). When nothing is selected (Edit > Deselect All), the Info panel reports on the document itself. In addition to file size, you can also see the path to the active file on your computer or server. Usually the path appears truncated on the non-resizable panel, but if you hover your cursor over the readout, the tooltip shows the full path. 

-- Anne-Marie Concepción 

Be sure to check out more great information on the fundamentals of InDesign

Add Files to a Book
To add individual InDesign files to an InDesign book (File > New > Book), choose Add Document from the Book panel menu or click on the plus sign at the bottom of the Book panel. To add multiple InDesign files, drag and drop files from the Macintosh Finder, Windows Explorer, or Adobe Bridge into the Book panel. You can drag and drop multiple files at a time. You can even drag and drop a top-level folder, and all the InDesign files in that folder, as well as all the subfolders, will be added to the book.

This tip works in InDesign CS2 through CS4.

-- Keith Gilbert

Help Needs Help!
Do you prefer the PDF User Guide/Help File to InDesign CS4's HTML help? No problem. Just launch the HTML help, look in the upper-right corner for "Help (printable)", and click the PDF icon.

--Claudia McCue

Safe Style Editing
If you have the Type tool in a text frame and realize you want to edit a Paragraph or Character Style but don't want to apply that style to the selected text or paragraph, select Shift-Option-Command (Mac) or Shift-Alt-Ctrl (PC) and double-click on the style name you wish to change. Alternately, Control- or right-click on the style name in the panel and choose Edit "Style Name." This tip applies to InDesign CS2 to CS4.

--Erica Gamet

Anchored Snippets
InDesign CS4 lets you import snippets directly into a text story, as inline or anchored objects. (If there is more than one object in the snippet, they must be grouped for this to work.) You can also apply an object style to the object (or group) before creating the snippet, which means that every time you place it in a story, it shows up in exactly the correct position.

-- David Blatner

Draw, Reposition, Continue Drawing
Start drawing a frame in InDesign, then (still holding down your mouse button) press and hold the spacebar so you can reposition the frame. Once it's in the correct position, release the spacebar and continue drawing.

--Claudia McCue

Compare Two Layouts

You have two InDesign layout files that look identical, but you suspect they’re not. Short of going through every page with a fine-toothed comb, how can you find the differences?
Simple: Export each layout to PDF with a unique name and then use the Document > Compare feature in Acrobat Pro 8 or 9. It can churn through even the longest layout files in a minute or so and present you with a page-by-page breakdown of where formatting, position, and/or text changes occur in the two PDFs you selected.

-- Anne-Marie Concepción

This tip and many, many more will be in the next issue of InDesign Magazine.