Learn how to be more efficient working with InDesign layouts, and discover how to speed up your workflow by mastering the features you use every day.
Woo! InDesign advanced tips! I’ve avoided learning GREP because it seems complicated and wasn’t sure exactly what all it could do, but this had some interesting use cases and good instructions.
Importing from Word
Resave word doc file extension as .zip file, then use a program to unzip it and it will extract the original media files in their unedited format.
Import Word > reserve local overrides to preserve bold, italics, etc.
Find/Change with GREP
- Figure out what is unique about imported style
- Match “positive lookbehind” to add circumstance if your text is always after a specific type of formatting (e.g. two hard returns)
- Icons under Search – far right icon lets you select a style to search within – useful to remove excess numbering 😃
- Bottom box lets you use search to apply formatting
- Preformatted multiple return to single return deletes extra spacing
GREP Styles
GREP style = dynamic reference to a character style
Paragraph Style > GREP style > new GREP style > select character style > write expression or exact word
To define a set of multiple words to apply formatting to: (WORD|WORD|WORD)
(Can also be accomplished with nested styles)
GREP formatting
- . = any character
- ^ = beginning of the paragraph
- + = may be more than one
- \. = period
- use a space for a space
- | = or
- () = defines a set
- \d = any digit
- {#,} = at least as many as this number, i.e. .{20,} would look for a series of at least 20 characters
More GREP resources:
- Erica Gamet’s GREP cheat sheet
- Recommended GREP resources from Creative PRO
- Book: GREP in InDesign 3
Conditional Text
Hide specific pieces of text with conditional text: select text, include final return of paragraph, check the conditional text style, click the eye symbol to make it not visible
Responsive style – use GREP – can apply formatting based on conditions, e.g. reduce font size based on character length
Track Changes
- Window > Editorial > Track Changes (must be set up as a user first)
- File > User – set yourself up as a user
- Click in text frame, then click “power” to track changes in that frame (can also select “enable track changes in all frames”)
See track changes: Edit > Edit in Story Editor (ctrl-y)
Then can accept or reject changes from Track Changes window
Edit > Preferences > Track Changes – choose colors for track changes
Can also use menu to accept / reject all changes by a specific user
Tables
Importing from Excel
- Select area you want to import, right click and select “define name”
- Save file as .xls
- When importing check “show import options” – change cell range to the named selection
Formatting Tables
Tip: create a “clean cell” style that clears borders and styles
(Nice, I already know most of this stuff 💪 Have done a lot of table formatting in my day 😄)
Click table frame then hold shift to expand evenly – also works for cells to move cell divisions without sliding over all other cells!
To insert picture, convert to Graphic Cell, select cells and adjust formatting with Object > Frame Fitting Options > fit content proportionally from the center, then can increase inset to make images fit without touching
Quickly Transforming and Matching Images
Adjust eyedropper options to only select certain styles, such as object size
Select multiple images and adjust placement in frame: select all frames, Object > Select > Content, use arrow keys to move all
To redefine size of multiple objects at once: first change one, select others and Object > Transform sequence again individually
Other Notes
Paragraph Style Bullets and Numbering > create new list style to ensure numbering associated with that style
Window > Interactive > Hyperlinks > Convert URLs to hyperlinks > can apply style at same time
Ha! He adds emojis to the names of paragraph styles to make them stand out
Object > Convert Shape