MENUS

FILE

New: select a new document, open a book, or a library. A book is a compilation of several documents (like chapters). A library is a file that contains images (like logos) and text that you use on a regular basis.

Open (command O): navigate to the file you want to open. Note that you can choose “all documents” or “all readable documents.”

Open Recent (not shown): lists the last several documents you worked on.

Close (command W): closes the current document window

Save (command S): When you save for the first time, you need to name and specify a location for your document.

Save As (command shift S): use this command to rename your document, or save it to a different folder or disk.

Save a copy (command  option S): this saves a copy of your current document, and you then continue to work on the original. Handy if you want to try several versions of the same thing.

Revert: Use this when you don’t have enough “undo’s” to get back where you started.

Place (command D I remember this—it’s an old PageMaker shortcut!): Use the “place” command to get text or pictures into your document. Unlike XPress, you don’t have to have a picture or text box active, or even created.

Import XML: XML documents facilitate the interchange of data between computer applications; use this command to import XML information.

PDF styles: select from existing styles, or define a new one; this is used for exporting InDesign files as PDF’s.

Export (command E): use this to save your InDesign file in another format.

Workgroup: if several people are working on the same document—as might happen when working for a magazine or newspaper—this command is used to open, save, and update shared files. You have to turn on “workgroup functionality” in your prefs first.

Document Setup (command option P): You can add pages to your document, change the page size and orientation here.

File Info: add your name as author, copyright information, and keywords that might help you locate the file if you misplace it.

Preflight (command option shift F): this is similar to “collect for output” in XPress. It lists the fonts and images used, lets you know if there are problems with any of it, and lets you generate a report, and/or collect the fonts, images and so on into a folder that can then go to a service bureau.

Package (command option shift P): this is the actual collection command.

Printer Styles: this series of dialog boxes allow you to add printers to your list so you  can print to several different devices.

Print: (command P): the dialog box here has many of the same options as the one in XPress. Make sure you go through each panel before clicking OK.

EDIT

Undo (command Z): undoes the last several things you did, one step at a time.

Redo (command shift Z): redoes the last several things you undid.

Cut (command X): cuts the selected object or text and places it in the clipboard.

Copy (command C): the selected object or text and places it in the clipboard.

Paste (command V): places whatever is in the clipboard into your document. InDesign pastes things in the center of your document window.

Paste Into (command option V): you can copy an image or text, and use this command to paste it into a frame.

Paste in Place (command option shift V): use this to paste a copy of something on top of the original.

Clear (delete): this eliminates the selected object/text without putting it in the clipboard.

Duplicate (command option shift D): a cumbersome shortcut, but a very nice feature: creates a clone of the selected object, placing it slightly lower and to the right of the original.

Step and Repeat: (command shift V): works exactly as the step and repeat function in XPress.

Select All (command A): if you’re typing, this selects all the text; if  you’re not typing, this selects all the objects on a page.

Edit in Story Editor (command Y): this opens a new window that’s all about working with words; formatting styles appear in the left hand column.

Find/Change (command F): this can be as simple as finding all of one word that you spelled wrong throughout your document and replacing it with the correct spelling, or as in-depth as establishing that the word(s) need to be set in a specific point size, font and so on.

Find Next: (command option F): Once you’ve established something you want to find, you can use this command to find the next instance in your document.

Check Spelling (command I): use it!

Dictionary: you can specify which dictionary to use when checking spelling; you can also add words to the user dictionary here.

Transparency Blend Space: select from RGB or CMYK: use RGB if you’re creating a document for the web, and CMYK for print.

Transparency Flattener Presets...: This dialog box lets you choose between low, medium and high resolution; check with your printer to determine which preset to use.

Color Settings...: This dialog box allows you to turn on (or off) the InDesign Color Management System (CMS).

Assign Profiles...: Unless you’re working for a commercial printer, there’s no real reason why you’d need to mess with this.

Convert to Profile...: ditto

Keyboard Shortcuts...: It’s nice that Adobe recognizes there are some keystroke shortcuts we know and love, that aren’t part of InDesign’s repertoire. You can re-access any menu command, or any tool shortcut here. Please don’t do this on the computers in the cluster!

LAYOUT

Margins and Columns: use this to change margins on a page, or to add column guides to a page.

Ruler Guides: change the color of your ruler guides  and the threshold; threshold refers to the percentage of magnification a document needs to be before guide are no longer rendered. 5% is the default.

Create Guides: this creates lovely grids. To disappear the grid, you can hide guides (command ;) or go back to this menu item, put 0 in for horizontal and vertical guides, then check the “remove existing ruler guides” box.

Layout Adjustments: enable this option and specify what InDesign should change if you make adjustments to the page size and/or orientation. Go carefully here!

First Page: takes you to the first page in your document.

Previous, Next, Last Page: ditto above. It’s much faster to use the little arrows, or the page number section at the bottom of your document window to move to a specific page.

Go Back / Go Forward: see previous.

Numbering and Section Options: when you’re dealing with a multiple page document (like this one) you may want to divide your chapters or sections into separate bits. XPress has the same feature. Use this to define the beginning of a new section and to specify how the pages will be numbered.

Table of Contents: is nice to have a TOC for long documents (even nicer to have an index!). Select the paragraph style(s) of text you want included in your contents (double click on it) and InDesign will ferret out any words using that style to include and create the TOC for you.

Update Table of Contents: once you’ve created one, you can update it periodically.

Table of Contents Styles: use this to set up the styles used in your table of contents before actually creating it.

use the arrows at the bottom of your document window to move through your pages, or type in the page number where you want to go

TYPE

Font: select from any open/active fonts on your computer.

Size: select a preset size, or choose “other” to type in your own.

Character (command T): this opens the character palette (which you can also open from the Window menu).

Paragraph (command M): opens the paragraph palette, also available from the Window menu.

Tabs (command shift T): use this to set tabs for selected text: move the window to the top of your text frame to visually position them, rather than dealing with measurements.

Glyphs: This opens a window where you can select a font, and find special characters, like ¥, ¶, and § without having to remember the keystroke combination.

Story: the only thing you can do here is enable something called “optical margin alignment” which is also known as “hanging punctuation.”

Character Styles (shift F11): this palette is very handy, if you’ve taken the time to define styles. Select the text you want to influence, and click once on the style you want to apply. Use this palette to add new styles; double click on an existing style to edit it.

Paragraph Styles (F11): use this palette to assign paragraph styles. Add new styles, or edit existing ones.

Create Outlines (command shift O): aHA! This turns text into objects with control points, just as it does in Illustrator. You can then use Edit -> paste into to paste an image into the letters.

Find Font: this lists the fonts used in your document. You can find wherever it’s used and change it to something else you specify here. It’s like ‘find/change” except it’s not about words, just fonts.

Change Case: this is where you might change something you wrote in lower case to all caps, and so on. Nice.

Type on a Path: when you’ve got type on a path, use the “options” button in this dialog box to change its appearance.

Insert Special Character: Use this pop-up menu to put commonly used characters like ©, …, and ® without having to remember the keystroke combinations for them or have to hunt through the entire glyphs chart.

Insert White Space: select the size/kind of space you want from this list.

Insert Break Character: this creates sections in your text— paragraph breaks,
line breaks, and so on.

Fill with Placeholder Text: this is “jabber” by another name. Nice.

Show Hidden Characters: every time you press return, or the spacebar, there’s a special character inserted. These are invisible codes that format your text. If you want to see them for some reason, select this option.

hidden characters...

OBJECT

Transform: select something and use this to rotate, scale, skew, or move it using specific numerical transformations, rather than the scale or free transform tool.

Arrange: here’s how to get text frames, picture frames, and other objects into the correct stacking order (if you aren’t using layers).

Select: Use this to get to object that may be behind others, or parts of  a group.

Group (command G): select the elements you want to act as a single object and group them: you can move the group using the selection tool (solid arrow) or modify individual elements of a group using the direct selection tool (hollow arrow).

Ungroup (command shift G): break a group into it’s original elements.

Lock Position (command L): very handy if you don’t want to move something by mistake.

Unlock Position (command shift L): if you need to reposition something you locked.

Text Frame Options (command B): a text frame is the bounding box you create by clicking and dragging with the text tool, or by drawing one with the frame tool(s). Use this dialog box to change the features of a particular text frame.

Fitting: this applies to images in particular; be careful not to distort your image by using “fit content to frame!”

Content: this changes the nature of a frame, to contain an image rather than text, for instance.

Drop Shadow (command option M): yes, you can add drop shadows to stuff.

Feather: this sort of fades the edges of your image, much like what used to be called a vignette.

Corner Effects: this creates several variations of corners to selected objects.

Clipping Path (command option shift K): this can create a clipping path for you or use one from Photoshop.

Image Color Settings: again, unless you’re a prepress guru, don’t mess with this option.

Interactive: If you’re using InDesign to create a web page, this lets you determine button, movie and sound options

Compound Paths: Select two objects to create a compound path or release one just like Illustrator.

Pathfinder: Select two or more objects to combine them, subtract one shape from another, and some of the other Illustrator pathfinder options.

Reverse Path: this changes how a path was drawn, from clockwise to counter-clockwise and vice versa.

Display Performance: use this to change how a selected image or graphic is displayed on our monitor.

use the clipping path option to silhouette images

TABLE

Insert Table: choose this to specify the number of rows and columns you want.

Convert Text to Table: if you’ve used tabs to separate information, select it and then choose this option: InDesign will create a table with the number of rows and columns needed to surround the text.

Convert Table to Text: Undo a table you’ve made.

Table Options: once you’ve created a table, put the text cursor inside a cell to get table options: use this feature to change the color of the interior vertical and horizontal strokes, and cell fill color.

Cell Options: use this function to change the content/look of an active cell in a table.

Insert: add rows and/or columns to an existing table.

Delete: remove rows, columns, or whole tables.

Select: select cells, rows, columns or a whole table. If you want to get rid of the borders around a table, select it this way, and then use “table options” to set the border to “0.”

Merge Cells: select two or more adjacent cells and combine them into one (select them by clicking and dragging through them with your text cursor).

Unmerge cells: Select a cell that you’ve already merged and divide them back into individual

Split Cell Horizontally: select a cell and this command divides it into two cells—it essentially adds a cell to a row, and makes the row twice as tall.

Split Cell Vertically: this turns a single cell into two cells side-by-side.

Convert Rows: Choose whether to make a row a header row, a footer row, or a body row.

Distribute Rows Evenly: select your table first (click in a cell, then move your cursor to the top left corner of the table; it should turn into a pointing down arrow, then click) and this command will reset all the rows to the same height.

Distribute Columns Evenly: as above, only this resets the width of all the columns.

Go to Row: select the row you want to move to; InDesign highlights the entire row.

Edit Header: Add or edit text in the header row.

Edit Footer: Add or edit text in the footer row.

You can import tables from Microsoft Word or Excel and InDesign will convert them into table objects.

VIEW

Overprint Preview: If you remember from the section on preferences, you decided whether to overprint in black. Selecting this option shows you what that will look like.

Proof Setup: this lets you select the “soft proofing” method you want to use for your document, providing you have turned color management on.

Proof Colors: this previews the colors on your monitor, using the setup specifications (above). Don’t leave this on: it makes everything run slower.

Zoom In (command +), Zoom Out ( command -), Fit Page in Window (command 0), Fit Spread in Window (command option 0), Actual Size (command 1), Entire Pasteboard (command option shift 0): use these shortcuts/commands to zoom in and out of your document.

Display Performance: Optimized Display (command option O): this sounds like it’s going to make what’s on your screen look great. Depending on how “optimized” was defined in your, you might get gray boxes instead of images. This can really speed up InDesign’s performance.

Typical Display (command option Z): again, this changes how InDesign renders images so you get an idea of where and what size things are.

High Quality Display (command option H): this should theoretically render images at the best possible resolution. It slows InDesign down.

Allow Object Level Display Settings: this overrides any settings you may have selected in your preferences.

Structure: the structure pane pops up to the left of your document window; structure elements apply primarily to web pages using  XML.

Hide Hyperlinks: If you’re creating a web page, this will hide any word(s) you’ve assigned a link to.

Show Tag Markers: tags are used to define text and, paragraph properties. Exporting text from InDesign with tags helps it to retain it’s formatting.

Hide/Show Master Items (command Y): check this option to see or hide any elements you’ve placed on master pages.

Hide/Show Text Threads (command Y): a text threat is essentially text linked from one frame to another. Check this, then click on a text frame to see how and where it’s linked to/from. Handy when you’re moving frames around and you get them out of order.

Hide/Show Frame Edges (command H): this is one of the first keystroke shortcuts I memorized. This shows and hides frame edges.

Hide/Show Rulers (command R): I can’t work without rulers: why would you want to hide them?

Hide/Show Guides (command ;): this is the second keystroke shortcut I memorized. Temporarily hide any guides you’ve placed in your document.

Snap to Guides (command shift ;): when this is checked, items you’re moving with the selection tool will snap to a guide when it gets close enough. Zoom in to see how close it actually gets!

Hide/Show Baseline Grid (command option ‘): the baseline grid is useful for making sure the baselines in one column are at the same vertical place as those in another column. I prefer to use a single ruler guide to make these adjustments.

Hide/Show Document Grid (command ‘): this is the grid you established in the grid prefs panel.

Snap to Document Grid (command shift ‘): snaps objects to the document grid, even if it isn’t showing.

Window

Arrange: New Window opens a duplicate window of the document you’re working on. Use it if you frequently need to jump from the beginning to the middle or end of a long document: have one window display one page, and a second one display another page.

Cascade stacks all open windows on top of one another.

Tile resizes each document window so you can see them all at once. Or you could use the Mac OS X F10 shortcut.

Command M minimizes the active window.

Use Bring all to Front if you have some documents hiding behind other programs that are open.

The rest of this list are the various palettes. See the section on palettes for more information about what they can do for you.

At the bottom of the column is a list of all open documents. Select the one you want to switch to.