inDesign Tip #10 Get rid of the first page when working with spreads

What we are accomplishing: Making the first page of a spread sheet document not start with a cover page.

First I would like to thank those of you who have been patient in waiting for this post.  I have been really busy lately and have not had a chance to do a post this last week.  From here on out I will be trying to do a post at least every Thursday.

Alright, on to the tip!  Today’s tip is a bit tricky.  The thing that we are trying to correct here is fixing that first page in a spread document so that you can start with a spread at the left, instead of a single page set to the right.  The easiest way to fix this is to actually renumber the pages.  The reason why inDesign puts that first page to the right is because it is an odd number.  All odd numbers are to the right, and all even numbers are to the left.  So, if you open your pages panel and right click on the first page of the document, your contextual menu will have an item called “Numbering and Sectioning Options”.  Clicking this will take you a screen that will let you change the page number.  There will be a field that starts with “Start Page Numbering at:    “.  You will want to put an even number in this field.  Voila!  You’re first page is now set to start from the left.  Now then, the second way to approach this problem is to turn off automatic page shuffling.  Follow these steps, which are taken from the official Adobe Help Resource Center, to fix the problem.

1. Make sure page 1 of the document is blank.
2. Choose File > Document Setup. Be sure the document contains at least three pages and that the Facing Pages option is selected. Click OK.
3. In the Pages panel, select all the pages except page 1. (The easiest way to do this is to select page 2 and then Shift-select the last page of the document.)
4. In the Pages panel menu, deselect Allow Selected Spread To Shuffle.
5. Select page 1. In the Pages panel menu, choose Delete Spread.

That’s all there is to it!

indesign Tip #9 Expanding the fill of a rounded rectangle

What we are accomplishing: Expanding the fill of a rounded rectangle (making the curve of the edge editable).

This one is more of a trick than a tip.  If you have used very inDesign very long, you have probably noticed that there is not a way to expand shapes the same way you can do in illustrator.  However, this little trick will cause a rounded rectangle to to expand, letting you select the vector points that make up the rounded corner.  The first thing you will want to do is to create a rounded rectangle (Object > Corner Options).  Once you have your rounded rectangle, all you need to do is draw a shape that is smaller than the rounded rectangle.  Place your new object within the boundaries of the rounded rectangle, so that the rectangle is completely covering it.  Next, just select both object and use the Pathfinder to Combine the two objects.  Voila!  Your rounded rectangle is now expanded!

Be on the lookout for my next post, which will describe how to get rid of that pesky first page when using page spreads.

indesign Tip #8 Using equations to cut a circle into equal sections

What we are accomplishing: Dividing a Circle into equal sections by using a simple equation.

Unlike Illustrator, inDesign does not have a tool that will allow you to create a circular pie chart.  Of course, you could just create the pie chart in illustrator and pull it over to inDesign, but you may lose some editing capabilities doing so.  If you wish to cut a circle into equal parts you will need 2 things, a circle and a line.  Make the line the exact length of the circle’s radius.  Next, align the line to be center aligned horizontally to the circle.  Copy the line and paste in place (shift+option+command+v) to create a new line.  Once you have the new line, you need to make sure your point of rotation is correct.  While the object is selected,you will have an item located at the top left of your screen that contains 9 boxes.  This is your reference point identifier.  You will want to change the reference point to be either the top or bottom of the line, depending on which side of the circle you placed the line.  We do this so that inDesign will know where it will pivot your rotation from.  Now that you have that set up, you are going to want to rotate it.  Select the line and go to “Object > Transform > Rotate…”.  In this menu, you will see a field where you enter the value that you wish to rotate.  Instead of doing an exact value, you will want to do a formula.  To make the graph 3rds, just type in “360/3″, which is 120°.  The next step is just to add 120° to a duplicate of the line you just rotated.  In other words, just create a new radius line that is rotated 240°.  Voila!  You now have a circle that is cut into sections!  I understand that this post may be a little confusing.  If you have any questions over the instructions of this post, feel free to email me at indepthindesign@yahoo.com.

Don’t forget to leave comments or suggestions on my posts.  I enjoy compliments and constructive criticism.

indesign Tip #7 Applying a Radial Gradient Feather

What we are accomplishing: Creating a radial gradient feather, as opposed to just the directional gradient feather.

The new feather gradient tool is a great asset for any designer.  However, just selecting it from the toolbar won’t always give you the affect you are looking for.  To apply a radial feather gradient, you will need to open your drop down transparency menu located at the top of your screen (CS4).  Here you will have options such as “transparency”, “feather” and “gradient feather.”  Select “gradient feather” to open the gradient feather panel.  Once here, you will be presented with options that are very similar to a regular gradient.  There will be a gradient bar with a black and white swatch at either end.  Right below this is the linear/radial gradient option.  Select the drop down box and select radial.  Viola!  You now have a radial gradient applied to your object!  You can also adjust the the black and white swatches to change the effect of the gradient feather.

Don’t forget to leave comments or suggestions on my posts.  I enjoy compliments and constructive criticism.

Indesign Tip #6 Changing Spot Colors to Process

What we are accomplishing: Converting spot colors to process, so as to avoid using too many in your document.

“Cannot output this document because it contains more than 27 spot colors and uses transparency.  Delete some spot colors or convert them to process colors and try again.”

Trying to print out a document that pops up this message can be very annoying, especially if you don’t know how to change spot colors.  To change spot colors to process, you first need to find the spot colors you have in your document.  Open the swatch palette and click on the button located to the bottom left.  When you roll over it, it should say “Display All Swatches.”  The spot colors located in your colors palette will have a small dot at the bottom right of each swatch .    Right click on the spot color swatch and click on “Swatch Options…”  Once here, you can change the Color Type from “Spot” to “Process”.  Viola!  You now have successfully changed a spot color to a process color.  Also, you can select a large group of spot colors and do the same process to convert all of the selected swatches!

Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions on my posts.  I enjoy compliments and constructive criticism.

Indesign Tip #5 Letting inDesign Do Math

What we are accomplishing: Making inDesign do math for you, so you don’t have to.

This one is very simple, but a lot of people don’t realize that it can be done.  When you are inputting a value into a box, such as the hieght of a circle, you can input a simple equation for it to solve.  So here is an example.  I have 2 circles, both of which are 5.125 inches tall. I want the second circle to be exactly a third of the other circle, so I take the size it is already set to and add “/3″ to the end.  Then just press enter and viola!  The circle is now exactly a third of the size it was before. You can use the +, -, *, and / symbols to do math with.  Very simple, yet very helpful.

Also, please feel free to leave comments or suggestions on my posts.  I enjoy compliments and constructive criticism.

inDesign Tip #4 Creating an inDesign Book

What we are accomplishing:  Creating an inDesign book that holds multiple inDesign documents.

Creating books is an easy and efficient way to work with multiple files.  Whether you are working on group project, where everyone works on their own section, or are just working with multiple inDesign files for ease of organization, books will help keep things nice and organized.  First, you need to start a new book.  Go to “File” then “New”.  Under the “New” menu, there should be an option for “Book”.  The next step is to either turn auto pagination on or off, depending on your needs.  Auto pagination will take the page numbers from each document you add and automatically changes the page numbers.  While this can be very helpful at times, it can also be bad if you are not expecting it.  To turn this option on or off, go into the book panel options and select “Book Page Numbering Options”.  Here, there will be an option that says “Automatically Update Page & Section Numbers”.  Just uncheck this box and hit ok.  Now you can add in files without having to worry about pages numbers getting changed!  The next step is to add files to the book.  To do so, click on the plus button located at the bottom left of the book.  From here, you can browse your computer to find the files that you wish to add.  Now that you have your files in a book, you can easily access all the files from a central location, export those files to a single PDF and many other features!

Here are some quick reference maps.

File>New>Book

Book Page Numbering Options>Automatically Update Page & Section Numbers

Feel free to send me an email if you have any more questions.

inDesign Tip #3 Balancing Ragged Lines

What we are accomplishing:  Making inDesign recognize “ragged lines” and automatically balance those lines.

There are 2 ways to accomplish this.  The first one I will explain requires you have a paragraph style (which I would recommend having if you are doing a lot of text).  To create a paragraph style, open the Paragraph Styles tab by going to Window, then Type and Tables, then Paragraph Styles.  Once here, click on the “create new style” button located at the bottom of the tab.  Then, right-click on the style that you wish to edit, then click “Edit ‘style name’ “.  This should open the Paragraph Style Options dialog box.  There will be a large list of sections located on the left side of the box.  Click on the one that says “Indents and Spacing” to get to that menu.  Once here, simply clicking on “Balance Ragged Lines” will set up your paragraph style to automatically change your paragraphs to avoid leaving orphans.  This is really helpful when doing tasks such as inputting large paragraphs of text across multiple pages.  It also helps in the case that you need to change an attribute across the whole of the problems.

The second way to do this is very simple. To do this, open your Paragraph tab.  It is located right next to where the Paragraph Styles tab is located.  Once this tab is open, click on the options button (the button that looks like a triangle pointing down with lines to the right of it) located at the top right of the tab.  This will open up your options for that tab.  Next, just click on “Balance Ragged Lines” to turn on the option.

Here is a map for quick reference.

Window –> Type –> Paragraph Styles –> Create New Style –> Right-Click –> Edit “style name” –> Indents and Spacing –> Balance Ragged Lines

Window –> Type –> Paragraph –> Options Button  –> Balance Ragged Lines

inDesign Tip #2 Advanced Options for the Eyedropper Tool

What we are accomplishing: Picking up only the attributes you want using the eyedropper tool.

To do this, select the eyedropper tool located in your toolbar. Once selected, double click on its icon. This will open up the eyedropper option panel. Here, you can turn on and off various attributes that you pick up using the eyedropper. As an example, say I want to pickup the fill color of an object, but not the stroke.  Just turn off the stroke option and viola, no stroke! But lets give a more extreme example to show how deep this thing goes.  Let’s say that I have a box that is filled with a red gradient and black outline with 50% transparency.  I also have a rounded corner box with a blue gradient and 75% transparency, no outline. I want the red box to have the blue gradient and 75% transparency, but to keep its outline and to not be rounded. To do so, I just need to uncheck the following:

Stroke Settings – Color and tint, weight, and corner options

There you have it, a blue gradient box that matches the description above.

inDesign Tip #1 Vertically Centering a Text Box

The trick is to have a text box on the screen that can center align vertically.  To turn this feature on or off, first select the text box of choice, then go to the menu bar at the top of the screen.  Then go to “Objects”, then “Text Frame Options…”.  Once in this menu, make sure you are on the “General” tab.  In this menu, you will find a section called vertical justification.  Just click on the drop down box next to “Align:” and change it to center.  Voila! You have successfully changed a text frame to be vertically centered!

Here is a map for quick reference.

Objects > Text Frame Options > General > Align: > Centered

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