Two weeks ago I started small personal project. Main idea was to collect all predefined shortcuts for InDesign CS5 to one place and create interactive guide.

While i was digging through files, I got really surprised first by number of shortcuts that can be applied (over than 1400) and secondly that InDesign ships with more than 400 already predefined ones! That’s really awesome, so many space to speed up your work! But, there is no way you can remember all of them! So, every day you learn few shortcuts, but also, you forget about ones you don’t use so frequently.

So, I’d like to list few, really awesome ones, just list, no talk, no images!

PC shortcut | Mac shortcut

• Fit Selection in Window:
  Ctrl+Alt+= | Opt+Cmd+=
• Create document without dialog based on defaults:
  Ctrl+Alt+N | Command+Option+N
• Create outlines without deleting text:
  Ctrl+Alt+Shift+O | Cmd+Opt+Shift+O
• Activate last-used field in panel:
  Ctrl+Alt+` | Command+Option+`
• Move to first threaded text frame:
  Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Page Up | Opt+Shift+Cmd+Page Up
• Go to previous frame in thread:
  Ctrl+Alt+Page Up | Opt+Cmd+Page Up
• Go to next frame in thread:
  Ctrl+Alt+Page Down | Opt+Cmd+Page Down
• Go to last frame in thread:
  Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Page Down | Opt+Shift+Cmd+Page Down
• Activate last-used field in panel:
  Ctrl+Alt+` | Opt+Cmd+`
• Show Hidden Characters:
  Ctrl+Alt+I | Opt+Cmd+I
• Fitting: Fill Frame Proportionally:
  Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C | Opt+Shift+Cmd+C
• Insert Special Character: Markers: Current Page Number:
  Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N | Opt+Shift+Cmd+N

My favorite one from this list is Activate last-used field in panel! When you start to use it, you will never be able to work without it!

Have fun!

I think you still remember my old post about Auto Apply Object Style to Placed Image.

That’s great workaround, but I’ve “found” even better one through scripting! Scripting is just awesome! So many things can be done with just few lines of code.

WARNING: This only works with InDesign CS5!

So, let’s see how to use it!

I think the hardest part for some people will be how to install the script. Script has to be placed into “startup scripts” folder which is located in Adobe InDesign/scripts folder. If you can’t find it, just use your system find and search for “startup scripts”! After copying file to folder you simply start/restart InDesign, and you will find two new menu items like on pictures. Click Enable tomaxxiPLACE® and you are ready to start! Select which Object Style you want to apply, and start placing images! Keep in mind that you can change desired Object Style even while placing!

Download

Version 2.3, 14/01/2011, InDesign CS5 only!

That’s it!

Have fun end enjoy!

Feedback is highly appreciated!

Keyboard shortcuts are a big time saver! And when I say big, I mean BIG! I love shortcuts, and by time, they become part of you, and your everyday workflow! But! It’s becoming difficult to remember all shortcuts when you use more than one program, and I know you do! So, I decided to create nice little interactive shortcuts guide and to be even better, I wanted to use just InDesign‘s interactive features!

It was quite a challenge for me even though I knew how to use InDesign and InDesign‘s interactive features. I know, it sounds crazy, but InDesign is really awesome for creating interactive content too! To be honest, I was quite skeptic about interactivity inside such awesome typographic software, but I’m really blown away! Flash is powerful, and you can do a way more and have much more control, but InDesign is just simple and effective! Here are few screen shots that were made from finished InDesign layout before exporting.

So, you might be wondering how this is really created. Here is short outline of workflow I’ve used to create this interactive guide. Remember, I’ve used just InDesign!

• Collect all shortcuts PC and Mac
• Create InDesign Keyboard Layout
• Create Object Styles for Normal/Over/Click keys
• Input all shortcuts to tables (every key to separate page)
• Merge shortcuts page to Multi-State Object with script
• Assign every key to Multi-State Object state
• Export to SWF

I think there is no need to explain how to use this guide. Simply start it and explore! In case you still need some help, there is short Quick Start Guide.

That’s it! I hope that you will find this guide useful and helpful! Please, if you have any suggestions, feedback, and even if you find errors, do not hesitate to send me an email!

Launch Interactive Shortcuts Guide! [NEW]

Download this guide as AIR app! [NEW]

Have you ever received document with all links embedded into it? It’s not everyday scene, but it happens, and InDesign has option to unembed link(s) to folder.

But, if you have bunch of links, you need to sort them first, select just embedded ones and then click Unembed Link from Links panel menu, or from context menu. But, it can be done much more easily with help of short script! Let’s see how!

Link Class has unembed() method which allows us to extract link from InDesign document and save/relink it to new/existing file. Yes, if file doesn’t exist in folder we selected as destination, InDesgn will also create file (extract from INDD file)! That’s really great! The fact is that InDesign stores complete files inside INDD file when you embed it! That means, if you embed PSD file that contains layers, and you unembed it on different computer, you will get original PSD! But, I DON’T suggest you to use this technique to pack all links, especially high-res images inside INDD file! It will just blowup your file! Small logos and graphics are OK, but nothing bigger!

Let’s see how unembed() works:

// first link in document
var myLink = app.activeDocument.links[0];

// check embedded status
$.writeln(myLink.status == LinkStatus.LINK_EMBEDDED);

// unembed to default location
myLink.unembed();

// unembed to new location
// if file exists it will be overwritten with the extracted one
var myDest = Folder("/c/myDestination");
myLink.unembed(myDest);

So, here is simple script which will ask you where you want to save all embedded and if some of files already exists in destination folder, they will be automatically relinked instead of overwriting (default unembed() action). Simple and easy!

var myDoc = (app.documents.length && app.activeDocument),
    myLinks = (myDoc) ? myDoc.links : false,
    hasEmbedded = (myLinks && String(app.activeDocument.links.everyItem().status).indexOf("EMBEDDED") != -1) ? true : false;
    myDoc ? undefined : alert("No Documents opened!", "tomaxxiUnEmbed");
    (!hasEmbedded && myDoc) ? alert("No Embedded links found!", "tomaxxiUnEmbed") : undefined;

if(myDoc && myLinks.length != 0 && hasEmbedded){
    var myFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select folder where Embedded links will be extracted:");
    if(myFolder != null){
        for(var i = 0; i < myLinks.length; i++)
            if(myLinks[i].status == LinkStatus.LINK_EMBEDDED)
                if(File(myFolder + "/" + myLinks[i].name).exists)
                    myLinks[i].relink(File(myFolder + "/" + myLinks[i].name));
                else
                    myLinks[i].unembed(myFolder);
        alert("Done!", "tomaxxiUnEmbed");
    }
}

That’s it!

Have fun!

As you probably know, layers really important when creating complex layouts. Layers in last version of InDesign (CS5) are radically improved! Till now, you could just manage top-level layers, but starting with CS5, top-level layers can be expanded and you can see complete object structure! (for more info about layers in CS5, read great article written by Steve Werner on InDesignSecrets [Hidden Gems: The Layers Panel in CS5]) That’s really great! But, main limitation is that we are not able to set “default” layers for every new document. But! That’s why we have scripts!

I have to say that this is not my original idea. Manuel Hollert published script like this (Automatic set of layers in new documents) one and a half years ago for InDesign CS4. He also mentioned version for CS5 but I couldn’t find download link. So, I decided to write new script from scratch!

Let me explain how script works. After you install script and containing files in “startup scripts” folder and restart InDesign. You probably noticed “txt” files. Each “txt” file is Layer Set which contains layer names. You can manually create as many Layer Set files as you want (ex: “layerSet_My Special Set.txt” (without quotes)). Each line in Layer Set file represents one layer that will be created. Keep in mind that Layer Set files have to be in same folder as JSX file. Next, go to Layers panel pop-up menu and at the bottom you can “Enable tomaxxiLAYERS“. Now, start creating new document. tomaxxiLAYERS will pop-up. Simply select Layer Set from drop-down and click Select Set. Next you will see is New Document dialog, and when you confirm it, script will automatically add layers defined in Layer Set to the new document. It sounds complicated, but when you try it once, you will love it!

One of new features I added is ability to add Layer Set‘s not just to new documents. Simply open already created document, go to Layers panel pop-up menu and at the bottom click “Apply tomaxxiLAYERS“. When tomaxxiLAYERS pops-up simply select Layer Set from drop-down and click Select Set. Layers defined in Layer Set will be added to the current document.

There are also few optional tweaks that you can do while creating Layer Set file. You can define Layer options (Show Layer, Lock Layer, Print Layer, Suppress Text Wrap When Layer is Hidden, Show Guides, Lock Guides) for each layer in Layer Set! For more info make sure you read Quick Start Guide. (“tomaxxiLAYERS_QuickStart.txt”) And the the last one is ability to set which layer will be active after all layers are added. Simply add “#” (without quotes) and the beginning of the layer name in Layer Set file!

That’s it! Don’t be scared with this detailed description! Have fun!

[UPDATED]

WARNING!
In version 1.0 I found BUG that throws error when Re-linking files!
PLEASE, UPDATE to version 1.1!

Also, new version has been translated to five languages and it also works with CS4!
Special thanks to Frans van der Geest [NL], Loic Aigon [FR], Jan Kampling [DE], Rufus Deuchler [IT] and Vladislav Ossipov [RU] for translation!

This is wonderful news especially for InDesign users! So, what’s new in this mid-cycle release?!

Let’s list most important ones:

• EPUB Export Improvements
• Style Mapping
• Articles Panel
• Linked Stories
• Object Export Options
• DPS Tablet Features
• Easier Anchored Objects

Also, bunch of old bugs from previous releases are corrected! But, that’s not all! Some CS5 users were frustrated with frame edge highlighting! Now in CS5.5 you are CAN turn it OFF! Woohoo! I will not go into details about features and stuff, because there is so many places where you can find info and I’ll list some of them:

• Introducing Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Product Family by Adobe
• What’s new in CS5.5 by Adobe TV
• Adobe CS5 Evolves: Digital Publishing from InDesign to Tablets Gets Better by Terry White, Worldwide Creative Suite Design Evangelist for Adobe
• InDesign CS 5.5 Announced: New Features, Subscription Pricing by InDesignSecrets.com
• Adobe Upgrades Nine Products to CS5.5 by CreativePro.com
• CS5.5 & Any Screen by Cari Jansen

Thank you Adobe for making our creative work easier
with such a awesome and creative tools!

When I started scripting, about a year ago, I was really frustrated that app.selection didn’t returned correct selection order I used while selecting objects, instead, it returned sorted selection by object ID’s. To make things even worse, just few versions back, app.selection DID returned correct selection order! So, somebody messed things really bad!

Few people did some workarounds, but they were based on top to bottom and/or left to right selection structure. Also, I think that APID ToolAssistant by Rorohiko is able to return correct order of selected objects, but I’m not quite sure.

BUT, I’m really happy to say that this bug is fixed in CS5.5! I was really excited when I found it working like it should! I felt young again! It opens so many doors for doing some cool automation things! So, I had put together a simple document and did few tests.

Test script:

alert(
    function(){
        var p = [];
        for(var i = 0; i < app.selection.length; i++)
            p.push("Object: " + app.selection[i].toSource() + " | Contents: " + app.selection[i].contents)
        return p;
    }().join('\r'), "Adobe InDesign ver. (" + app.version + ")"
);

Horizontal order:

Red line represents selection order.

Vertical order:

Red line represents selection order.

Notice how order of object ID change between horizontal and vertical selection order! This is really awesome! Thank you Adobe for fixing this!

Now, all you need to do is to wait till CS5.5 hit the market!

Live Captions were introduced in InDesign CS5 and functionality is the same in CS5.5 as well. Live Captions are very powerful when it comes to pulling metadata out of the image and displaying them on the page. But, why are they called “Live”? Because they are! They are like regular text variables, but they are “trained” to pull out metadata out of images and they change when you swap images. I will not go in details here how to create Live Captions, (click here to learn more about Live Captions) instead, I would like to show you how to work faster and to be more efficient by storing and reusing your Live Captions setups! So, let’s get started!

I created three text frames with different Live Caption setups. As you can see, first contains image title, description and keywords, second contains camera data and third simple copyright text. All that info is pulled out of the image metadata. Now, let’s say I need same setup for few other pictures. It’s not a big deal. I can just use copy/paste and I’m done, But, there is even better way to do it, and it’s called use InDesign Snippets! (you can also use Library to store them as well)

I’m using Mini Bridge to create Snippets simply by dragging text frame containing my Live Captions setup and dropping it onto my Mini Bridge panel. Wow, can it be easier?! Don’t forget to name them as well! Now, I can open different document, and simply drag already created Snippet from Mini Bridge panel to my page and place it where I want to! Awesome! I don’t have to go through really painful process of selecting Live Captions fields anymore! Woohoo! But wait, there is even more!

I have placed my Snippet but it says No data from link! That’s not good at all! But, how to know which “data” is missing?! In cases like this, Story Editor is your very best friend! Select “No data from link” text and go to Story Editor and you will see exactly which part metadata field is assigned to selected Live Caption field! Also, there is another, little bit loner, way. Select “No data from link” text and go to Type menu -> Text Variables -> Define… and when dialog opens, selected text variable is one you are searching for.

Also, same applies when you don’t have image intersecting/grouped with Live Captions text frame and you get No intersecting link message! Story Editor to the rescue!

I should also mention few things you should be aware when using Live Captions. First, and really important is that Live Captions will NOT break across multiple lines! Second, also really important thing is that Live Captions can NOT be formatted using GREP! To use GREP you must convert Live Caption field to text, but after that Live Caption is not live anymore! Also, I noticed a strange behavior with some parts of metadata. InDesign was not able to read data from image even if image contained correctly stored metadata. I had to resave image in Photoshop and after that it was all good.

So, that’s it! Hope this short “mastering” episode will help you work faster and save some time! Have fun!

Few months ago I’ve got an idea about creating a script, or something like that, to manage GREP styles. Unfortunately, I didn’t enough time to finish it. Finally, on Friday, I started to develop it, and after a few hours of coding I’ve finished the first beta release! So, let’s see how it’s working!

Currently, if you want to enable/disable GREP style within paragraph style, you need to go to paragraph style preferences, and add/remove asterisk (*) from the beginning of the GREP expression. That’s really tedious work! That’s why I decided to create this cool free InDesign panel extension. So, let’s say you have simple GREP expression like this: \d{3} to disable it, but without deleting it from paragraph style, simply insert asterisk in front of the expression like this: *\d{3} and InDesign will automatically ignore it. The panel does exactly that. It adds/removes asterisk from GREP expression when you click on the check box.

After installing the extension, re/start InDesign and go to Window > Extensions and choose tomaxxiGREP. The panel will show up. If your current tool is text tool and you are inside text containing GREPs, list will be automatically populated with all GREPs found inside applied paragraph style. Then, simply click on check box to enable/disable desired GREP expression or click Enable all/Disable all to enable/disable all GREPs at once.

[Update #1]

What’s new in version 1.1b:

• Few minor bugs corrected
• Ability to edit GREP expressions
  (if you click cancel, or click away with cursor,
  GREP edit will NOT be saved!)
• GREP Expression LiveEdit
  (GREP expression will update while editing)

[Update #2]

What’s new in version 1.2:

• Few minor bugs corrected
• Fixed bug when RegExp contains asterisk ‘*‘
• Ability to change applied Character Style

That’s it!

Have fun!

Yesterday Adobe announced long awaited Creative Cloud Connection preview app “that runs on your computer that allows you to easily manage your files on Creative Cloud and doesn’t require using the Creative Cloud web page to upload/download files” says Adobe. It’s working really great. As it says, it’s a preview release, and it will be updated in following versions.

Now, my (and may others) biggest pet peeve is that you CAN’T change destination folder where the app saves the files from the Cloud to your computer. This is currently unsupported, but I hope that we will get this feature really soon. I didn’t stopped there, and just accepted that it’s not supported. I WANTED to change the destination folder. Why I wanted to change it? Well, simply because my system drive is on SSD (many configurations today uses SSD+HDD style setups), and don’t want to fill it up with data! I did everything, searched files, folders, registry to find where the value is saved, and I’ve found it! Unfortunately, the file I’ve found was overwritten every time app connected to the internet. Short term happiness!

Than, I’ve posted my question to my Facebook profile, and got one interesting suggestion (thank you Martinho!) to create NTFS Symbolic Link to a folder. And you know what? IT WORKED! I’ve moved the folder to the different location/drive, created Symbolic Link with name as original folder app created, and yeah, Connection app was fooled!

Here is how to do it!

Process for Windows users

• First, stop the sync and exit the app ( right-click on the Connection icon and click Turn Sync Off, right-click again and choose Exit )
• Go to “C:\Users\your user name” folder and locate Creative Cloud Files folder
• Move the folder to a different location ( e.g. “D:\Data\Creative Files” ) and make sure that you move complete Creative Cloud Files folder
• Run cmd.exe in admin privileges ( type cmd in Start menu, right click on cmd and select Run as administrator )
• Type following:
  mklink /J “C:\Users\your_user_name\Creative Cloud Folder” “D:\Data\Creative Files”
• You should receive message that the junction is created ( refer to this guide if you need more help: Complete Guide to Symbolic Links (symlinks) on Windows or Linux )
• Now to test it BEFORE you turn on the Connection app simply copy something to “D:\Data\Creative Files” folder, than go to Creative Cloud Files folder in your users folder and you should see the file you copied
• If you are able to see the file, all you have to do is to start the Connection app! Hooray!

This guide should work for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Process for Mac users

I don’t have Mac computer handy, so, I’m not quite sure where the Creative Cloud Files folder is saved when you install the app. Here is the guide on How to Create and Use Symlinks on a Mac. This should work if you get paths correct.

Conclusion

I’m really happy to see Creative Cloud Connection app finally released, even if it’s preview. I’m absolutely sure that Adobe will make it rock!

So, that’s it! Have fun moving your Creative files around!

Useful links

Creative Cloud Connection preview download
Creative Cloud Connection preview announcement
Creative Cloud Help / Getting started with Creative Cloud Connection
Adobe Forums: Creative Cloud Connection

Disclamer

I’m not responsible if you lose your files, so, be careful!

( image files used from linked Adobe pages )