Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Adobe InDesign
Creative Cloud
Beginning Layout
and Design
November, 2013
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Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
General guidelines
InDesign creates links to media rather than copies so
-Keep all text and graphics in one folder
-Save the InDesign document to the same folder
-When working as a group or moving computers make sure to send the entire folder of content
-Make sure to save often!
Creating a New Document
Open InDesign CC
Create a new file - File/New/Document
Were going to be working with
document preset Default which is
using Letter sized paper
Setting Workspace/Panels
Go to Window/Workspace and select
Essentials to change the workspace
to the default toolsets
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Always save your file before starting a layout
Go to File/Save As
The the filename New Annenberg Building
Again, save your file with your other content
that will be used in the document
All pages have guides.
Purple and pink guides will not show up
when printed.
The edge of the page is where the white
ends
The gray section will not print but can be
handy to store items that you can use later
Locations of the most common settings and options
Panels
Tools
Formatting
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Navigating
You can change the zoom percentage from the upper
right hand corner of the formatting window
Select the Hand Tool from the toolbar
Click and drag using the hand tool to view parts of the
page or use the scroll bars along the side and bottom
Placing Text
DO NOT COPY AND PASTE!
There are two methods for putting text on a page
Method one: Type in text
Select the Type tool
Click and drag to create a frame in the top and center of
the page
Frames are containers for either placed text or typed in
text
Click in the frame to get a flashing cursor
Type Annenberg Hall
When done, press escape on the keyboard to deactivate
text mode
To modify text, double click inside a frame to edit
Type Wallis in front of Annenberg Hall
Click and drag to highlight the text
Using the format bar, change the font to Minion Pro with a size of 30
Now the font is too big for the box. The red
square on the side is the warning. Theres
also another warning along the bottom of the
window
To change the frames size, click on any of
the handles and click and drag to expand the
frame
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Method two: Place a document
InDesign can place almost any kind of document that
has text (including Microsoft Word).
Go to File/Place
Locate Annenberg Hall [Link] and click Open
The cursor will show you a short preview of the text
attached to a small black cursor
Click and drag to make a box for the text to populate
or
Click once and all of the text will be placed in one big
box that takes up the width of the page
If it is not large enough, you may have to expand the
box using the handles
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Placing Graphics
DO NOT DO COPY AND PASTE!
InDesign can place almost any graphic file, including
other Adobe files (PDFs, Photoshop files, etc.)
Go to File/Place
Locate usc_wallisannenberghall.png to place and
click Open
Click and drag a frame below the text
The image will automatically scale to fit the frame
that you created. The percentage scaled is in a gray
box, visible when dragging the frame
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Notice as you drag content around
the page, Smart Guides will appear to
help you align elements
Text Wrapping
To have text flow around an image
Go to Window/Text Wrap
Text wrap panel appears
Select the image you want to wrap
text around
Select Wrap around bounding box
in the Text Wrap panel
Click and drag to move the image
into a body of text
Notice the text wrap around the
image
Remember to check for any hidden
text (red box in the lower right hand
corner of the frame), since when adding an image, you may have run out
of room for text
If necessary, expand the text box
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Place Another Graphic
Lets place another graphic
Click anywhere in the gray area
(pasteboard) to deselect any
frames
Go to File/Place and find Media
[Link] and click Open
Click and drag below the full
width of the text box, using the
smart guides to make it the same
width
Borders (also know as strokes)
Click once on the media center
photo
Locate Stroke from formatting
options area and add a 1 pt stroke
Can also change size and style of
the stroke
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
If your graphics look a bit pixelated, it may be the
display preferences.
To change to the highest display settings go to
View/Display Performance and select High Quality
Display
If your computer is older or slower, leave on Typical
Changing what part of the image is showing
The circle in the middle is called the content grabber - if selected, an orange border appears the and
cursor will become a hand
You can expand or contract by pressing and holding the Shift key on the keyboard and dragging
content using the orange boxes/handles
(Shift keeps the content proportional)
Click and hold to move the content around so that
it looks correct in the frame
When done press Escape on the keyboard
Adjust the Size of Graphics
Select the images frame (blue outline)
In the formatting bar, check the Auto-Fit box
Grab corner boxes/handles to resize the media
center image to take up more area on the page
Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Multi-Page Documents
All pages in a multi-page document are listed
under Pages panel
Double click on page to jump to that page
Add a page
Select the Create new page button at the bottom of the panel
To delete a page
Select the page and then click the Delete selected pages in the bottom of the panel
On the second page, find the By the numbers.
docx and place it at the top of the page by clicking and dragging a text frame
Align it to take the entire width of the page
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Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Place Another Graphic (Chart)
This is the same process as placing
any other graphic
Go to File/Place and find [Link]
and click Open
Click and drag to center it below the
text
This chart was done in Microsoft
Excel and uses a white font, so we will
need to add a background shape with
a different color
Adding Shapes
Select the Rectangle Tool from
tools
Click and drag to create a box
around the outside of the graph
Click on it once to active the frame
and make any necessary adjustments
Then grab and drag any of boxes/
handles along the edges to change
the size of the box
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Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Changing Colors
With the box selected, click the Fill button at the bottom
left of the tools bar
Double click to open the open the Color Picker
Use the cursor to select a color then click OK to apply
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Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Adjusting Layering
The red box is now on top of the graphic so lets move
it behind the graph
Select the red box by clicking once
Go to Object/Arrange/Send to Back
Place Another Text Box
Go to File/Place
Locate For more [Link] and click Open
Click and drag the width of the page below the chart
To center the text, double click the text box
Using the formatting options, select Align center
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Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Interactivity
Go to Window/Workspace and select Interactive for
PDF to change the workspace
Note: Most interactive features dont show up in
InDesign until you export to a PDF
Hyperlinks
Double click into the For more information... textbox
and highlight the URL
Copy the text by going to Edit/Copy
Click on the Hyperlinks panel
From the bottom of the panel, select the little page icon
Create a new hyperlink
From the drop down menu select URL
Type (or paste) the URL [Link]
[Link]
Click OK
Hyperlink Between Pages in a Document
Select the object you want to add a hyperlink to
Click on the Hyperlinks panel
From the bottom of the panel, select the page icon to
create a new hyperlink
From the drop down menu select Page
Select which page to jump to
Change the Zoom Setting drop down to Fit in Window
Click OK
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Adobe InDesign CC | Beginner
Preview Final Layout
Click anywhere in the gray pasteboard
area to deselect any frames
Go to View/Screen Mode/preview (shortcut: w)
This mode hides all non-printing objects
and shows what the final page will look
like
Exporting
As an Adobe PDF File
First put it in to preview mode (View/Screen Mode/Preview) to make sure everything looks correct
Go to File/Export
Name the file Wallis Annenberg Hall
Under Format select Adobe PDF (Print)
Under Adobe PDF Preset select
[High Quality Print]
If you used hyperlinks, make sure to select
Hyperlinks from the Include section at the
bottom left or the export dialog
Press Export
Locate the PDF file and open to double check
the final document
From this PDF file, you can print to a printer
or upload to a website
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