How to Use
Adobe InDesign CS3
→by erika hansen and morgan stackman←
→oakton high school ←
What is InDesign?
→publishing software used to create media
such as magazines, books, and other
publications
→we use it to design all pages for yearbook
and newspaper
→each document with two facing pages is a
spread
→hundreds of spreads make up a
yearbook/newspaper
Opening Files and Documents
→open InDesign through Adobe Products
folder on desktop
→new doc → file →new →document
→save in proper deadline and spread folder
→file →save as →4770-page#-page#spreadname.indd
→ex: 4770-030-031-crew.indd
The Basics
spread
toolbar
palettes
The Basics con’t
grids:
grey boxes are 2 pica x 2 pica
white lines are 0p6
margins:
anything outside will
not be printed
The Basics con’t
→two picas
→pica: unit of measurement
used in InDesign and Photoshop
The Basics con’t
size of box in picas
→when sizing pictures, round up
to the next whole number
→ example: 22p5.93 is 23p
must be 300 pixels per inch
→use the
rounded size of
the box in
InDesign to crop
pictures in
Photoshop
Numbering Pages
→ layout
→numbering &
section options
→start page
numbering at
[insert first page #]
→ok
→ numbers used in the
production of the book
→ shows
on final
spread
The Toolbar
selection tool →
direct selection tool →
text tool →
line tool →
picture box tool →
helpful tip↓
rotation tool →
*eyedropper tool →
*if you need to access more
tools, click and hold down over
a tool with an arrow
magnification tool →
fill tool →
Selection Tools
selection tool
direct selection tool
→used to move
objects
→used to move
to pictures
within the
frame
→helpful to
indentify bad
cropping
→select object
before typing
or placing
photo
→can be used
for general
selection
throughout
InDesign
selection tool →
direct selection tool →
Text Tools
text tool →
→click and drag to
create a text box
→use the stroke dropdown menu to give or take
away a border
→text boxes should rarely
have a border (0 pt stroke)
Text Tools con’t
text tool →
↑ the placeholder text
will look like this
how to fill with placeholder text
→select text box
→type→fill with placeholder text
Text Tools con’t
font
vertical scale
font size
(stretches letters
vertically)
style of text
horizontal scale
(subscript,
(stretches letters
superscript, etc)
horizontally)
leading (size of
space between
lines of text)
font style (bold,
italic, etc)
skew (the tilt of
letters in degrees)
tracking (size of
space between
letters)
Text Tools con’t
paragraph style
hyphenate
paragraphs
right indent
left indent
drop cap (number
of letters)
first line left indent
last line right indent
drop cap (in
number of lines)
columns
Eyedropper Tool
eyedropper tool
→used to pull
color from
pictures
to select a color:
→click on tool
→place eyedropper
over desired color
→click (eyedropper
should switch sides
and turn black)
→open swatches
tab (on right toolbar)
→click ‘new swatch’
eyedropper tool →
Line and Rotation Tools
line tool
→ use to draw lines
→ hold down the shift key to
make a straight line
add a
stroke to
the line
(how
thick it is)
line tool →
rotate tool→
change the line
weight
rotate tool
→ select picture then click rotate
tool to turn the picture
Other Tools
magnification tool
fill tool
→ another way to
make new swatches
→ change color of text
→ can input exact colors
using RGB and CMYK
→ to zoom out, hold
down ‘alt’ and click
(the ‘+’ should
change to a ‘-’)
magnification tool →
fill tool →
Pages
select pages
→ use this to
select which page
you want to work
on →double click
on page to jump
straight to it
master pages
select pages
master pages
add pages
→ anything on master
page appears on
delete pages
every spread in
document (ex. pica
boxes)
→items on master are
inaccessible during
regular editing
→double click on
master page to
access it
Links
links
→always remember to check your links!
→red stop sign – file is saved wrong
→yellow yield sign – file has been
altered
→make sure all files are named
correctly (4770-page#-page#spreadname.indd)
→if red or yellow signs
show up, you MUST
replace photo
Stroke
→when you create a picture
box, there is no line, or
stroke, around the edges
Swatches
to select a color
from the picture:
→use eyedropper
tool to pick color
from picture
→double click on
RGB Swatch
→find color in
swatches then can
reuse color
fill
border
→can change the color of the fill
and border
Character and Character Styles
character
→ this can be used to change
font instead of toolbar
character styles
→ if prearranged fonts and
types are set up, find them here
→ the styles have specified
fonts, sizes and strokes
assigned to them
→highlight text →click on
type you need
Paragraph
→always check to
make sure the text is
de-hyphenated
→paragraph→uncheck
hyphenate box
→see ‘text tools’ pages for more information