Issues with using Adobe InDesign - one broad and one specific question
December 9, 2023 10:11 PM Subscribe
Hey everyone. Long story short, I have to use Adobe InDesign to edit a work newsletter but I have zero idea what I am doing. I have never used any software like this before and unfortunately I don't have any prep time to learn - I just have to figure it out as I go as the thing I am working on is already overdue. I am getting over a particularly spicy case of Covid so my brain is not onboard with pretty much anything complicated. Yes, this is a recipe for disaster. Yes, I do feel like crying every minute I am working on this, how could you tell?
I have two questions:
1. Any suggestions for low-cost resources for learning the basics that doesn't assume you have any Adobe or graphic design background? Or anywhere safe I can ask beginner questions? i.e. not Stack Exchange. I was given a link to tutorials but it requires quite a bit of fucking around to access and I feel like there might be something involving less obstacles out there. One of the issues I am having is that I don't have the language to describe what I am struggling with and often end up on help pages that don't address my actual problem. I see words like bleed and slug that mean nothing to me and I just want to run into the forest and never return.
2. I am working from a template given to me by someone who has since left the organisation, which was originally made by someone else who knew InDesign who has also left the organisation. I somehow???? (accidentally clicked something on my keyboard and summoned a demon I guess) altered the pasteboard so now things that were dragged off to the side of the page can no longer be seen. Help pages suggest I have gone into preview mode but clicking shift + W doesn't bring anything back, so that's not it. Altering the size of my pasteboard also didn't bring it back. I tried using undo as soon as it happened, but it was not an undo-able change, apparently. Any ideas? I miss it terribly.
I appreciate any and all help but I am not looking for answers that involve any flavour of "tell your boss to get bent". Like, yeah, valid, but there is no one else with the appropriate skills do this and it has to be done and in general, my team are lovely and supportive people who are doing their best with too much work and not enough budget. Telling people to piss off just makes it another overworked colleague's problem, so it may as well be mine.
Thanks everyone.
I have two questions:
1. Any suggestions for low-cost resources for learning the basics that doesn't assume you have any Adobe or graphic design background? Or anywhere safe I can ask beginner questions? i.e. not Stack Exchange. I was given a link to tutorials but it requires quite a bit of fucking around to access and I feel like there might be something involving less obstacles out there. One of the issues I am having is that I don't have the language to describe what I am struggling with and often end up on help pages that don't address my actual problem. I see words like bleed and slug that mean nothing to me and I just want to run into the forest and never return.
2. I am working from a template given to me by someone who has since left the organisation, which was originally made by someone else who knew InDesign who has also left the organisation. I somehow???? (accidentally clicked something on my keyboard and summoned a demon I guess) altered the pasteboard so now things that were dragged off to the side of the page can no longer be seen. Help pages suggest I have gone into preview mode but clicking shift + W doesn't bring anything back, so that's not it. Altering the size of my pasteboard also didn't bring it back. I tried using undo as soon as it happened, but it was not an undo-able change, apparently. Any ideas? I miss it terribly.
I appreciate any and all help but I am not looking for answers that involve any flavour of "tell your boss to get bent". Like, yeah, valid, but there is no one else with the appropriate skills do this and it has to be done and in general, my team are lovely and supportive people who are doing their best with too much work and not enough budget. Telling people to piss off just makes it another overworked colleague's problem, so it may as well be mine.
Thanks everyone.
Preview mode toggles with just “w.” Make sure you are not in the text tool when you do this.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 2:46 AM on December 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 2:46 AM on December 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
In case you follow written instructions more easily than instructions on a video, here's a beginner's guide to InDesign, including brief definitions of all terms used.
PS Anything that "bleeds" extends beyond the page boundaries onto the pasteboard.
A "slug" is the name for the story you're laying out on the page.
posted by virago at 5:01 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
PS Anything that "bleeds" extends beyond the page boundaries onto the pasteboard.
A "slug" is the name for the story you're laying out on the page.
posted by virago at 5:01 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Or anywhere safe I can ask beginner questions?
Here, I think (I think there's no limit anymore in the number of frequency of questions you can ask)
I searched for "indesign what is bleed" and found this, which seems pretty thorough and is part of a series of InDesign basics tutorials. (Caveat that I don't actually know InDesign so I can only judge tutorials by appearances. But it looks helpful and hopefully up to date.)
posted by trig at 6:51 AM on December 10, 2023
Here, I think (I think there's no limit anymore in the number of frequency of questions you can ask)
I searched for "indesign what is bleed" and found this, which seems pretty thorough and is part of a series of InDesign basics tutorials. (Caveat that I don't actually know InDesign so I can only judge tutorials by appearances. But it looks helpful and hopefully up to date.)
posted by trig at 6:51 AM on December 10, 2023
One thing you might consider, which is sometimes easier than starting from a template for these kinds of things, is to start from last month(or last quarter’s) completed newsletter, and slavishly follow that.
Also, do you have to use indesign? Is this a newsletter that people actually care about the design(considering they just dumped it on someone, probably not?), or did that person two people ago just put it in indesign because they were already familiar with the tool?
Can you just make the damn newsletter using a word template, or mailchimp? Would anyone care, as long as the content gets out?
posted by rockindata at 7:13 AM on December 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
Also, do you have to use indesign? Is this a newsletter that people actually care about the design(considering they just dumped it on someone, probably not?), or did that person two people ago just put it in indesign because they were already familiar with the tool?
Can you just make the damn newsletter using a word template, or mailchimp? Would anyone care, as long as the content gets out?
posted by rockindata at 7:13 AM on December 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
Rube R. Nekker has it right. You are in preview mode - which is handy to see your work... it makes all the palettes disappear. Press the "w" key without pressing or holding anything else. This will toggle you in and out of preview mode.
As mentioned: if your cursor is in a box of text, pressing "w" will just add the letter w to the text. So click out of the text box before pressing "w."
posted by SoberHighland at 7:13 AM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
As mentioned: if your cursor is in a box of text, pressing "w" will just add the letter w to the text. So click out of the text box before pressing "w."
posted by SoberHighland at 7:13 AM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I taught a graphic design class where we used InDesign for a semester or two and made some YouTube videos for students who couldn't be in class or needed help asynchronously. There are surely better ones out there (I was a bit in over my head with teaching this stuff), but hey, maybe these'll help until you find something better.
Basics of starting a document (I get into "bleed" and "slug" at around 5:30)
Creating a wireframe (using boxes and lines, some basic info about the tools)
Working with text
More about working with text
posted by brentajones at 9:52 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Basics of starting a document (I get into "bleed" and "slug" at around 5:30)
Creating a wireframe (using boxes and lines, some basic info about the tools)
Working with text
More about working with text
posted by brentajones at 9:52 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I also found the learning curve on InDesign very frustrating. Since it sounds like you have a deadline if it is at all possible for you to swap to Canva just for this one time it might be a bit of a sanity saver. I’ve found Canva to be extremely intuitive even recreating a complex document from scratch.
posted by forkisbetter at 10:23 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by forkisbetter at 10:23 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have worked with InDesign for two decades and I don't consider myself an expert by any means.
One extremely important thing I want to tell you (this question is filling me with anxiety for you!) is that when you put images (photos, scans, PDFs, etc) into a layout in InDesign, they are not really "in" the InDesign document. You are adding a "link" to the photo file or PDF or whatever. The images can be linked (added to the InDesign file) from anywhere the computer has access to. But the images are NOT part of the InDesign file itself!
It is important to "Package" (under File menu) your InDesign file when you are done with it, or handing it to someone. What happens then is InDesign grabs all those images from wherever they are, makes a copy of them and puts them in a folder called Links. This will all be packaged in a folder along with the InDesign file, a PDF of the document and probably a type of InDesign file that will be more compatible with older versions of InDesign. InDesign will also make a copy of all the Fonts, and put those in the packaged folder, too!
So when you hand off an InDesign file, you (nearly always) hand off a FOLDER with all this stuff in it, so that the other user can have access to all the "links" (images, fonts, etc) that you have in your layouts.
posted by SoberHighland at 11:14 AM on December 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
One extremely important thing I want to tell you (this question is filling me with anxiety for you!) is that when you put images (photos, scans, PDFs, etc) into a layout in InDesign, they are not really "in" the InDesign document. You are adding a "link" to the photo file or PDF or whatever. The images can be linked (added to the InDesign file) from anywhere the computer has access to. But the images are NOT part of the InDesign file itself!
It is important to "Package" (under File menu) your InDesign file when you are done with it, or handing it to someone. What happens then is InDesign grabs all those images from wherever they are, makes a copy of them and puts them in a folder called Links. This will all be packaged in a folder along with the InDesign file, a PDF of the document and probably a type of InDesign file that will be more compatible with older versions of InDesign. InDesign will also make a copy of all the Fonts, and put those in the packaged folder, too!
So when you hand off an InDesign file, you (nearly always) hand off a FOLDER with all this stuff in it, so that the other user can have access to all the "links" (images, fonts, etc) that you have in your layouts.
posted by SoberHighland at 11:14 AM on December 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: Hey everyone. Thank you so much for your thoughts on this, it is very much appreciated.
Something I didn't mention in my question (because it didn't seem important at the time) is that I work for a government Ministry so even getting InDesign on my work laptop was several layers of sign out and approval (and hundreds of dollars), so though it it giving me waking nightmares, switching to something like Canva (which I have heard very good things about!) is probably too difficult. Plus, I am probably going to have to do this in the future so taking the time to learn it now might be helpful to my future self.
@SoberHighland - thank you for pointing this out. This added context actually makes a lot of sense because with the few handover notes I do have, there are very specific instructions on what to do when I am done editing it which probably address this very issue.
Also, just pushing W totally worked, thank you! God, I haven't felt this stupid since trying to write my dissertation. I didn't need humbling but, here we are.
posted by BeeJiddy at 11:53 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Something I didn't mention in my question (because it didn't seem important at the time) is that I work for a government Ministry so even getting InDesign on my work laptop was several layers of sign out and approval (and hundreds of dollars), so though it it giving me waking nightmares, switching to something like Canva (which I have heard very good things about!) is probably too difficult. Plus, I am probably going to have to do this in the future so taking the time to learn it now might be helpful to my future self.
@SoberHighland - thank you for pointing this out. This added context actually makes a lot of sense because with the few handover notes I do have, there are very specific instructions on what to do when I am done editing it which probably address this very issue.
Also, just pushing W totally worked, thank you! God, I haven't felt this stupid since trying to write my dissertation. I didn't need humbling but, here we are.
posted by BeeJiddy at 11:53 AM on December 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you want to do the janky version for very simple documents, you can go to Links -> Embed and just embed image files for simple hand-off if you're working with people in the same org who will have all the same fonts. But that makes the INDD document larger and will make real designers throw dinner rolls at you.
One thing to remember about InDesign is it dates way back to the earliest days of digital publishing, when people still did pasteup, printing things out, cutting them, and putting them on waxed paper sitting on lightboards to ship off to a printer.
So InDesign doesn't feel intuitive to people who use other digital-first visual tools. The default corner-hold-and-drag option for an image crops it (instead of resizing), because that's what you do when you're doing paste-up. The default text tool gives you columnar layout and flow, and you have to manually click a little red plus button to add the next section of text.
So if you find you're mentally hung up on some things, try to image that this is software that replicates newspaper and magazine paste-up from the 1980s and '90s.
Do not neglect the Page Templates! On the right-hand side of the screen (probably) at the top (probably) you can set up templates for your left and right pages, which will save you so much time and effort in preparing the document. Recurring text, columnar layouts, even recurring graphics can be set up there.
The analogy I use here is that Canva is like getting one of those pre-chopped meal-ready-to-eat packages at your door, while InDesign is like walking into a kitchen of great tools, but nobody is giving you the recipe or telling you how to prep the food. It's more painful to learn, but in the end you'll love the degree of control and specificity you have through the tool. Persist! It's worth it!
posted by Shepherd at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
One thing to remember about InDesign is it dates way back to the earliest days of digital publishing, when people still did pasteup, printing things out, cutting them, and putting them on waxed paper sitting on lightboards to ship off to a printer.
So InDesign doesn't feel intuitive to people who use other digital-first visual tools. The default corner-hold-and-drag option for an image crops it (instead of resizing), because that's what you do when you're doing paste-up. The default text tool gives you columnar layout and flow, and you have to manually click a little red plus button to add the next section of text.
So if you find you're mentally hung up on some things, try to image that this is software that replicates newspaper and magazine paste-up from the 1980s and '90s.
Do not neglect the Page Templates! On the right-hand side of the screen (probably) at the top (probably) you can set up templates for your left and right pages, which will save you so much time and effort in preparing the document. Recurring text, columnar layouts, even recurring graphics can be set up there.
The analogy I use here is that Canva is like getting one of those pre-chopped meal-ready-to-eat packages at your door, while InDesign is like walking into a kitchen of great tools, but nobody is giving you the recipe or telling you how to prep the food. It's more painful to learn, but in the end you'll love the degree of control and specificity you have through the tool. Persist! It's worth it!
posted by Shepherd at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
For quality instruction, I highly recommend LinkedIn Learning, specifically David Blatner's InDesign Essentials course. The time you take for the course will save you much time in frustration later. They're not free, but many libraries offer free memberships. Even if you have to pay for it, it's worth it to not dig through many crappy youtube videos.
Blatner also co-runs a facebook group, InDesign Secrets, where you can ask questions, but the group is a bit higher level, so it may not be the best place for super basic questions.
Adobe actually has stepped up their game, and now has some good tutorials on Creative Cloud. Even if something may not be exactly what you need to do, following along will teach you how to use the program.
Lastly, I've worked in InDesign for many years, and have consulted with folks before. Feel free to memail me if you have some quick questions. I love sharing my InDesign knowledge.
PS: I love Shepherd's kitchen/cooking analogy for InDesign.
posted by hydra77 at 2:42 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
Blatner also co-runs a facebook group, InDesign Secrets, where you can ask questions, but the group is a bit higher level, so it may not be the best place for super basic questions.
Adobe actually has stepped up their game, and now has some good tutorials on Creative Cloud. Even if something may not be exactly what you need to do, following along will teach you how to use the program.
Lastly, I've worked in InDesign for many years, and have consulted with folks before. Feel free to memail me if you have some quick questions. I love sharing my InDesign knowledge.
PS: I love Shepherd's kitchen/cooking analogy for InDesign.
posted by hydra77 at 2:42 PM on December 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
There is also a view mode called trim, I think, which only shows you things that are within the limits of your art view. I think it is under view>mode.
posted by snofoam at 5:18 PM on December 10, 2023
posted by snofoam at 5:18 PM on December 10, 2023
Can you work on the files outside of the office, like at a Starbucks? Would there be an issue if someone outside the organization sees the files?
Hire a tutor. A few nights at a starbucks and they can guide you through what you need to do on the legacy documents and what you need for new ones.
I would have recommended a remote tutor, but sounds like allowing remote access would be an issue.
posted by Sophont at 12:50 AM on December 11, 2023
Hire a tutor. A few nights at a starbucks and they can guide you through what you need to do on the legacy documents and what you need for new ones.
I would have recommended a remote tutor, but sounds like allowing remote access would be an issue.
posted by Sophont at 12:50 AM on December 11, 2023
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I should do one or two myself, since it's been too long since I learnt it, there are too many layers of new features, and I can't help you with your specific demons. Though I will ask the obvious: have you tried quitting and restarting the program, or even better; the whole computer?
posted by mumimor at 2:42 AM on December 10, 2023