InDesign

The Basics for

Yearbook

Written by Genevieve Luyt

Index
Setting Up Your Workspace

Panel Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Links Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Spell Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Creating A Layout

Image Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Text Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Tools For Making A Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Placing Images and Text

Placing An Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Placing Multiple Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Checking Image Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Moving, Resizing and Rotating Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Editing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Extracted Images (Cut Outs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Placing and Formatting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Keyboard Shortcuts

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Page Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
General Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Setting Up Your Workspace

Panel Arrangement
Tip: Any panel settings
changed with nothing
selected on the page
sets those options as the
default. Eg. if you change
the font in the Character
Panel with nothing
selected, the next text
box you create will have
that font to start with.

Tip: If you accidentally

move a tab away from
the side of the screen,
drag it underneath or
in between two other
panels until a blue bar
appears. Release your
mouse and it will snap
back into place. If you
moved the entire panel,
drag it to the right until
your mouse touches the
side of the screen and a
grey bar appears, then
release.

Tip: Only currently

selected tabs show a
checkmark in the Window
dropdown menu. Not
seeing a checkmark
does not mean you dont
already have it open on
your screen!

This is usually how I have my panels arranged. Though it is purely preference, you may
find it helpful to arrange them in the same way to follow these tutorials.
Left Panel:
Pages, Layers, Links

1.

Right Panels:
Character, Paragraph, Stroke
Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, Text
Wrap
Swatches, Align, Colour
Mini Bridge
1 Close tabs by right clicking the medium
grey bar with the tab names and
clicking Close.

3.

2 Rearrange tabs by dragging

either single tabs to other
panels, or entire panels to
different positions.
3 Open more tabs by clicking
on Window at the top of the
InDesign screen. Also make
sure you have Control and
Tools enabled.
The Control panel is located at the
top of the screen and dynamically
shows options for the various
tools. The Tools panel is on the
left of the screen.
3

Tip: To help you learn

which tab each of the
icons corresponds with,
you can increase the
width of the right panel to
also show the tab names.

4 Click the pair of small light grey arrows located in

the top right corner of the right panels to collapse
them
or

4.

Right click on either of the

grey bars at the top of the
panel and click Collapse
to Icons
If necessary, adjust the
width of the right panel to
show only the icons. The more workspace the better!

The Links Panel

Youll be using the links tab when you work with images. Lets format it now!

1.

1 Open the Links tab on the right of your screen. It is

grouped with Pages and Layers.
2 Right click on the light grey area next to Name and
select Panel Options.

Tip: Once you have

changed the panel
options, you may have
to adjust the width of
the Links panel to see
all four columns. Actual
PPI is not as important to
have visible so you can
rearrange it to be on the
far right of the panel by
dragging the column
icons and have the panel
just wide enough to show
the Status, Page, and
Effective PPI columns.

2.

3 In the Panel Options window

that opens, make sure Status,
Page, Actual PPI, and Effective
PPI are selected for Show
Column.
4 Click OK.

Spell Check
To enable spell check, go to Edit >
Spelling > Dynamic Spelling.
Note: The spell check feature is only visible in Normal Mode (W).
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Creating A Layout
Tip: For the most part,
you will want to be in
Normal Mode to have a
good overview of your
pages. Select View >
Screen Mode > Normal

The great thing about InDesign is that you can design your page even when you have no
content to put on it yet. Havent taken any pictures? Teachers havent gotten back to you
about what to write? No problem!

Tip: If you want your

placeholder to be a
specific size, select one
of the Frame tools and
click anywhere on your
work area. You can enter
values into the window
that pops up with any
length unit regardless of
the default (eg. 2cm, 4in)

1 Select the Rectangle Frame Tool (F).

Image Placeholders
1.

Right click on the tool icon to access the Ellipse Frame

Tool and Polygon Frame Tool.
2 Click and drag your mouse across the screen to
create your placeholder.

Text Placeholders
Tip: Opt. With the text
box selected, click on
Type at the top of the
screen and select Fill
with Placeholder Text to
preview the frame with
text in it.

1 Select the Type Tool (T).

Tip: Double click on

a paragraph style to
change its properties.

Select the text box and choose a

paragraph style from the Paragraph
Style Panel.
Select the Type (T) tool and set the
font using the Control Panel at the top
of the screen.
Open the Character Panel and set the
font.

2 Click and drag your mouse to create a rectangular text box.

3 Pre-format the text box by doing one of the following:

1.
3.a

Tools For Making A Layout

Ruler Guides
InDesign has automatic guides in the vertical and horizontal centres of the page. To turn
off guides, go to View > Grids & Guides and select the options you wish to activate or
deactivate.
Tip: Right click on the
ruler to change the units.

1 Rulers are located across the top and left side

of the screen. If they are not there, activate
them by going to View at the top of the screen
and selecting Show Rulers (Ctrl + R).

2.

2 Click on one of the rulers and drag your mouse perpendicular to the ruler (eg. if you
want a horizontal guide, click on the top ruler and drag down).
The guide will snap to objects (text boxes, images, shapes, etc.) and objects will snap to
the guide if they come near each other depending on which was on your page first.
3 To remove a ruler guide, click on it and press Delete on your keyboard or drag the
guide back the ruler it came from

The Align Panel

Tip: InDesigns spacing
distribution features are
very handy for having
equal space between
objects and giving the
illusion of transparent
borders. Set the space
amount with nothing
selected on your page to
use it as the default.

Use the Align Panel to align objects and to space them out evenly or separate them by a
predetermined length.
To set a distance between two objects:
1 Check mark the Line Spacing option and insert
the width of the space you want between the
objects
2 Select your objects if they are not already and
click on the vertical or horizontal spacing button.

The Gap Tool

Tip: Hold Ctrl while
using the Gap Tool to
change the width of the
space, hold Alt to move
the entire column or row.

The Gap Tool (U) works most effectively on pages with a very organized layout and
consistent spacing. Use it to move entire columns of space.

Tip: To make a text

box unaffected by text
wrapping, right click on
the text box, select Text
Frame Options... (Ctrl +
B) and check the Ignore
Text Wrap option at the
bottom.

The Text Wrap Panel lets you specify the width of

the space between the object and the text as well as
the direction. To wrap text around an image with
transparency (like an image cut out in Photoshop),
select the third button (Wrap around object shape) and
set the Contour Options to Detect Edges.

Text Wrap

Placing Images and Text

Adobe programs are created to work with each other and even other common programs
such as Microsoft Word. You can place Photoshop files directly into InDesign without
saving them as an image first and maintain the connection so that edits to the Photoshop
file are reflected in InDesign.

Placing An Image
Using Mini Bridge
Tip: Mini Bridge is the
only option that will show
thumbnails for Photoshop
files.

Tip: To place a cutimage from Photoshop,

see Extracted Images
(Cut Outs)

1 Open the Mini Bridge Panel, click Browse

Files, and look for the folder containing images
for your page.
2 If you have a placeholder, drag the image to the
frame and release. If not, release the image on
your screen and either a) click on the screen to
place it in its full size or b) click and drag to
create a rectangular box with the image inside.

Browse On Your Computer

1 Browse for the image on your computer (outside of Adobe InDesign) and drag the
window so that you can see the placeholder in InDesign.
2 If you have a placeholder, drag the image to the frame and release. If not, release the
image on your screen and either a) click on the screen to place it in its full size or b)
click and drag to create a rectangular box with the image inside.

Using the Menu

1 Click on File at the top of the screen and select Place... (Ctrl + D). Select the
image to place and click Open.
2 If you have a placeholder, click on it. If not, either a) click on the screen to place it
in its full size or b) click and drag to create a rectangular box with the image inside.
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Placing Multiple Images

1 Use any of the three methods in Placing An Image to access the folder with your
images.
2 Multi-select images by holding shift to select a range and holding Ctrl to add or
subtract single images from the selection.
3 While the images are loaded into your cursor, do one of the following:

Single Image
To place a single image at a time, use the keyboard arrow keys to scroll through the
images loaded in your cursor. Click on a frame to place the image into the frame or on
the screen to place the image in its full size.

Columns and Rows

Tip: Placing images
using this method
makes the Gap Tool (U)
especially effective in
manipulating your layout!

To place the images all at once, click and drag the mouse across the
screen. Without releasing the mouse, use the arrow keys to divide
the rectangle into sections where your images will be placed.

Checking Image Quality

Tip: Only images saved
on your computer show
up in the Links Panel. This is
why you should not copy
and paste images from
the internet but rather
save them first.

Whenever you add or resize an image, you should check the resolution.
1 Open the Links Panel. Check the Effective
PPI column (the third from the left). Ask
your teacher what the minimum PPI of
your images should be. If it is less, resize
the image or replace it with another higher
quality picture.
PPI is a ratio that stands for Pixels Per Inch. The higher this number, the higher the
quality of the image. Making an image smaller will result in a higher effective PPI. 300
PPI is press quality.

Moving, Resizing and Rotating Images

Tip: Hold Shift while
moving your image
to move it perfectly
horizontal, vertical, or
diagonal.

Moving and resizing images can be awkward if youre not used to the way InDesign
deals with pictures. The frame and image (content) are actually separate from each
other and can be edited independently.
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Moving Images
1 With the Selection Tool (V) place your cursor over the image away from the center.
If your cursor turns into a hand (which happens if you hover over the circle in the
center of the picture), move your cursor further towards the edges.
2 Click and drag to reposition the image. If you dont want it to snap to guides go to
View > Grids & Guides and click on Snap to Guides (Shift + Ctrl)

Resizing Images
1 Select the image you wish to resize by clicking on the image away from the centre
(the cursor should be a black arrow).
2 In the Control Panel at the top of the screen,
click the check box to enable Auto-fit. This will
make sure the content resizes at the same time as
the frame.
Tip: Hold Alt in addition
to Shift while resizing your
image to anchor it to the
centre.

3 Hold shift and click and drag the boxes around the image to resize it while keeping
the proportions the same. The image will anchor to the corner or edge opposite to
the one youre using to resize the image.

Rotating Images
1 Select the image you wish to resize by clicking on the image away from the centre
(the cursor should be a black arrow).
Tip: Hold Shift while
rotating your image to
snap it to guides in 45
intervals.

2 Position your cursor just outside one of the

corner boxes until the cursor changes and click
and drag to rotate the image.

Editing Images
Masking
In Photoshop, you would likely crop the image to remove unwanted edges. In InDesign,
this can be done without loosing any part of the image by choosing which part to show,
like a window.
Click on the two circles in the centre of the image to manipulate the photo or click
around the circle to work with the frame.
Generally, it is easier to position the frame then resize the image to show the desired
portion.

Corners
To change the shape of image corners:
Tip: To assign different
shapes to the corners of
a single frame, Alt + Click
on the corner thumbnail
or go to Object > Corner
Options...

1 Select your image

2 Find the corner options in the Control Panel at the top of
the screen and set the desired shape and width for your
corners.

Editing In Photoshop
Image adjustments such as brightness and curves have
to be done in Photoshop.
1 Select the image you would like to edit.
2 Open the Links Panel. The file name of the linked
image should be highlighted.
3 Right click on the file name
and select Edit With > Adobe
Photoshop [your version]
4 Save the image to overwrite
the original or use File >
Save As... (Shift + Ctrl + S)
to save a copy (saving as a
copy requires the image to be relinked).

Updating Images
Tip: InDesign will not
recognize changes until
the edited version is
saved.

If a linked image has been modified, a yellow

triangle with an exclamation point appears in the
Status Column of the image in the Links Panel.
The image will automatically update after some
time but to manually update the file, open the Links Panel and do one of the following:
Double click on the triangle icon
Right click on the filename and select Update Link
At the bottom of the panel, click on the third button
(Update the link)

Switching / Relinking Images

1 Select the image you would like to change, open the Links Panel, and:
Right click on the filename and select Relink... or
At the bottom of the panel, click on the first button (Relink...)
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Extracted Images (Cut Outs)

Tip: To change which
Photoshop Layers are
shown in InDesign, right
click on the image and
select Object Layer
Options. If you want the
same layers to show even
when the file is updated,
select Keep Layer
Visibility Overrides from
the drop down menu at
the bottom.

1 Extract a model in Photoshop, save it on a new layer, and hide the background layer.
2 Import the file from Photoshop (see Placing an Image). Transparency is conserved
in InDesign. To have text wrap around the shape, see Text Wrap.

Placing and Formatting Text

Drop Caps
Tip: Double click on
a text frame with the
Selection Tool (V) to edit
its contents.

Thats right, InDesign has a built in drop caps function!

Tip: You can create

a Paragraph Style in the
Paragraph Styles Panel
that is based on the style
Body, has the Next Style
be Body. Set the drop
cap in the Drop Caps and
Nested Styles section of
the style options. Simply
apply this style to any
paragraph you want to
start with a drop cap.

2 Switch to the Paragraph Formatting Controls tab of the Control Panel

if you are not in it already.

1 Place your cursor in the paragraph that you would like to have start with a drop cap.

3 Look for the Drop Cap options near the left side of the Control Panel
and set the number of lines you want the letter(s) to take
up and how many letters to be affected.

Columns
1 Select the text frame you want to have columns and do one of the following:
Switch to the Paragraph Formatting Controls tab of the Control Panel
if you are not in it already.
Look for the Column options near the middle of the Control Panel.
Right click on the text frame and select `Text Frame
Options...`(Ctrl + B)

Colour
1 Select the text frame with the Selection Tool (V), or
highlight the parts of the text you would like to give
a colour to with the Type Tool.
Tip: Swatches are a
great way to keep colours
consistent and stay within
a colour scheme.

2 Open the Swatches Panel and, making sure Fill and

Text are selected, choose a colour
or
In the Tools Panel on the left, double click on the Text Fill (X) and pick a colour.
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Keyboard Shortcuts
Page Navigation
Scroll Horizontally - Ctrl + Scroll Wheel
Zoom In/Out - Alt + Scroll Wheel
Move the page - Spacebar + Click + Drag

General Shortcuts
Undo and Redo
Undo One Step - Ctrl + Z
Redo One Step - Ctrl + Shift + Z

Copy, Paste and Cut

Copy - Ctrl + C
Cut - Ctrl + X
Paste (in center of screen) - Ctrl + V
Paste (in same location as copied object) - Ctrl + Shift + Alt +V
Paste (image into a frame) - Ctrl + Alt + V

Screen Mode
Switch Between Normal and Preview Mode - W

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