Actions Panel
An Actions Panel that runs the same type of Recording/Playing features as Photoshop and Illustrator already have would be fantastic.
Tom Miatke
shared this idea
Hello All,
Kindly provide more information about this ask. How do you plan to use the Action Panel in InDesign? Do you want it to work exactly like that in Photoshop? What are the most important actions/operations that you want to record?
Thanks
Abhinav Agarwal
Product Manger – InDesign
62 comments
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Abdullah Saleem
commented
I would like to create action in Indesign for Table as I work on Annual Reports of different Clients and I have to set their Excel Accounts into Indesign and present them in a better way. The biggest issue I get is that and Its repetitive as well like adding stroke in total figure the Upper stroke of a cell is single and down stroke is double or thick.
When I bring excel Sheets into the Indesign even using bring all elements selected in Pasteboard options inside preferences it doesn't bring it properly into the InDesign. I wish Adobe could develop a feature to create to delete hidden columns in Actions & resize the sheet to document Margins, and the column width should be equal throughout the document.
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Alan Gilbertson
commented
Typical case: I have 30 separate textbook covers in a series and I need to make the same changes on each one, export to PDF, save and close. Of course this can be done by scripting, but that's stupidly complex compared to doing it one time and recording an Action, like in Photoshop, then repeat it for each document. Would have saved me at least a couple of hours yesterday, and would save me more than that tomorrow on a different project with similar repetitive operations.
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Caitlin
commented
I'd use actions for:
- exporting multiple files with the same settings
- or printing multiple files with a changed preset, but not saving after
(useful for printing initial proofs, but keeping settings for printing the final order on a different printer)it'd save a lot of time & clicks!
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Sara Gold
commented
I just found this thread and am shocked that recording an action like photoshop doesn't exist! Come on Adobe.
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Lisa DuBois
commented
I want to record an action for the steps I repeatedly do and assign it a shortcut key. The keyboard shortcut only gives a shortcut to menu items. I need a shortcut that is within the menu.
One example: After highlighting text I would have a shortcut key to run an action of opening the Hyperlinks window, selecting New Hyperlink Destination, and then enter to accept it. It would reduce my mouse movement from four to one with an additional keystroke. It would lean out my design process.
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Fábio Machado
commented
I need to record actions in indesign to group objects and align vertically and horizontally on each of the 400 pages of a book.
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Carrie
commented
I tend to create numerous alternative layouts and need to export them separately in order for files to abide by required naming conventions. I also make updates regularly which requires me to constantly re-export each individual layout. I'd like to record myself doing all of this one time and use an action to handle subsequent re-exports. (Export --> select PDF file to override --> select layout to export --> repeat for other layouts)
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Dave Courtemanche
commented
I would use it to remove extra colors / styles. Also fit content on page for all text boxes, etc.
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Andrés Chaves
commented
I agree with an action panel, we normally had to clean up swatches, add used colors, clean up shading and border colors from paragraph window and other small things that you can clean in illustrator but you can't do it easily in indesign... That would be great if you could add it!
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Dan S
commented
I would use it to set up a set of custom layers, and to export my work in one click.
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Anonymous
commented
I would use it to automate exporting and doing simple and repetitive things like this:
I have 6 automobiles lined up next to each other. When I do a mirror reflection of these vehicles, I have to copy all of them, paste and group them, turn them upside down and add a gradient feather to it and then move it exactly underneath the others to line them up. (See attached)
This is tedious and could easily be recorded and allowed to play back so I don't have to do this 50 times a day manually.
I would also use it to create many different sizes of documents which I have to do manually at this time.
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Klaus Nordby commented
Photoshop has had Actions for 25+ years. We still have NONE in ID -- despite all the productivity-enhancement they can bring. I must repeatedly and stupidly do TONS of trivial things by clicking a series of buttons! Like exporting PDFs and countless other repetitive things. Just too ridiculous -- in 2019.
Actions! Give us Actions! It is the ONE "new" (hah!) feature I most crave.
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Shridhar Kulkarni
commented
If this can help us in spell check/corrections in styles like someone would like to use "percent" instead of "%" throughout the book and remove multiple return key hits from a document we get from editors... etc...
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Casper Thomsen
commented
Uses:
1:
Doing a number of exports with one click – of current doc (or all open), to different file formats, each with different sizes/resolution and options (all pages/first page/first spread, as pages/as spread, with or without bleed etc.)
Bonus in the action: Toss in some naming conventions for the exported files. Like Add a “web” prefix/suffix to the jpg, a “thumbnail” to the 1st spread png. Option: stop for input.2:
Turn on baseline grid, guides, frames, pasteboard color preference.
(Reason: we have external colleagues that keep messing with these, because they want a “clean” preview like view but with the pasteboard still visible – and I’m tired of the many clicks/keystrokes restoring everything.) -
Erick Puentes
commented
The fact that InDesign doesn't have Actions at this point is shameful. IF they decided to humor us and actually implement Actions, it should be done similar to Photoshop, NOT Acrobat. Acrobats implementation is simply horrible and the "manage actions" portion is a joke. It's almost as if Acrobat is a different company and have no idea about Photoshop and how they implement Actions. I don't have to layout examples as to why we need this feature because many have laid out the case already. Please take this request seriously.
While we're at it, please pay attention to the "Tables" functionality. Look at any spreadsheet app for inspiration in terms of adding to the feature set.
Thanks!
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Phantom Steve
commented
Most of these requests can be achieved in InDesign as it is — without an actions panel.
Sorry, correction — for repeating and running FIND/CHANGE requests one after another you can get third-party add-ins or scripts to create multiple changes.
It would be nice if ID included a panel (similar to Multi-Find/Change — a third party add-in) to allow us to run GREP and TEXT queries one after another as a batch.
That's maybe what this request should be asking for. -
Anonymous
commented
For instance: the ability to assign a group of steps (selecting contents; duplicating; setting to Multiply; pasting in place; turning on PhotoShop clipping path; assigning a drop shadow and then grouping the two items as ONE action. This is something that is done thousands of times in catalogs on images.
To be able to describe it as an action, select all items on a spread and execute would be phenomenal! -
NEED ACTION PANEL IN ID
commented
Action Panels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Kristofer Haglund
commented
This would be awesome for lots of smaller things, like adding strokes or tilt to certain words when missing a bold or italic typeset. Adding the same effects to images instead of trying to aim the cursor to the correct object or writing down the numbers would also be nice. Also would be great when creating identical tables over and over.
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Emily
commented
PLEASE make this an option, I actually cannot believe it isn't yet. I use data merge to mass produce envelopes, but my particular printer needs all text outlined before sending, so I have to take the time to page by page flatten the text. It takes forever and seems like it could so easily be done. Please let us mass select across pages!!!
