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
34 comments
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Anonymous
commented
Yes, capturing keystrokes exactly like in Photoshop would be very useful. For instance, in book design - to click a shortcut that enters a glyph for a chapter start, adds a paragraph style to the title etc. I would use actions like that many times in the course of a day for book design. And it would have to be easy and quick to create, just like in Photoshop, so that I can capture keystrokes on the fly just for a particular function on a particular project. There is so much that I do that is repetitive in book design that could be made much easier by a keystroke capture function.
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Marina
commented
Please, I really need Actions in InDesign too. I use a lot to configure labels and a lot of other things in books and printed material. It would be a great time saver. Love it in Photoshop, will love it too in INDD
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Anonymous
commented
I have a list of repetitive actions, creating a caption setup for multiple files in a book. The Actions Panel would be of great help since we are not allowed to write scripts. It would save so much time just to hit a keystroke that would change all the options in the "caption setup" dialog box. I don't understand why Indesign does not have this option.
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Scott Falkner
commented
Actions could significantly fill in gaps in other incomplete features. For example, Table and Cell Styles are terrible for complex tables. Row high and column width are completely absent, as is any way to specify the styles of cells in the middle of a table. Actions could record setting a row height or column width, selecting all the cells in a row, and applying a Cell Style. put all that into one action and formatting complex tables consistently (although without full style support) would be much easier.
Photoshop and Illustrator have been greatly improved by adding actions, although Illustrator, as is its custom, handles actions worse. InDesign would likewise be made much better with actions, especially if they supported variables and conditions.
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Mary
commented
I would love to be able to record actions in InDesign and then use them for repetitive tasks. For instance, enlarging an image, fitting the frame and then repositioning the image. In catalog production I do this over and over. What a time saver an action would be. Scripts are mentioned in some of the posts, but I don't know how to write scripts.
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Anonymous
commented
I would use actions for styles that are applied frequently
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Anonymous
commented
yes please! I would use it to change fonts, styles backgrounds for text and table objects to the same style.
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ökkeş şat
commented
The search engine has paragraph styles, character styles, and object styles. But table and cell style search is not available.
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Joshua
commented
I would use the actions panel with the step and repeat function. I would create multiple actions to create multiple-up layouts for printing. I could make a 21 or 24 up grid for business cards on an 11x17 or 12x18 sheet. This would replace my not so friendly use of indesign templates.
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Shelley
commented
yes PLEASE, action record like photoshop. So surprising Indesign still doesn't have this feature.
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Aaron F
commented
desperately need action record / play functions similar to Illustrator / photoshop
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Anonymous
commented
I design lots of annual report and all the financial works have to be done on table feature. i had an action to align all numbers to .75 decimal or convert column into 1inch width in single click it would be great.
also please add ability to change strokes and fill in find and change for tables aswell.
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Sridhar
commented
Is there any option or script for align the Table in InDesign CC? Like Cell “Top, Bottom, Left and Right” aligns as well as Table?
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Mark Lane
commented
I am working on client supplied text where I'd like to add a character return and apply a paragraph style. Adding keyboard shortcuts to the styles sped up the process, but clicking a button to add the return and style would really make light work.
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Damien Girard
commented
I have templates built in InDesign which utilize the same graphics in multiple areas, on multiple pages. The placement is always the same. The size of these logos also changes depending on where it will be placed. I Would love to have an Actions Panel where I could automate this task. I utilize the Actions Panel in Illustrator and Photoshop quite a bit, but having one in InDesign would be great, extremely useful. I have been wishing for this feature for years (and have requested it in the past)
I am surprised it hasn't been implemented into InDesign yet as I feel many other users would find this incredibly useful. -
Anna Kul
commented
I find I create a frame exactly of the size of the document I created , then Im placing some content. Im doing it over and over agian is there a way to automate this? The frame also needs´to align exactly with the document . It´s rather tedious to do it over repeatedly - if there s already away to do this quciker I dont know of, I doubt, Im doing it manually (create a frame, then import content and use key combination to fit the content to the frame)
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John Reynolds
commented
Since there's still no way to select text assigned a specific character style and apply index markers to the selection, I would make that my first choice for action. I'm SO tired of manually applying the proper name index tags to entries.
And yes, I know there are scripts etc. that GENERATE indexes, but none that I'm aware of that actually apply the standard index tag and keep it in place for future updates.
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VictorR
commented
I would like to write an action to export the active page as several PDF versions at once by selecting PDF presets, (proof, digital print_with_bleed, offset print_spot colours)
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nora
commented
Actions would be amazing to have in indesign. Exactly the same way like on Photoshop. Every project is different so different operations will be needed.
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Stephen_A_Marsh
commented
I would challenge anyone to deny the usefulness of actions in Photoshop, despite action limitations and the power of scripting. Scripting development is not accessible to the average GUI based user. Actions are very accessible and if implemented correctly (i.e. Photoshop) they are fantastic… If implemented incorrectly (i.e. Illustrator) they are often frustrating (i.e. not recording values entered into dialog boxes).