As a freelance Production Designer and Creative with a fine arts background, I work across pharma, retail, and packaging—where detailed mechanicals, slug data, and precise dimension callouts are a daily necessity. One of the most essential—but frustratingly missing—features in InDesign is the ability to efficiently manage mechanical specs and slug information natively.

To bridge this gap, many of us rely on plug-ins like Mechanical Cubed and Slug Cubed from Triple Triangle Inc. These tools automate the placement and consistency of critical production data—such as trim, bleed, dimensions, and job metadata—directly into the slug area.

Interestingly, Adobe Illustrator already includes a built-in Dimensions tool, so it’s surprising that InDesign—Adobe’s flagship print and layout software—lacks this capability.

InDesign would benefit greatly from native tools that:

Automatically generate and manage mechanical dimension lines

Populate standardized slug info using document metadata

Apply reusable slug templates across multi-page or multi-SKU files

Lock dimension and slug elements to prevent accidental edits

These features are essential in high-volume environments where accuracy and consistency are just as important as creative execution.

By integrating this functionality directly into InDesign, Adobe can streamline workflows for production artists, packaging designers, and print creatives—many of whom already rely on workarounds or third-party solutions to fill this gap.

Happy to share real-world examples of how this functionality has saved time and improved production precision.

Thanks for considering this suggestion.

—
Khalid Best
Freelance Production Designer & Creative
Fine Arts Trained
https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalid-best-b49b0155/