Adobe InDesign: Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
1. Description
2. Why is this valuable to you?
Thank you.
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283 results found
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Request: Optional Horizontal Page Scrolling (Book-like Viewing) in InDesign
I mainly work on book and magazine design.
I would like to request an option to view and navigate pages in InDesign using horizontal scrolling, similar to the experience of reading an actual book or PDF spreads.
Currently, InDesign’s vertical scrolling workflow makes it difficult to grasp:
page rhythm and pacing
the relationship between facing pages
the overall structure of a book as a physical object
For editorial designers, books are fundamentally horizontal sequences of spreads, not vertical documents.
When checking layout balance, typography flow, or visual continuity, vertical scrolling creates a disconnect from the real reading experience.
If users could toggle between vertical and horizontal scrolling modes, it would greatly improve:
spread-based editing
proofing and design decision-making
alignment with how books are actually read and reviewed
This would be especially valuable for professionals working in editorial, publishing, and book design.
Thank you for considering this request.
Best regardsI mainly work on book and magazine design.
I would like to request an option to view and navigate pages in InDesign using horizontal scrolling, similar to the experience of reading an actual book or PDF spreads.
Currently, InDesign’s vertical scrolling workflow makes it difficult to grasp:
page rhythm and pacing
the relationship between facing pages
the overall structure of a book as a physical object
For editorial designers, books are fundamentally horizontal sequences of spreads, not vertical documents.
When checking layout balance, typography flow, or visual continuity, vertical scrolling creates a disconnect from the real reading experience.
If users…1 vote -
Global baseline shift
In version 14.0.2, we may select any character(s) in a single line adjusting baseline shift variously for each selection of characters. Having made specific baseline shifts, it would be nice to select the desired text and while preserving their relative differing baseline shifts to then globally raise and/or lower the entire line.
Currently, we are not able to do this. The attached shows that if I select the differing baseline shifted characters, InDesign's UI baseline shift incrementer becomes unavailable. I can globally reset the entire line imposing a single shared baseline value via text input, but this does not respect nor preserve the relative positions of baseline shifts made previous. If it were possible to globally raise and/or lower their relative positions perhaps using a character modifier as we used to have in Quark back in the day, it would put InDesign even a little further ahead of the curve. As it stands now, however, I would have the slight chore to break up the enclosing text box into individual lines which will preserve relative character baseline shifts with their relative positions and where I can then move the entire line without affecting them in any way. This is not a huge consideration for something as simple as letterhead but if the selections were more involved involving more text, then this is something a good designer will always reach for.
Ctrl+SHIFT+brackets|semicolon or comma I think may have been the key binding for such an operation in Quark of old. I still remember InDesign 1.0 haha
Thank you, Adobe! You're awesome!
In version 14.0.2, we may select any character(s) in a single line adjusting baseline shift variously for each selection of characters. Having made specific baseline shifts, it would be nice to select the desired text and while preserving their relative differing baseline shifts to then globally raise and/or lower the entire line.
Currently, we are not able to do this. The attached shows that if I select the differing baseline shifted characters, InDesign's UI baseline shift incrementer becomes unavailable. I can globally reset the entire line imposing a single shared baseline value via text input, but this does not…
1 vote -
6 simple updates to make 'Publish Online' better
An open request to Adobe to address at the following:
Customisable links, based off user profile and document title. The current lengthy lines of jumbled letters do not look professional when sending to clients.
Password protected links. Since we're forced to publish on Adobe's cloud, at least give the ability to encrypt the link so it can't be forwarded on. Extra feature here (like frame.io) would be to require the viewers email to view so the author can get data and verify who is viewing the document.
Make it possible to preview a gif loop while designing instead of the current need to publish and wait and republish each time a gif sequence needs to be reviewed.
Make it possible to choose the gif thumbnail that becomes the still image when a client decides to download an offline version.
Make it easy, and elegant to embed and play audio. If it's possible to embed gifs it's strange to me that an audio file of a similar size cannot be inserted and played directly off the document. The player is clumsy and dated, the "play triangle" icon is also old and limiting.
Full screen on mobile - there's no way to look at the full pdf without the URL bar hovering on top, taking up a lot of screen space. Please fix.
- Why are these valuable to me? For the past 3 years I have moved all my presentations to 'publish online' and it has become the industry standard (tv commercial pitches). In these 3 years I've seen no updates or improvements, and the requests above are quite basic (security, customisability, functionality). It feels a lot like this product has been overlooked or abandoned!
An open request to Adobe to address at the following:
Customisable links, based off user profile and document title. The current lengthy lines of jumbled letters do not look professional when sending to clients.
Password protected links. Since we're forced to publish on Adobe's cloud, at least give the ability to encrypt the link so it can't be forwarded on. Extra feature here (like frame.io) would be to require the viewers email to view so the author can get data and verify who is viewing the document.
Make it possible to preview a gif loop while designing instead of…
1 vote
5487 results found
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Make Track Changes visible in Layout view for InCopy
Add the ability to see track changes in Layout view for InCopy. It is incredibly annoying for editors to have to switch views constantly to review eidts and then see the layout.
31 votes -
Improving table styles
Problems in the development of tables
Currently we have some drawbacks when it comes to automating as much as possible the application of the tables by using "table styles", this is because our tables have 4 different sectors (hotrizontals), unlike the possibility that Indesign offers only 3 types of rows "header rows", "footers rows" and "text rows". This, for the moment, we solve it in the following way: once we apply the style of table, we select the rows that we want to change and we apply by hand the "cell style".
One possible solution is that the "style of tables" menu will allow you to incorporate more rows according to need, choosing the cell style you want and even being able to define in those headers parameters such as the number of rows they will occupy.Problems in the development of tables
Currently we have some drawbacks when it comes to automating as much as possible the application of the tables by using "table styles", this is because our tables have 4 different sectors (hotrizontals), unlike the possibility that Indesign offers only 3 types of rows "header rows", "footers rows" and "text rows". This, for the moment, we solve it in the following way: once we apply the style of table, we select the rows that we want to change and we apply by hand the "cell style".
One possible solution is that the "style of…31 votes -
font weight mapping
Different font foundries/designers have different ideas on how to name the font weight. Unfortunately this causes problems, when you want using (character) styles like "BOLD" or "ITALIC".
More often then not, you need to change the definition (from "bold" to "65 bold" or "Italic" to "oblique") when changing the font.
If you have multi-font documents, you even need to assign styles according to the font instead of the weight. Building a hierarchy of styles gets more complicated too.
The idea is to have a table of weight mapping like:
65 bold = bold;
bold = bold;
45 light = light;
light = light;
oblique=italic;
italic=italic;I suppose you see the idea... The Indesign does the transcription according to the table. In that case, bold will stay bold, and even you could map "extra bold" to bold, if for some reason this fits into your design.
I wouldn't even mind typing the whole font name to get this ...
"Univers LT CYR 67 Bold Condensed"="Bold Condensed"
Different font foundries/designers have different ideas on how to name the font weight. Unfortunately this causes problems, when you want using (character) styles like "BOLD" or "ITALIC".
More often then not, you need to change the definition (from "bold" to "65 bold" or "Italic" to "oblique") when changing the font.
If you have multi-font documents, you even need to assign styles according to the font instead of the weight. Building a hierarchy of styles gets more complicated too.
The idea is to have a table of weight mapping like:
65 bold = bold;
bold = bold;
45 light = light;…31 votes -
Save for web
Why don't you implement a "save for web feature" like in illustrator or photoshop? It would be very useful to export assets for web starting from layout designed in Indesign.
Thanks!
31 votes -
Add the possibility to add alternative Text to Tables.
like in MS Word.
Reason: we need to publish our print-products as an disability accessable PDF. Sometimes, it is helpful to add an alternative text to the table31 votes -
Shortcuts can't be assigned to Styles if Keyboard does not have Numpad.
In the Adobe docs it says "If your keyboard does not have a Num Lock key, you cannot add keyboard shortcuts to styles." I can't believe that Adobe is perfectly content with just excluding large portions of its Mac user base, those of us who are exclusively using a Mac laptop for work (which does not have a keyboard with a numeric pad or the Num Lock Key), from being able to create and therefore take advantage of time-saving shortcuts for character styles. I mean, come on. Why is it again that I am paying $50/month for Adobe CC?
31 votesHello All,
Thank you for reporting the issue to us.
We have fixed the issue in the latest version of InDesign, Id 15.0Please upgrade your InDesign application to the latest version to try out the fix.
If you face any problems with the new update, do let us know in the comments.
You may also follow the below given link for the list of all fixed issues in Id 15.0
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/fixed-issues.html-InDesign Team
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Hyperlink in Data Merge
Please, please, please add the hyperlink data field when using Data Merge. Why can we generate a QR code, but not add a simple URL to a box or a text or whatever you want, visibile in an interactive PDF? Please add this function, doing press releases is transforming me into a monkey!
30 votes -
One-click, easy install for Hunspell dictionaries
Please, please make the adding of Hunspell language dictionarys easier.
Have just added a Hunspell language dictionary to InDesign. Wow! What a difficult un-user friendly process. I had to Google to find the baffling instuctions and followed the lengthy guide on InDesignSecrets website.
It's not just me that finds the whole thing so complicated - the InDesignSecrets instructions end with the following words -
"I never expected installing Hunspell dictionaries to be such an ordeal. And I can understand if these instructions have scared you off. But if you’ve made it all the way down here, you’re obviously need to add new languages to InDesign. Good luck!"https://indesignsecrets.com/adding-hunspell-dictionaries-indesign.php
Please, please make the adding of Hunspell language dictionarys easier.
Have just added a Hunspell language dictionary to InDesign. Wow! What a difficult un-user friendly process. I had to Google to find the baffling instuctions and followed the lengthy guide on InDesignSecrets website.
It's not just me that finds the whole thing so complicated - the InDesignSecrets instructions end with the following words -
"I never expected installing Hunspell dictionaries to be such an ordeal. And I can understand if these instructions have scared you off. But if you’ve made it all the way down here, you’re obviously need to…30 votes -
Some way to synchronize and update styles (Paragraph and Character especially) across multiple InDesign documents.
Currently, there is no way other than the undesirable "book" workaround method to have a set of Paragraph Styles - that can be updated globally accross multiple InDesign documents.
There should be some way to synchronize and update styles (Paragraph and Character Styles especially) across multiple InDesign documents.
This could be done by some kind of external "Styles" library (ideally, both Local and or Cloud based) that can be applied to an .indd file, that when updated or changed, will then update or change any document using that same Styles Library.
Currently, it is very difficult to keep Styles updated across documents. If you build one template file, and save out copies of it, any changes made in the original template or in any of the copies you have made are local to that document and in no way can stay in sync with all others. This is madness.
2018 Adobe… this has been an issue for so long. Please fix it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Currently, there is no way other than the undesirable "book" workaround method to have a set of Paragraph Styles - that can be updated globally accross multiple InDesign documents.
There should be some way to synchronize and update styles (Paragraph and Character Styles especially) across multiple InDesign documents.
This could be done by some kind of external "Styles" library (ideally, both Local and or Cloud based) that can be applied to an .indd file, that when updated or changed, will then update or change any document using that same Styles Library.
Currently, it is very difficult to keep Styles updated…
30 votes -
table of content page numbers cross references
Hello Adobe,
It would be great if we could have the page numbers as cross references (for auto-updates) in the table of contents. We often tweak the TOC titles manually for aesthetics and we don't want these changes to be undone when updating the whole TOC as we have to do with the current features. Page numbers frequently change when changes are made in the document.
Thanks!
30 votes -
placing an .ai file with multiple art boards,
When placing an .ai file with multiple art boards, it would be an improvement if I could place by the art board name instead of number.
Example A file may contain an art board that is CMYK or Spot. The thumbnail looks the same. Its a waste of time if I place the wrong art board.
IT would make my work day more efficient and less frustrating.
30 votes -
Object Styles (Size and Position)
When creating an Object Style and using Size and Position, the X and Y Offsets must be 0 or greater. This means you cannot create an Object Style that allows for bleed. I want to enter -.125 for the X and / or Y Offset to allow for bleeds.
P.S. The temp workaround is changing the Reference point, but if you change the Height or Width, you also have to adjust the X and Y.
30 votes -
Searchable colors
I think it would be beneficial to have searchable color names in the swatches - so if I were to be replacing one color with another, I could type the name of the color I am looking to replace. to narrow down my search.
30 votes -
Data Merge - Pdf:{page number}
While performing a data merge, it would be nice to be able to include in my csv filename.pdf:{page number} (ie myfile.pdf:3) And have Indesign return the mentioned page in an image. Currently if I link a multi-page pdf, it will only show the first page.
Currently I have to break apart a pdf into individual pages to use as images in a data merge.
See row 2 in the attached for what it would be nice to have.
The other rows are examples of what is currently required.30 votes -
Additional PDF export button for "CURRENT PAGE"
Without a lot of expensive coding, could you add a button for "CURRENT PAGE" in the dialog box for export PDF? It would be a lot quicker than having to enter the page number every time you want to export each page separately.
E.G.
In Pages section
ALL
CURRENT PAGE
RANGE30 votes -
Add ability to name Grep-styles
Add the ability to name or grep-styles.
Grep queries are not human friendly, and it can be hard to "read" and understand them. A option to label them would be great.29 votes -
Recent File Pane Improvement: Open Multiple files at once
The Recent Files Dialog needs a way to select and open multiple files at once — whether it be the ability to drag a selection shape (useful for selecting a few files that are physically close to each other) or shift-clicking to select multiple files (as you would in the Finder) or ticking small checkboxes in the bottom-right of each thumbnail.
In the latter two cases, if multiple files are selected, the "Open" button could then be used to open the select files, as opposed to launching the open file dialog.
29 votes -
Shading for character styles
I love using the shading for whole paragraph styles, but it would be nice to have shading for character styles as well. This would be nice for "highlighter" effects, which you just want to highlight a few lines or words. Just like applying an underline or strikethrough, but with a little more control over color, padding, maybe even shape?
29 votes -
Sharable Publish Online Dashboard
I would like multiple users to be able to update on a single dashboard. We like the idea of being able to update an existing link instead of replacing it which can be a lot more work. Currently, if we link a published file to our website and only one person can update it that's a problem, for obvious reasons. The single file might be linked in multiple places and turn into a tedious workload.
I'm wishing for an upgrade for InDesign to do this and make this tool even more powerful, it will be awesome!!
Art
29 votes -
Artifacting Master Page Items—accessibility
Within the past year, Adobe InDesign changed the way it handles items on a master page when the file is exported to accessible PDF.
We used to be able to control each MP item and designate whether it was artifacted or kept live and tagged in the PDF reading orders. BUT, in recent versions of InDesign, EVERYTHING on the MP is automatically artifacted and we have no control over this.
This fowls up workflows where some MP items must be kept live, tagged, and in the PDF's reading order, such as the project I'm working (series of fact sheets for a university) where the organization's name and contact into is repeated (hence, on a master page) and needs to be kept live and tagged (not artifacted).
Give us back our control! Although most MP items should be artifacted, it's not ALL MAP items should be artifacted. Let us keep some items tagged and control their reading order in the PDF.
"Releasing" the items from the MP when I'm on the document page isn't the solution; it defeats the reason why we have MP in the first place.
And fixing the problem after the PDF is made isn't a solution, either.
Solution:
1) In each Master Page's options, give us a checkbox option to artifact everything on that MP or not, and
2) Give us back our "granular" control to artifact frames (Object Export Options) and text (Artifact in Export Tag settings).Within the past year, Adobe InDesign changed the way it handles items on a master page when the file is exported to accessible PDF.
We used to be able to control each MP item and designate whether it was artifacted or kept live and tagged in the PDF reading orders. BUT, in recent versions of InDesign, EVERYTHING on the MP is automatically artifacted and we have no control over this.
This fowls up workflows where some MP items must be kept live, tagged, and in the PDF's reading order, such as the project I'm working (series of fact sheets for…
29 votes
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