Adobe InDesign: Feature Requests
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Feature Request: Use Alternate Layout Name as Export File Name When exporting documents from InDesign (especially to JPG, PNG, PDF, or othe
Feature Request: Use Alternate Layout Name as Export File Name
When exporting documents from InDesign (especially to JPG, PNG, PDF, or other formats), it would be extremely useful to have an option to automatically use the Alternate Layout name as the exported file name.
Many designers use Alternate Layouts to manage different languages, formats, or versions within a single document. Currently, although each layout has a name, that information is not available during export, forcing users to rename files manually or rely on scripts.
Suggested option:
Add a checkbox in the Export dialog:
Use Alternate Layout name as file name
When exporting multiple Alternate Layouts, automatically generate one file per layout using its corresponding name.
This behavior should be available for all export formats, including JPG, PNG, PDF, and other supported outputs.This small improvement would save time, reduce manual errors, and streamline workflows for designers managing multilingual or multi-format projects.
Feature Request: Use Alternate Layout Name as Export File Name
When exporting documents from InDesign (especially to JPG, PNG, PDF, or other formats), it would be extremely useful to have an option to automatically use the Alternate Layout name as the exported file name.
Many designers use Alternate Layouts to manage different languages, formats, or versions within a single document. Currently, although each layout has a name, that information is not available during export, forcing users to rename files manually or rely on scripts.
Suggested option:
Add a checkbox in the Export dialog:
Use Alternate Layout name as file…1 vote -
Urdu and Arabic users migrating from InPage to Adobe InDesign face a major usability issue with RTL cursor navigation. Currently, in RTL te
Urdu and Arabic users migrating from InPage to Adobe InDesign face a major usability issue with RTL cursor navigation.
Currently, in RTL text:
- Right Arrow moves cursor visually left
- Left Arrow moves cursor visually rightWhile technically correct under Unicode bidi logic, this behavior is unintuitive for many professional Urdu newspaper designers who are accustomed to InPage-style visual cursor navigation.
Request:
Please add an optional preference:"Visual RTL Cursor Navigation"
so users can choose:
1. Logical movement (current behavior)
2. Visual movement (InPage-style)This would greatly improve Urdu, Arabic, and Persian publishing workflows.
1 vote -
Pages Menu
I need to see pages reliably. The InDesign Pages menu pop-out fails. It will reappear and work properly when re-opened. It is not showing in an unexpexted place that I've found. It occurs sometime while working but I haven't identified what brings it to fail. Attachment named InDesignMenuFail-2026-06-26.jpg shows the icon is activated, but not visible as it is in the InDesignMenuOK-2026-06-26.jpg image.
1 vote -
Object Style default option for the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) other than [None]
Hello and thank you for the opportunity to offer feedback! I have always used the Rectangle Frame Tool (F), primarily for images but also for text. I am trying to streamline options and defaults in InDesign as my work is now required to make all digital reports and other documents with accessibility requirements for screen readers. In trying to set the default of my frames to the [Basic Graphics Frame] object style with my updated changes or a custom object style, the object style immediately snaps back to [None] when I draw the frame. It doesn't matter how I draw it, when I select the object style, or what I've set to the default, it automatically reverts back to the [None] object style. The Rectangle Tool (M) does not have this same problem. Because frames are a more flexible option for shapes, text, etc., I would appreciate the same features applied for setting defaults with the Rectangle Frame Tool (F). Thank you!
Hello and thank you for the opportunity to offer feedback! I have always used the Rectangle Frame Tool (F), primarily for images but also for text. I am trying to streamline options and defaults in InDesign as my work is now required to make all digital reports and other documents with accessibility requirements for screen readers. In trying to set the default of my frames to the [Basic Graphics Frame] object style with my updated changes or a custom object style, the object style immediately snaps back to [None] when I draw the frame. It doesn't matter how I draw…
1 vote -
Add a X in the homescreen recent thumbnails, to remove projects from that overview
When working for multiple clients, it is very inconvenient having thumbnails popping up when opening a document. Please make it easy for the user to decide which projects are shown in the home screen.
1 vote -
Can we add a default locking range feature for the stored 'find/replace' XML files?
I hope to lock the 'search scope'. And it can be included in the. xml file.
There have been two serious accidents, fortunately discovered, but I was still scolded by my boss.
I have a regular expression that repeats when indexing. When I store it, the range is "article", but one day I didn't pay attention. After selecting it, the range changed to "document", and as a result, some content was replaced.
Very scary.The search range is now automatically determined, but sometimes accidents may occur if not careful.
There should be a locking function that locks the default without manual setting.
Especially for regular expression files stored by oneself, there should be a restriction function in the. xml file, which will not be changed manually after opening.I hope to lock the 'search scope'. And it can be included in the. xml file.
There have been two serious accidents, fortunately discovered, but I was still scolded by my boss.
I have a regular expression that repeats when indexing. When I store it, the range is "article", but one day I didn't pay attention. After selecting it, the range changed to "document", and as a result, some content was replaced.
Very scary.The search range is now automatically determined, but sometimes accidents may occur if not careful.
There should be a locking function that locks the default without…1 vote -
PDF-Export with MathML in <Formula>-Tag
Now that InDesign supports MathML, we need MathML content to be exported correctly in tagged PDFs.
Currently, MathML is exported as a <Figure> tag, but it should be exported as a <Formula> tag.
1 vote -
The quick color change for a text field should change the cointaining text color.
The quick color change for a text field should change the cointaining text color instead. The text box color control can rely on a button for selection of itself that then changes interaction of quick color controls. ****, put it in place of the OpenType button that is pretty useless to many (I for one ONLY click it accidentaly and it makes me crazy, but that's another ticket).
It's incredibly impressive how simple and intuitive this should be. The logic... This is extremely valuable to me because since text inside InDesign irreversably ceases to be editable once Ctrl+Shift+O (Outline Txt) - and I want to avoid that - that means it's impossible to quick edit text color for multiple boxes unless with styles etc, adding extra clicks to quick sketches of ideas. b
So that means InDesign expects selection of text inside of each and every text box, or editing of each style individually (Yes, each style, because it's impossible to have a style that only changes color, so you need to change color for texts that are the same size, font etc, at a time if you wanna do via styles). or Ctrl+I with individual clicking per text box. What's the logic in that?????
In order to change multiple text colors at once, it's imperative that either there's turning back from outline (like Illustrator), or simply make follow the first paragraph solution to where to put the useless change the color of this text field that usually doesn't have a standard spacing and defined size and will be invisible in 99% of cases...... It's it not incredibly evident in your data that many users - including me - accepted to submit for free for years how users want to change the color of the text itself more often than the color of the box that contains the text? that box doesn't even respond when the text doesn't fit. The box only gets in the way or becomes alignment. That means, usually like one or two sides of the box are used in layoutting. How often is the fill used???
I guess what I'm asking for is that my investment be put into something. Because I've been using InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator for a decade now and it has become quite obvious that some features are just kept out of one of the three in order to make another of the three have a what.. ~2% increase in usage? (I'm looking at you, Outline Stroke.) The way some useless aspects of InDesign have accumulated dust and spiderwebs over the years is truly impressive. And do not get me started on how these are badly optimized in Windows... What a waste of such amazing software and IP.
The quick color change for a text field should change the cointaining text color instead. The text box color control can rely on a button for selection of itself that then changes interaction of quick color controls. ****, put it in place of the OpenType button that is pretty useless to many (I for one ONLY click it accidentaly and it makes me crazy, but that's another ticket).
It's incredibly impressive how simple and intuitive this should be. The logic... This is extremely valuable to me because since text inside InDesign irreversably ceases to be editable once Ctrl+Shift+O (Outline Txt)…
1 vote -
Feature Request: Fill Frame With Placeholder Text
Illustrator features the ability to drag a text block and have it filled with placeholder text. Why doesn’t InDesign have that? In InDesign, we first have to create the text block and then choose Fill With Placeholder Text. Why not mirror what Illustrator does?
1 vote -
Add toggle checkbox in spell checker for "Case Sensitive" so you can turn it off when needed.
There are so many false positives when I use spell check, because it treats everything as a sentence. So all bullet points with uppercase style, every bit of text like websites, "mm" "cm" etc. get flagged for the first letter not being capitalized. I'd like a toggle check box named "Case Sensitive" so that I can uncheck it when working in documents that don't require a check for capitalization. Because not every text box in my document houses a grammatically correct sentence. This will speed up the process for the types of documents that I work on.
1 vote -
The change of swatch colour used for the QR code is ignored
When a QR code is created using a swatch colour, the colour does not update when the swatch colour is modified.
Step by step:
1) Make QR code using default magenta
2) Change magenta to any custom color
3) The QR code stays in magenta1 vote -
Place selected Illustrator artboard directly into InDesign from Illustrator
Currently, placing a specific artboard from a multi-artboard Illustrator file into InDesign requires switching to InDesign, going through File → Place, locating the file, enabling Show Import Options, and then selecting the correct artboard — a slow and repetitive process when working with files that contain many artboards.
A "Send to InDesign" button or action in Illustrator that places the currently active artboard directly into the active InDesign document as a linked object — without leaving Illustrator.
Similar to how The Overlord plugin by Battle Axe (AE plugin) handles asset transfer — would significantly speed up layout workflows.
1 vote -
Generate Text - Shorten to fix overset
Useful option within the Generate Text function would be to rewrite/shorten the selected text to fit the available space in order to remove overset. It'd be ideal if this could be handled like a find/replace whereby the user could step through the document moving from each overset frame.
1 vote -
Allow importing/copying gradients between InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
It should be possible to import gradients swatches from Photoshop and Illustrator into InDesign, and vice versa. Whether by finally being able to have a gradient saved in CC Libraries or being able to copy+paste an object with the gradient applied between programs.
I can't tell you how many times I've finally gotten a perfect gradient in Photoshop, only to then realize I need it in InDesign and my only options are to 1) painstakingly make it again in InDesign, 2) design InDesign things in Photoshop with the existing gradient, or 3) Export a gradient from Photoshop as a jpeg and import that into InDesign to use in a clipping mask. This should be as simple as clicking Export/Import Swatch or copying and pasting an object from one program to another.
It should be possible to import gradients swatches from Photoshop and Illustrator into InDesign, and vice versa. Whether by finally being able to have a gradient saved in CC Libraries or being able to copy+paste an object with the gradient applied between programs.
I can't tell you how many times I've finally gotten a perfect gradient in Photoshop, only to then realize I need it in InDesign and my only options are to 1) painstakingly make it again in InDesign, 2) design InDesign things in Photoshop with the existing gradient, or 3) Export a gradient from Photoshop as a jpeg…
2 votes -
Text Variables: option to replace Tabs
Currently, a tab in a paragraph (heading) carries into a text variable that is sourced from that paragraph style, causing major spacing headaches. There should be an option in Edit Text Variable window to replace tab with a user-defined number of spaces (or any other characters, while you're at it).
1 vote -
Feature Request: InPage-Style Urdu Nastaliq Kerning, Positioning, and Composition Engine for Adobe InDesign Dear Adobe InDesign Team, I wo
Feature Request: InPage-Style Urdu Nastaliq Kerning, Positioning, and Composition Engine for Adobe InDesign
Dear Adobe InDesign Team,
I would like to request major improvements to Urdu Nastaliq publishing support in Adobe InDesign.
Although InDesign supports right-to-left languages, it still lacks many professional Urdu composition features that are available in InPage and are essential for newspapers, magazines, books, and educational publishing.
The most important request is the introduction of an InPage-style Urdu Nastaliq Composition Engine.
Requested Features:
- InPage-style Urdu Kerning Engine
- Automatic contextual kerning between Urdu characters.
- Ligature-aware spacing adjustments.
- Removal of excessive gaps between words and letters.
-
Font-specific optimization for:
- Jameel Noori Nastaleeq
- Nafees Nastaleeq
- Mehr Nastaliq
- Faiz Nastaliq
- InPage-style Kashida Justification
- Intelligent Kashida insertion.
- Balanced line composition.
- Reduced dependency on word spacing expansion.
- Urdu Nastaliq Composer
- Dedicated composer specifically designed for Urdu Nastaliq.
- Better handling of multi-line Nastaliq text flow.
- Word and Character Position Controls (Similar to InPage)
- Move selected word or character Left.
- Move selected word or character Right.
- Move selected word or character Up.
- Move selected word or character Down.
- Fine positioning controls using keyboard shortcuts.
- Visual nudging tools for precise Nastaliq adjustments.
- Support for adjusting individual ligatures without affecting surrounding text.
- Improved Baseline Management
- Automatic baseline correction for Nastaliq fonts.
- Better alignment of words across multiple lines.
- Improved Ligature Handling
- Context-sensitive Urdu ligatures.
- Better OpenType feature utilization.
- Enhanced glyph substitution and positioning.
- Nuqta and Aerab Optimization
- Better placement of dots (Nuqta).
- Improved positioning of diacritics (Aerab).
- Collision detection and avoidance.
- Urdu Publishing Tools
- Newspaper composition presets.
- Book publishing presets.
- Urdu typography presets.
- Nastaliq-specific paragraph settings.
- Urdu Keyboard and Editing Enhancements
- Better Urdu text editing experience.
- Improved cursor behavior in Nastaliq text.
- Advanced Urdu proofreading and composition tools.
Many Urdu publishers continue to rely on InPage because of its superior Nastaliq composition quality and precise word-positioning controls. Bringing these capabilities into Adobe InDesign would greatly benefit the Urdu publishing industry and help professional publishers adopt InDesign as their primary layout and publishing platform.
Thank you for your consideration.
Feature Request: InPage-Style Urdu Nastaliq Kerning, Positioning, and Composition Engine for Adobe InDesign
Dear Adobe InDesign Team,
I would like to request major improvements to Urdu Nastaliq publishing support in Adobe InDesign.
Although InDesign supports right-to-left languages, it still lacks many professional Urdu composition features that are available in InPage and are essential for newspapers, magazines, books, and educational publishing.
The most important request is the introduction of an InPage-style Urdu Nastaliq Composition Engine.
Requested Features:
- InPage-style Urdu Kerning Engine
- Automatic contextual kerning between Urdu characters.
- Ligature-aware spacing adjustments.
- Removal of excessive gaps between words and letters.
-
Font-specific optimization for:
- …
1 vote -
InCopy on the web to all language versions
Can you please stop with making features available in English version only. Those of us who work in an international environment or organization needs feature parity, and in this day and age, where AI takes care of 99% of translation and testing it cant't be that hard.
We pay for InDesign and expect to not be discriminated.
1 vote -
Streamlining adding new pages of different sizes
I often work with files with multiple sized pages in them. I want the print specific features of indesign, however adding different size pages to a document is a clunky and confusing process. Instead of having to 'create alternate layout' could you not just modify the 'edit page size' menu to have a 'add different size page' option.
1 vote -
Recadrage PDF Importés (avec du texte non vectorisé) et Export / Framing of Imported PDF (with not vectorised fonts) & Export
ENGLISH
When you crop a placed PDF in Adobe InDesign that contains live (non-outlined) text, the exported PDF still keeps all text data located outside the cropped frame. As a result, PDF text search can still find and highlight invisible text that is hidden outside the visible cropped area.
This behavior makes little sense from a user perspective: if a PDF element is cropped in InDesign, the expectation is that everything outside the cropped frame should be removed from the exported PDF — or at least excluded from text search and selection.
Currently, InDesign only masks the content visually. The hidden text remains embedded in the exported PDF, even though it is no longer visible. This creates several problems:
- PDF searches return results in invisible areas
- Copy/paste may include hidden text
- Accessibility/readability can become inconsistent
- Sensitive or unwanted text may remain inside the final exported document
- File content does not match the visible layout
This issue especially affects workflows involving imported PDFs containing OCR text or non-vectorized text layers.
Expected behavior:
When exporting a PDF from InDesign, any content outside the cropped frame of a placed PDF should either:- be truly clipped/destructively removed from the exported PDF structure, or
- at minimum, be excluded from searchable/selectable text content.
At the moment, the crop behaves only as a visual mask, not as an actual content clipping operation.
————————————-
FRENCH
Faire en sorte que sur InDesign quand on recadre un PDF (avec du texte non vectorisé) et qu’on exporte ce PDF cela n’affiche plus le texte en dehors de la zone recadree.
Car actuellement quand on recadre ce genre de PDF, et qu’on exporte le PDF, et qu’on fait une recherche de texte sur ce PDF cela recherche et affiche des résultats même dans le texte invisible masqué en dehors du cadre.
Quand on recadre sur InDesign un bloc d’un PDF importé qui contient du texte non vectoriel je ne vois vraiment pas pour quelle bonne raison le PDF continue d’afficher toute la police qui est en dehors de cette zone recadrée, ça n’a aucun sens ni aucune utilité car par définition quand on recadre un bloc, c’est qu’on veut pas ce qu’il y a autour…
ENGLISH
When you crop a placed PDF in Adobe InDesign that contains live (non-outlined) text, the exported PDF still keeps all text data located outside the cropped frame. As a result, PDF text search can still find and highlight invisible text that is hidden outside the visible cropped area.
This behavior makes little sense from a user perspective: if a PDF element is cropped in InDesign, the expectation is that everything outside the cropped frame should be removed from the exported PDF — or at least excluded from text search and selection.
Currently, InDesign only masks the content visually. The…
1 vote -
Native PDF/UA-compliant export in Adobe InDesign (European Accessibility Act)
With the entry into force on June 28, 2025 of European Directive 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act, EAA), the production of accessible digital documents has become a legal obligation for a wide range of public and private operators working in the European market. The regulation requires that electronic documents — including PDFs — conform to the PDF/UA standard (ISO 14289-1) and the technical standard EN 301 549.
At present, Adobe InDesign is not capable of natively exporting PDFs that are PDF/UA compliant and verifiable with third-party tools such as PAC. This limitation forces professionals to rely on third-party plugins or manual corrections in Acrobat Pro after every export — resulting in additional costs, operational inefficiencies, and the risk of errors in every production cycle.
Bringing InDesign into compliance with these requirements is today a legal necessity for thousands of European professionals who use the software daily to produce institutional communications, reports, publications, and technical documents subject to EAA obligations. It would also demonstrate Adobe's genuine commitment to the values of inclusivity and accessibility.
The native implementation of these features would eliminate dependency on third-party tools, reduce production costs, and ensure that Adobe InDesign maintains a competitive position aligned with the current European regulatory landscape.
Supporting accessibility is not merely an ethical choice — it is today a concrete responsibility toward the millions of users with disabilities and toward the professionals who produce content for them every day.Thank you for your attention.
With the entry into force on June 28, 2025 of European Directive 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act, EAA), the production of accessible digital documents has become a legal obligation for a wide range of public and private operators working in the European market. The regulation requires that electronic documents — including PDFs — conform to the PDF/UA standard (ISO 14289-1) and the technical standard EN 301 549.
At present, Adobe InDesign is not capable of natively exporting PDFs that are PDF/UA compliant and verifiable with third-party tools such as PAC. This limitation forces professionals to rely on…1 vote
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