Adobe InDesign: Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
1. Description
2. Why is this valuable to you?
Thank you.
- or
5606 results found
-
Improve Preflight
Isn’t it about time for an update and some enhancements to this great feature? Some suggestions:
- Change the default Preflight Profile to something realistic for quality printing. The absence of warnings is misleading, making people think that everything is fine.
- Divide the check for “Protected fonts” into two categories: 1. Fonts which do not allow embedding in PDF, 2. Activated Adobe fonts (the existing behaviour of flagging Adobe fonts as “not allowed” causes a lot of confusion)
- Change the wording “Transparency not allowed” to just “Transparency” Transparency is rarely a problem nowadays, though it is still good to check whether everything looks as expected.
- Give users the option to choose which kinds of transparency they want to check for, and which not – or at least between opacity, effects and overprint applied in the Attributes Panel.
- Give users the option to choose which kinds of bleed problems they want flagged, so they can decide if they want to include text frames (which are rarely a problem), lines, images and image frames. This would reduce the clutter that makes it all too easy to overlook something
- Add an option to include Ink Limit. Looking though hundreds of pages in Separations Preview is very time consuming, and errors are easily overlooked.
- Make it possible to choose between the existing behaviour of zooming in on errors, and keeping the selected view. The same goes for when you are finding and replacing text an need to decide depending on the context. E.g., choosing to show a bleed error will invariable result in zooming so close that one cannot see what is happening and what can be done about it. The opposite is the case when checking large pages with lots of small images.
- Allow users to set a limit to how much non-proportional scaling is acceptable, such as “show only deviations larger than 3%”.
- Make it possible to tab through the error messages, to quickly see the Info. Or even better, add a column so one can see the values just beside the errors, instead of only in the Info window. My dream: Change the whole view to make it similar to the Links Panel, so you are free to sort errors by all kinds of criteria.
- When checking for colour errors, give users the options to distinguish between seeing colour warnings from images, and from the document (RGB in images may be OK, but not in the document)
- Make it possible to see the names of conditional text indicators which causes errors.
- Make it possible to check for missing links in Illustrator files.
- Make it possible to flag an error as being OK, and to save this info with the document.
- This is probably asking the impossible: It would be really cool if by some artificial intelligence you could detect “looks like 100% Black but is not” in vector graphics. With live text and graphics in InDesign itself, at least you can add unnamed colors to get an idea of the suspects, and perhaps temporarily change them to spots in order to “trick” Preflight to find them. Detecting Registration color in graphics works fine, but there are so many other varieties of black made from all the four CMYK colors, such as C=83 M=67 Y=51 K=95, which can look very ugly in print when used on thin lines or small text, and also cause problems on large areas because of too high ink coverage. Again, the only way I know is going through the whole document with Black turned off in Separations Preview, and try to spot thin lines etc. which would be safer to print in pure Black, a rather time consuming process.
- Bleed Hazard warnings should not depend on the document bleed settings, but only on the choices you make in Preflight options. Suppose my document setup has a bleed of 5 mm, and Preflight is set to minimum 3 mm, I will still get warnings about missing bleed for images which extend more than 3 mm outside the page margin.
- Paragraph marks, spaces, tabs etc. should not be marked as overset text. Please change this so that only real missing text is listed.
- Registration color is flagged even when it will not appear on print, like in backlists with cropped PDF’s of covers, or when illustrations are reused by placing print-ready pages from other books. Please change this so that only real problems are listed.
Isn’t it about time for an update and some enhancements to this great feature? Some suggestions:
- Change the default Preflight Profile to something realistic for quality printing. The absence of warnings is misleading, making people think that everything is fine.
- Divide the check for “Protected fonts” into two categories: 1. Fonts which do not allow embedding in PDF, 2. Activated Adobe fonts (the existing behaviour of flagging Adobe fonts as “not allowed” causes a lot of confusion)
- Change the wording “Transparency not allowed” to just “Transparency” Transparency is rarely a problem nowadays, though it is still good to check whether…
17 votes -
Please make the Paragraph Style Options panel resizable
When on a laptop, opening the Paragraph Style Options takes almost the whole size of my laptop screen. There is no way to resize this, and it is almost impossible to view the effect of the changes you are making.
17 votes -
PDF Tag Preview
PDFs have to be tagged properly for ADA compliance. It would be nice to be able to preview (in InDesign) what the tag structure will look like when exported to PDF. This would prevent having to return to the source file if there is inappropriate nesting of tags, incorrect tags, etc. This would be especially helpful with complicated (multi-level) lists.
17 votes -
Windows File Explorer Preview
A feature that shows a preview of an .indd document in the Windows File Explorer preview pane. Other file formats such as PDF, EPS, Excel, Word, AI, etc. will show the file in the preview pane.
17 votes -
Multiple footnote referencing
I thought of a way to implement multiple references to the same footnote without breaking HTML links between footnotes.
You could allow for the creation of multiple footnote links from the text into footnotes that point to the same footnote, with a sequence of different secondary designations. For example, footnote 1a, 1b, 1c... all could point to Footnote 1. Then, in the footnote, you could open with 1 a b c ..., with the different letters providing alternate linkbacks to the other places in the text.
This is how Wikipedia handles multiple referencing to the same citation, so there's precedent. And using some light formatting or option selection, it could support a lot of the ways that people want to use footnotes more complexly, from "I don't want fifteen footnotes that just say 'ibid'" to "Working on a House of Leaves inspired labyrinth of text."
I thought of a way to implement multiple references to the same footnote without breaking HTML links between footnotes.
You could allow for the creation of multiple footnote links from the text into footnotes that point to the same footnote, with a sequence of different secondary designations. For example, footnote 1a, 1b, 1c... all could point to Footnote 1. Then, in the footnote, you could open with 1 a b c ..., with the different letters providing alternate linkbacks to the other places in the text.
This is how Wikipedia handles multiple referencing to the same citation, so there's precedent.…
17 votes -
Allow to export interactive PDF with CMYK colorspace, or allow to include interactive elements into printable PDF
This feature is highly needed. And after all, it makes no sense: PDF format supports both interactive forms and CMYK tagged graphics, but for some reason it's impossible to combine PDF text boxes with CMYK graphics.
My current project, for example, needs a batch of interactive documents in which worker must fill necessary fields every day AND then print few thousands of copies. This operation must be performed manually and frequently.
And instead of creating single PDF with text box I'm forced to recreate required PDF with necessary data. It's illogical and meaningless.17 votes -
Robust Indexing Software
We need a more robust indexing software for those of us in book publishing (nonfiction). Due to the finicky nature of having to manually find and enter every index entry, InDesign's indexing software is only plausible for simple indexes that are done infrequently. Because of this, my publishing company adopted a plug-in, Sonar Bookends, a long time ago. Sonar works quite well, but this has made our use of InCopy impossible, as Sonar Bookends was not designed to work with InCopy and is causing it to regularly crash. I don't see any reason why a robust indexing software that can search for a list of words with Boolean commands has not already been created, but please include this in your next edition of InDesign!
We need a more robust indexing software for those of us in book publishing (nonfiction). Due to the finicky nature of having to manually find and enter every index entry, InDesign's indexing software is only plausible for simple indexes that are done infrequently. Because of this, my publishing company adopted a plug-in, Sonar Bookends, a long time ago. Sonar works quite well, but this has made our use of InCopy impossible, as Sonar Bookends was not designed to work with InCopy and is causing it to regularly crash. I don't see any reason why a robust indexing software that can…
17 votes -
Document Time Tracker
This would be a feature to see the dates / time spent on a document. It could be accessed in the documents info panel (attached). This feature would be useful for client invoicing and project managing especially in advertising where time is money.
17 votes -
Track Changes Visible/Printable in Layout View
The ability to view and print tracked changes in layout view for InDesign and InCopy would be an epic game-changer. Workarounds become tedious (especially when working with large publications) and plug-ins become outdated.
17 votes -
Cross Reference / Hyperlink - EDITING FACILTY
Overview
I work on large catalogues all day (over 500 pages) and unfortunately the previous designers didnt have a naming convention for the hundreds of cross references. As a result its a MESS of meaningless names and broken links.Research.
I have looked over the internet to find a solution but there doesn't seem to be one (i found a script that looked promising but it didn't work).Request.
It would be great to have a panel that lists all the links/cross ref. in the document that allows you to RENAME, DELETE or EDIT the existing links.17 votes -
Automatic hanging indents/"indent to here" for lists
Currently, creating hanging indents for lists requires either manually adding "indent to here" ahead of every list item, or fiddling with the left indent and first line indent options of the list paragraph style until the desired effect is achieved-- a process that must be repeated if the type size changes or for subsequent list levels.
Since hanging indents are what one almost always desires when creating lists, it would be great if this was a checkbox option one could simply turn on when setting up list styles. With the option on, InDesign would automatically indent all text to the same place without the user having to do any manual tweaks.
Attached is an image that demonstrates the desired end effect of this feature. Thanks for considering it!
Currently, creating hanging indents for lists requires either manually adding "indent to here" ahead of every list item, or fiddling with the left indent and first line indent options of the list paragraph style until the desired effect is achieved-- a process that must be repeated if the type size changes or for subsequent list levels.
Since hanging indents are what one almost always desires when creating lists, it would be great if this was a checkbox option one could simply turn on when setting up list styles. With the option on, InDesign would automatically indent all text to the…
17 votes -
Object Styles (Size and Position) Reference point
Object Styles (Size and Position) Reference point is now only possible from te left and top side of a page or margin.
Please make it possible to set from bottom and/or right side of page or margin or spread.17 votes -
Change case Find/Replace dialog
It would fantastic to force Lower case/Upper case/Title case/Sentence case by Text or GREP pattern in Find/Change dialog.
Also would be very useful including this into GREP style.17 votesHi everyone,
You can easily change text cases with just a few clicks, ensuring consistency across your designs. This feature streamlines text editing, saving you time and effort. Enhance your workflow by adjusting text case quickly from the Text or GREP tabs of the Find/Change panel. The feature is now available in the latest InDesign 2024(v19.5.0.084)
Helpx article - https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/using/whats-new/2024-3.html#change-case
Please let us know your feedback in the comments.
—
Sanyam Talwar(he/him)
-
Proportional Scaling should be default.
Images (vectors or photos) are rarely distorted (effectively). Images should scale via corners, and should require button action for frame cropping or distortion.
17 votes -
Paragraph Borders: Inset vs Offset or "Keep Within Frame"
LOVE that borders and shading are now built into paragraph styles; but, I would like to be able to create a paragraph border with an inset (instead of an offset), or something like the "keep in frame" option for paragraph rules. The result is a paragraph outline in line with the other paragraphs above and below it, but with an inset paragraph inside the border.
17 votes -
End-notes and Footnotes URLS
I do a lot of books for Print and digital (pdf and ePub). End-notes have always been a problem, even now that Indesign supports End-notes.
For PDF and ePub export , in order to have the end-note reference clickable to redirect the user to it's corresponding end-note, then a link back again, I have to do this manually.
This is a massive manual process...
Let's say I have 100 end-notes. With each end-note reference, I have to place a new 'Hyperlink Destination' (for the return link)... That's going through the document, and placing 100 hyperlink destinations.
Then, I go to each end-note and I place both a 'hyperlink destination', then a 'new hyperlink' back to the end-notes reference (text anchor created when I added the hyperlink destination). So I'm now up to 300 manual urls/destinations I've had to create.
Now to finish, I now go back to each end-note reference and create a new hyperlink to it's corresponding end-note (text anchor).
So now I've had to add 400 links/destinations manually. It would be soooo nice that, just like the Table of Contents which auto creates urls to it's corresponding list items, that footnotes and end-notes would automatically create reciprocal URLS.
I do a lot of books for Print and digital (pdf and ePub). End-notes have always been a problem, even now that Indesign supports End-notes.
For PDF and ePub export , in order to have the end-note reference clickable to redirect the user to it's corresponding end-note, then a link back again, I have to do this manually.
This is a massive manual process...
Let's say I have 100 end-notes. With each end-note reference, I have to place a new 'Hyperlink Destination' (for the return link)... That's going through the document, and placing 100 hyperlink destinations.
Then, I go to…
17 votes -
Extract Each Page In Separated INDD Files
Please add a function to extract each pages of the document in separated INDD files like the wonderfull script called "Extract Pages"
17 votes -
Add Graph
A graph creating option, similar to one on Illustrator.
17 votes -
YAML and JSON
I don't know if this should go into the scripting category.
But could you please extent InDesign's capability or range when it comes to import or process data files, using structured data and Data Merge etc.
From only accepting CSV files to also accept, JSON and YAML
17 votes -
Setting to automatically update links on Open
Allow an option/setting to disable the dialog when opening a document with updated links and if a link has been updated it updates or doesn't update it automatically based upon the User Setting.
17 votes
- Don't see your idea?