Getting to Know InDesign

By Kelly Kordes Anton and Tina DeJarld
May 18, 2022

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Get started with an Adobe InDesign layout and add objects, text, and graphics. Format page elements with ease using layout aids and styles. Preview your document in Presentation mode and get it ready for production using the Preflight panel.

This chapter is from the book 

Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (2022 release)

Learn More Buy

LESSON OVERVIEW

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:

View layout aids.
Type and style text.
Import text and thread text frames.
Import a graphic.
Move, rotate, fill, and stroke (outline) an object.
Add a QR code.
Automate formatting with paragraph, character, and object styles.
Check on potential production issues with the Preflight panel.
Preview a document in Presentation mode.

This lesson will take about 60 minutes to complete. To get the lesson files used in this chapter, download them from the web page for this book at adobepress.com/InDesignCIB2022. For more information, see “Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition” in the Getting Started section at the beginning of this book.

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The building blocks of an Adobe InDesign layout are objects, text, and graphics. Layout aids such as guides help with size and placement, and styles let you format page elements automatically.

Getting started

The document for this lesson is a standard-size postcard designed to be printed and mailed. In addition, the postcard can be exported as a JPEG to use in email marketing. As you will see in this lesson, the building blocks of an InDesign document are essentially the same, regardless of the output media. In this lesson, you will add the text, images, and formatting necessary to finish the postcard.

To ensure that the preferences and default settings of your Adobe InDesign program match those used in this lesson, move the InDesign Defaults file to a different folder following the procedure in “Saving and restoring the InDesign Defaults file” on pages 4–5.
Start Adobe InDesign.
When the InDesign Home screen displays, click the Open button at the left. (If the Home screen does not display, choose File > Open from the InDesign menu bar.)
Open the 02_Start.indd file in the Lesson02 folder, located inside the Lessons folder within the InDesignCIB folder on your hard drive.
If an alert informs you that the document contains links to sources that have been modified, click Update Modified Links.
Choose File > Save As, rename the file 02_Postcard.indd, and save it in the Lesson02 folder.

NOTE

To better view the interface onscreen or in print, the screen captures in this book reflect the Medium Light interface rather than the default setting of Dark. In addition, some screen captures illustrate User Interface Scaling for a closer look at interface elements. You can modify interface settings in Preferences.
This lesson uses the default Essentials workspace. If necessary, choose Window > Workspace > [Essentials], and then choose Window > Workspace > Reset Essentials.
If you want to see what the finished document looks like, open the 02_End.indd file in the same folder. You can leave this document open to act as a guide as you work.

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When you’re ready to resume working on the lesson document, display it by clicking its tab in the upper-left corner of the document window.

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