Helpful Tips I Learned at PePcon 2016

6

I won’t go on and on about how wonderful an event The Print + ePublishing Conference (PePcon) is every year. I won’t tell you that being in one place with so many amazing speakers, attendees working in so many fields and using publishing tools in the most creative ways, and helpful vendors is a delight beyond compare. I won’t even go on and on about how the convergence of such awesomeness in one place leads to the inevitable explosion of knowledge, exploration, and learning. Nope. I’ll just remind you that you can get a taste for this amazing event (and others like it) by reading past articles here and here.

What I will share with you this time around are a few nuggets of wisdom that I picked up last week at the 7th annual installment of PePcon in sunny(ish) San Diego, California. I always enjoy learning how people are using the software or finding a special use for a given feature. But there are also the “AHA!” moments that I just love getting hit over the head with. I think I like receiving them even more than I like delivering them. This year didn’t let me down. In fact, I might have interrupted one session by blurting out, “Whaaaat?!” Here are a few of the gems that I mined at PePcon 2016.

Speed Things Up By Telling InDesign to Stop Checking Hyperlinks

In one of Anne-Marie Concepción’s sessions (the week is a blur, forgive me if I can’t remember which one), she casually mentioned something that I had never even noticed. When working with many hyperlinks in a document, InDesign’s performance can often become sluggish. I think I just took that to be fact and never sought a solution.
hyperlinks
When InDesign has active hyperlinks, it is constantly validating those hyperlinks. If those links are to external URLs, then InDesign is performing a search out to the web for that validation. And while it most likely only checks when you’re not actively doing performing a task, it can still take its toll on the processing speed. To tell InDesign to stop being so compulsive in its vigilance, head up to the Hyperlinks panel menu. From there, uncheck Auto Update URL Status. Say it with me: “Whaaaaat?!”

Show Items in Subfolders in Adobe Bridge

I admit, I don’t use Bridge as much as I should (read: hardly ever). I know it has some great features, but the interface and execution often feel clunky. And don’t get me started on InDesign’s Mini Bridge and why I have to launch Bridge in addition to that panel. Lucky for those of us attending PePcon, Keith Gilbert showed us why he loves Bridge and why we should, too. I definitely went into his presentation expecting it to sound like “Blah blah blah Bridge” to my skeptical ears, but I was delightfully mistaken.
BridgeSubfolders
We all know you can view the contents of folders while browsing in Bridge, right? You can navigate through the folder hierarchy using the breadcrumb menu along the top of the Bridge window. But that navigation is part of what has made Bridge feel clunky, and I spend a lot of time going up and down through the hierarchy to find what I want.

Keith, however, showed me that there are secret menus hiding in those breadcrumbs! Click and hold on any “>” in the menu and you will see a listing of all the enclosed folders. But the really big reveal was the option near the top: “Show Items from Subfolders.” That means I can go into a main folder—like a specific client’s folder—and view all the individual files together without having to drill down through each and every subfolder. That’s a beautiful thing. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Restore Normal Save Behavior in Acrobat DC

This next tip actually showed up in the PePcon community online forums—just one more reason I love the PePcon community. Attendee Michael Wagner shared a great way to rid yourself of a little annoyance when saving files in Acrobat DC. When you first save a file, or choose Save As, Acrobat DC automatically brings up an Adobe-specific dialog box that gives you options for where to save the file. Those options include several online storage choices such as Adobe’s Document Cloud and Creative Cloud, as well as services such as Dropbox, Box, and OneDrive.

SaveAsPref
There is an option to save to your computer from that dialog box, but at first glance it seems like you’re limited to saving to recent folder locations. To get to the “normal” Save As dialog box you have to select “Choose a Different Folder” from the bottom of the dialog box. But, thanks to Michael’s super-sleuthing, he’s let us in on an easier way to bypass this dialog box altogether. In your Acrobat DC preferences, deselect the on-by-default “show online storage when saving files” in the General section. Now when you choose Save As, you’ll see the dialog box you are used to seeing. Ah, that’s more like it.

Using Blend If to Mix Photoshop Layers

I’ve seen Mark Heaps present only a small handful of times, but I always walk away with so much new knowledge. Even just popping into his sessions briefly this year (I was trying to see as many presenters as I could), I ended up with a few new Nuggets of Awesome. I am not the world’s greatest Photoshop user; I probably use about 12.57% of the app’s capabilities. And because most of my Photoshop work entails making simple adjustments to photos, I don’t spend much time with layers or blending modes.

BlendIf
I find that most of the blending mode work I do involves choosing a mode, then standing back and seeing what happens. It’s a bit like voodoo to me. But—thanks to Mark—I have a new set of sliders to hunt-and-peck through and see what results I end up with: the Blend If sliders. Not being an expert on layers and blending modes, I’m just going to point you in the direction of these little treasures and let you run with it.

From the Layers panel, choose fx then Blending Options. In the resulting Layer Style dialog box, near the bottom, are the Blend If sliders. You can blend based on color channel (using the Gray setting allows you to blend based on highlights and shadows), and choose which layer to affect. Choosing the top slider affects the layer currently selected in the Layers panel, while choosing the bottom slider affects all layers below the current layer. By adjusting the sliders in combination with each other, you can selectively control how and where the blend modes are applied. Thanks, Mark…even I can figure this one out!

So Much More

These are just a tiny handful of the things I learned at PePcon 2016. I always come back with tips, tricks, and new ways of working. And those little nuggets of wisdom are in addition to the connections I make with colleagues near and far, new friends, and the community overflowing with others who are always creating, learning, and sharing. I always return with a brain full of new ideas and a renewed motivation and I am already looking forward to PePcon 2017!

Erica Gamet has been involved in the graphics industry for over 35 years. She is a speaker, writer, trainer, and content creator focusing on Adobe InDesign, Apple Keynote, and varied production topics. She is a regular presenter at CreativePro Week, regular contributor to CreativePro Magazine, and has spoken at Canada’s ebookcraft, Adobe MAX, and Making Design in Oslo, Norway. Find Erica online at the CreativePro YouTube channel, CreativeLive.com and through her own YouTube channel. When she isn’t at her computer she’s probably daydreaming about travel or living in a Nordic noir landscape.

Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
  • Wink says:

    Oh my goodness, that Adobe DC “online” save thing has been driving me nuts! It didn’t occur to me that it would be an editable preference. Thank you for saving me from ignorance!

  • Eventspanda says:

    Wow, Impressive post thanks for sharing..!! PepCon 2016 is really effective and it is events for the world’s top publishing designers and developers and the show is basically based on the Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and other tools for publishing eBooks, print, interactive documents. I too enjoyed it..!!

  • I have been waiting for that “Show items from subfolders” trick for a looooooooonnnggggggg time!!!
    Thanks!!!

  • […] Gamet wrote up a few great tips that she learned (or re-learned) at PePcon: The Print + ePublishing Conference this year. She also recorded one of […]

  • >