Tip of the Week: Collecting Fonts on Hidden Layers

This InDesign tip was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on October 18, 2018.

Sign up now and every week you’ll get a new tip, keyboard shortcut, and roundups of new articles, plus exclusive deals sent right to your Inbox!

Just scroll down to the bottom of this page, enter your email address, and click Go! We’ll take care of the rest. Now, on with the tip!

As part of my regular freelance work, I design brochures and posters in several languages for a large international company. After consulting with my printer, we decided to put the type for various languages in separate Layers within the same layout. The printer’s output department would then click on the Eye icons next to each language Layer leaving only one language Layer visible for output. Because only visible Layers will be output, this layered language technique can be incredibly efficient.

But keep one important point in mind. If you are using different typefaces for some of the languages, by Default, typefaces and graphics in hidden Layers will not be Packaged. So when you are ready to put the finished job on disk, go to File > Package and in the dialog box that opens, make sure to select the option “Show Data for Hidden and Non-Printing Layers.”

The first time I forgot about this option I received a call from my printer’s Preflight specialist who has a wonderful sense of humor. He said, “It may be Greek to you, but without the fonts it’s total gibberish.”

Comments (0)

Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Loading comments...