For InDesign power users, it’s not a question of if, but when: At some point, you are going to encounter a text-heavy project that you know would benefit from a script.
Maybe you’ll find yourself slogging through design and production of a dense, academic book, or series of books, with multi-language typesetting or math or science, with a complicated index, cross references, footnotes, or endnotes.
Or maybe you’ll find a persnickety irritation in InDesign that will haunt you as you open a server’s worth of files-perhaps, a font that doesn’t quite match and needs to be replaced in every file you’re going to open for the next two weeks.
As InDesign ascended to become an industry standard in book design and pagination, Peter Kahrel, a scholar, editor, designer, and JavaScript programmer, began unstintingly making his scripts available-dozens of them, all meticulously organized by function-as he wrote them and used them in all aspects of production of some breathtakingly complicated books.
Do you want to sort a multilingual list alphabetically? Kahrel’s got it. Do you have a folder of images that need batch conversion? Yup. A need to make line edits on tables that are rotated on multiple pages in your book? Sure. He has little fixes to InDesign features that you haven’t thought about enough to realize they were broken.
And you can find them all here.
We believe in the possibilities that scripting can bring to professionalism and productivity in InDesign, and we admire and appreciate this body of work that Kahrel has brought to the community of creative professionals.
It is CreativePro’s pleasure and privilege to host these scripts as a service to creative professionals worldwide since 2019.
About This Repository
Learn more about this collection and its origins.
Scripts by Topic
Explore the script archive by topic—a great place to start to see what might be useful to you.
Script Index
Know exactly what you need? Here you’ll find all the scripts, alphabetically.
Basic Script Installation and Use
Brand new to scripts? Here’s where to start.
How to Modify or Configure These Scripts
Some scripts are meant to be adapted for your particular project. This page will show you how.
Resources for Scripting and Publishing Automation
Once you’ve seen what scripting can do, you can join the community of professionals at the intersection of design and technology to make InDesign work faster, better, and differently. This page gives you access to instruction and to the work of other prolific scripters.