A Script to Make Vector Drawing Easier in InDesign

Mike Rankin

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InDesign lacks some of the newer vector drawing tools you’ll find in Illustrator and Photoshop, but it does sport the classic Pen tool, plus some oddly redundant tools for adding, deleting, and converting anchor points. (They’re unnecessary because all their functions are readily available with the Pen tool.)

There are also several commands for working with vectors lurking in the Object menu. These are useful for opening, closing, and reversing paths, as well as converting between point types and making compound paths.

Altogether, it’s a decent basic set of features for vector drawing. The problem is, most InDesign users have no idea that the commands in the Object menu exist.

To address this issue, Peter Kahrel wrote a script that exposes those commands in a menu of their own, called Path/Point.

In order for the script to work you must install it in the Startup Scripts folder and restart InDesign. You can find this folder easily by going to the Scripts panel, right-clicking on the User folder, and choosing Reveal in Finder/Explorer. The window that opens will include the Startup Scripts folder.

You can find detailed instructions and download the script here.

Thanks, Peter!