You’ve heard me say it before: The more you customize InDesign to the way you work, the more efficient you will be. Here’s a little way you might want to customize InDesign: Add a Place command to the context menu! Most people choose Place from the File menu or press Command/Ctrl-D, but some folks find it easier to choose from a context menu (the menu you get when you right-click or ctrl-click with a one button mouse). This is especially true for people who hold their mouse in their left hand, as it means they can choose it without taking their hand off the mouse button. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Deke!)
Gerald Singelmann, who runs a German InDesign FAQ site, wrote a script to help make this dream a reality, called placeInContext.jsx. (It’s javascript, so it will run on both Mac and Windows.) You can download it here, as a zip file. Just extract it, then place it in the proper folder for scripts.
Note that the script does just one thing: It adds Place to the context menu.Unfortunately, it only lasts as long as InDesign is running — if you quit and relaunch, it disappears. So, you should probably put it in the Adobe InDesign > Scripts > Startup Scripts folder. That way, each time you launch InDesign, the script runs automatically.
This article was last modified on December 19, 2021
This article was first published on September 17, 2008
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