Press release
DTP Tools announces the immediate availability of a free-to-download public beta of the Blatner Tools suite of InDesign plug-ins. This collection of 12 plug-ins offers over 100 new features for InDesign users, including the ability to assign keyboard shortcuts to many previously unavailable tasks, create color and style reports, create fractions automatically, build character and paragraph styles and apply them across an entire document quickly, and more.
The Blatner Tools suite was designed by longtime industry guru David Blatner, who also co-hosts the InDesignSecrets.com site. Blatner noted, “I love InDesign, but there’s plenty of room for improvement! Blatner Tools adds many of the features my clients and students have been requesting for years. Tools to create and manage styles better, the ability to find and replace colors, to quickly identify hard-to-locate document errors — this stuff was painful before, but Blatner Tools makes it all easy!”
Bob Levine, a trainer in the New York area and an Adobe Forums Community Expert has used the beta and reported, “Blatner Tools is more than just the sum of its parts — it’s the answer to a multitude of feature requests I’ve been reading over the past five years. If you want InDesign to do more, check it out.”
Key Features
Blatner Tools includes too many features to list here, but here are some of the most important functions:
* Analyze documents to automatically create and apply character and paragraph styles
* Find Color lets you find colors, even spot colors inside placed graphics!
* An Extras menu provides quick access to third-party scripts
* History Lite offers an easy to use Undo/Redo panel
* Compare Styles shows how two or more paragraph styles are different
* Remove Local Formatting can strip unwanted text formatting out of an entire document
* AutoPage lets text frames extend and auto-thread to new pages to avoid overset text
* Text Controls gives you powerful tools for fast and precise text formatting
* You can apply any keyboard shortcut you want to layers, styles, and even color swatches!
Availability
The Public Beta of Blatner Tools version 1, for InDesign CS3 and CS4, and for Mac OS and Windows, is available for immediate download at www.dtptools.com/bt or at the direct download links:
MAC: www.dtptools.com/blatnertools/Blatner_Tools_BETA.zip
WIN: www.dtptools.com/blatnertools/Blatner_Tools_BETA.msi
About David Blatner
David Blatner is the world’s most-recognized authority on Adobe InDesign. He is the author of 15 books, the co-host of InDesignSecrets.com, and the editorial director of InDesign Magazine. Over a half-million copies of his books are in print in 16 languages, winning him awards and praise from readers. He has spoken at conferences and workshops around North America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Japan, and South Africa.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on October 22, 2009
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