When you open a new document in QuarkXPress, you have the choice of setting the page size, facing pages, page orientation, and so on. In XPress, whatever settings you make in the New Document dialog box become the default settings for the next new document. However, InDesign handles things a little differently.
In InDesign, any changes you make to the New Document dialog box (figure 1) are not stored for the next new document. Instead, with no document open, choose File > Document Setup (figure 2). The settings you make in Document Setup become the default for all new documents. Then, close that dialog box, and choose Layout > Margins and Columns to set the other page defaults (figure 3).
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
I agree — it’s more work than you’d face in XPress, but there is an advantage: Even if you make bizarre changes to a document in the New Document dialog box, you’ll never lose your regular new document preferences.
Read more On the Move to InDesign tips here.
Read more by Sandee Cohen.
This article was last modified on March 10, 2025
This article was first published on March 6, 2002
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