Setting Defaults in InDesign

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One of my favorite things about InDesign is that it often keeps me from doing something I hate: wasting time on repetitive tasks. There are so many ways that InDesign keeps the monotony at bay when it comes to everyday tasks. My rule of thumb is, if I’ve spent more than five minutes muttering something like, “Object…Fitting…Fill Frame Proportionally…Object…Fitting…Fill Frame Proportionally,” it’s time to figure out how to make that happen automatically. And actually a lot of that tedium can be vanquished by simply setting up application and document defaults.

I’ll discuss a few of my favorite timesavers; please share yours in the comments. Remember, if you have a document open and an object selected, you’re only changing that particular object. If you set these defaults with no document open at all, the settings become the default for all new documents going forward. Alternatively, if you have a document open, but no items selected, the settings become the default behavior for all new items in that document only. Capisce?

Default Type Settings

  • With the Type tool selected, choose the font, size, leading, and any other attributes. Any new text frames you create will automatically be formatted with those attributes.
  • Set other text options, for instance optical kerning in the Character panel or fully justified type in the Paragraph panel.
  • I set my font to something that is easy for me to read in the initial stages of layout. You might need to use the same corporate font in all of your documents.

Shapes and Frames

  • Select one of the shape tools (rectangle, ellipse, polygon) and assign a fill and stroke color.
  • Choose a new stroke width and type, if desired.
  • Settings assigned to one shape will become default for all three shape types.
  • Even though you can set fill and stroke attributes for the shape frames (graphics frames), those settings will actually be ignored. All new graphics frames have a fill and stroke of “None.”
Graphics frames ignore stroke and fill settings, Unassigned frames do not.

Graphics frames ignore stroke and fill settings, Unassigned frames do not.

Styles

  • Create or import any text, table, cell, or object styles to have them available to you without importing each time they’re needed.
  • If you create paragraph styles from the included [Basic Paragraph] style, add in any attributes you find yourself adding to every paragraph style you create.

Swatches

  • With no document open, create or import any swatches that you want to have available to all new documents. Perfect for always having the company colors properly defined and loaded.
  • Delete the swatches you never use. For instance, I never use the included RGB or CMY swatches so I deleted those with no document open and I never have to see them again!
Add and delete swatches with no document open.

Add and delete swatches with no document open.

Frame Fitting Options

  • In the Object menu, inside the Fitting sub-menu, choose Frame Fitting Options.
  • Assign a default frame fitting option, such as “Fill Frame Proportionally” so all placed images will fill up the entire frame you’ve placed them in.
  • Other options in this dialog box include choosing Auto-Fit to have the object continually re-apply the chosen fitting option as the frame changes size, shape, or orientation, as well as a place to set a default crop amount.
Set the frame fitting options for all new graphics frames.

Set the frame fitting options for all new graphics frames.

Erica Gamet has been involved in the graphics industry for over 35 years. She is a speaker, writer, trainer, and content creator focusing on Adobe InDesign, Apple Keynote, and varied production topics. She is a regular presenter at CreativePro Week, regular contributor to CreativePro Magazine, and has spoken at Canada’s ebookcraft, Adobe MAX, and Making Design in Oslo, Norway. Find Erica online at the CreativePro YouTube channel, CreativeLive.com and through her own YouTube channel. When she isn’t at her computer she’s probably daydreaming about travel or living in a Nordic noir landscape.

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  • Oh my gosh! I cannot thank you enough!!! I work in INCHES instead of picas, and I detest having to change it every time I create a document! I also loaded all my standard and economy business card ink colors by PMS swatch, and also my special customer colors with their name on it so it is easy to pick out. Thanks for saving my sanity!

  • Erica Gamet says:

    So glad this was helpful! Those little timesavers add up when you spend a lot of time working in a program. To increased productivity!!

  • Carolyn says:

    Finally! I don’t have to check the “auto-fit” box every time I want to resize an object. Adobe’s frame fitting default drove me crazy.

    Thank you so much for your article. It was informative and very easy to understand.

  • Tris says:

    In Frame Fitting Options I have chosen “Align From” top left. Why does an image dropped into a new frame fill from the center?

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