'Tis a bit ambiguous, Eugene. Meself, I'd be using a 2-character drop cap setting and turning on “Optical Margins” with a 'normous point size setting. After a few pints you'd never know the difference… :-)

Just to add to what David said, this problem has the hallmarks of an OS-level issue, rather than an application problem, unless it's limited to a specific sest of files. Communcation between the OS, which is supposed to say “Here's an InDesign file!”, and ID, which is supposed to respond “Got it! Thanks!” is getting jumbled up. It certainly sounds like it's not an ID preferences problem, but it's much more likely to be something below the application level.

If you've already cleared font caches and repaired permissions, the “new user account” trick that David suggested is a terrific way to eliminate the application as the source of the problem. If that succeeds, you would do well to get an Apple guru involved, either through their tech support, which is usually pretty good in my experience, or someone local to you.

While I certainly wouldn't call it a feature, I suspect it's not a bug, but “working as designed.” If you look through the documentation on anchored objects, you'll see that implicit in all of the custom position options is that the object is on the same page as the text, and I would bet that the underlying code works on that assumption. E.g.: “Anchored Position Reference Point: Specifies the location on the page (as defined by the X and Y Relative To options), to which you want to align the object.” (Emphasis mine.)

So if you've positioned the X co-ordinate so that your object is no longer on the same page as the text, ID would treat it the same way as if you'd positioned it on the pasteboard. It isn't “on the page.”

I'm no InDesign Object Model expert, so perhaps Harbs or someone else will chime in here and point out that I'm completely wrong (first time ever, of course… ahem), but I'm willing to bet that's the problem.

There's an excellent book: “A Designer's Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML” discussed here. I have it, and recommend it. That said, XML ain't for the faint of heart, and you'll have to run the gauntlet of Microsoft's bizarre implementation in Excel.

The same author, Jim Maivald, has recently completed an entire video course on the subject, now up on Lynda.com. Just search “XML” on the site and it'll pop right up. It's called “InDesign CS5: Dynamic Publishing Workflows in XML.” If you're willing to contribute the sweat equity, that will get you up to speed very, very quickly.

Good luck! :)

You have to have the target document open for ID to find the anchor. Select “Text Anchor” from the “Link To:” field and the target document from the document drop down. The book panel doesn't actually affect this, so it doesn't have to be open when you create the links.

If an OS restart doesn't fix, then deleting preferences would be the next step. Beyond that, resetting disk permissions and cleaning out the various font caches are the most common suggestions to clear the underbrush and get things back to a civilized state.

mayoor said: … I wanted to know whether I should first use Photoshop to reduce the size of the images to about 3 inches & the resolution to 300 ppi. Would doing this degrade the image quality. After reducing the size & resolution, should we save in JPEG format or as PSD files.

I'll give you my two cents on this. As David says, reducing image size in Photoshop gives you more control. It's also true that you might or might not need that.

If your output quality is critical (a fine art book, for example, or a very high end magazine) with a 175+ lpi screen or >200 “lpi” stochastic screen, then go ahead and resize in Photoshop. Save as a PSD for future use and repurposing. If you need to make more adjustments than just resizing, definitely save as PSD in case you need to tweak later. If it's memory or performance that's the problem, then save as PSD and then additionally save as jpeg for placing in ID.

If you or your clients are very quality conscious, always save as PSD if you will be using the image for different purposes. Use the Smart Filter feature in CS4/5 so you can adjust the sharpen for the specific output. Screen, magazine print, newspaper print, inkjet print, poster, billboard and digital display all have different optimum sharpen settings.

If output quality is normal (regular book or magazine printing, say), then unless you need to adjust brightness, contrast, sharpening, etc., you will save time by placing the original jpegs and letting InDesign take care of the downsampling, because there won't be any problem with the final printed product. This can be important if you have a large number of images to place. (Keep in mind, though, that almost any digital capture needs sharpening for intended output.)

I use both workflows, according to need. Unless you can guarantee that an image that could be reused won't be opened, saved, opened a month later, saved, open in November, saved… it's best to have a policy that heads off compression artifacts before they ever have a chance to form, and save as PSD. Always saving at quality 12 slows down, but won't eliminate, image degradation.

Even jpegs fresh out of the camera can have compression issues unless they were captured at the highest quality jpeg setting. Let's not even discuss images that come off the web (always super-compressed), and that the client wants to use full page, full bleed on the cover of his spiffy new brochure…