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Linked content

  1. InDesign User Guide
  2. Get to know InDesign
    1. Introduction to InDesign
      1. What's New in InDesign
      2. System requirements
      3. Common questions
      4. Use Creative Cloud libraries
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Customize your workspace in InDesign
      3. Toolbox
      4. Set preferences
      5. Properties panel
      6. Touch workspace
      7. Default keyboard shortcuts
      8. Undo edits and manage History panel
      9. Document recovery and undo
    3. Generative AI
      1. Text to Image
      2. Generative Expand
      3. Generative AI FAQ
  3. Create and layout documents
    1. Documents and pages
      1. Create documents
      2. Work with parent pages
      3. Work with document pages
      4. Set page size, margins, and bleed
      5. Work with files and templates
      6. Convert PDFs to InDesign files in InDesign (Beta)
      7. Create book files
      8. Add basic page numbering
      9. Number pages, chapters, and sections
      10. Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents
      11. Share content
      12. Understand a basic managed-file workflow
      13. Save documents
    2. Grids
      1. Grids
      2. Format grids
    3. Layout aids
      1. Rulers
      2. Align and distribute objects using rulers
      3. Measure objects using the Measure tool
  4. Add content
    1. Text
      1. Add text to frames
      2. Threading text
      3. South-East Asian Scripts
      4. Arabic and Hebrew features in InDesign
      5. Create type on a path
      6. Bullets and numbering
      7. Glyphs and special characters
      8. Text composition
      9. Text variables
      10. Generate QR codes
      11. Edit text
      12. Align text
      13. Wrap text around objects
      14. Anchored objects
      15. Linked content
      16. Format paragraphs
      17. Format characters
    2. Typography
      1. Using fonts in InDesign
      2. Kerning and tracking
      3. Scale and skew type
      4. Apply color effects to type
    3. Format text
      1. Format text
      2. Auto Style text
      3. Work with Style Packs
      4. Tabs and indents
    4. Review text
      1. Track and review changes
      2. Add editorial notes in InDesign
      3. Import PDF comments
    5. Spell check and language dictionaries
      1. Check spelling, autocorrect, and dynamic spelling
      2. Create, add, and manage dictionaries and words
      3. Change dictionary preferences
      4. Duden dictionary
    6. Add references
      1. Create a table of contents
      2. Footnotes
      3. Create an index
      4. Endnotes
      5. Captions
    7. Styles
      1. Paragraph and character styles
      2. Map, export, and manage styles
      3. Object styles
      4. Drop caps and nested styles
      5. Work with styles
      6. Leading
    8. Tables
      1. Format tables
      2. Create tables
      3. Table and Cell styles
      4. Select and edit tables
      5. Table strokes and fills
    9. Interactivity
      1. Hyperlinks
      2. Dynamic PDF documents
      3. Bookmarks
      4. Buttons
      5. Forms
      6. Animation
      7. Cross-references
      8. Structure PDFs
      9. Page transitions
      10. Movies and sounds
    10. Graphics
      1. Understand paths and shapes
      2. Draw with the Pencil tool
      3. Draw with the Pen tool
      4. Apply line (stroke) settings 
      5. Compound paths and shapes
      6. Edit paths
      7. Clipping paths
      8. Change corner appearance
      9. Frames and objects
      10. Align and distribute objects
      11. Linked and embedded graphics
      12. Integrate AEM assets
    11. Color and transparency
      1. Apply color
      2. Use colors from imported graphics
      3. Work with swatches
      4. Mix inks
      5. Tints
      6. Understand spot and process colors
      7. Blend colors
      8. Gradients
      9. Flatten transparent artwork
      10. Add transparency effects
  5. Find and replace
    1. Find and replace text
    2. Find and replace fonts
    3. Find and replace glyphs
    4. Find and replace using GREP expressions and queries
    5. Find and replace objects
    6. Find and replace colors
    7. Search options to find and replace
  6. Share
    1. Save and access cloud documents
    2. Organize, manage, and share cloud documents
    3. View and manage versions in cloud documents
    4. Common questions about InDesign cloud documents
    5. Share and collaborate        
    6. Share for Review
    7. Review a shared InDesign document
    8. Manage feedback 
  7. Publish
    1. Place, export, and publish
      1. Publish online
      2. Publish online dashboard
      3. Copy, insert graphics
      4. Export content for EPUB
      5. Adobe PDF options
      6. Export content to HTML
      7. Export to Adobe PDF
      8. Export to JPEG format
      9. Export HTML
      10. DPS and AEM Mobile overview
      11. Supported File Formats
      12. Export and import User Settings
    2. Printing
      1. Print booklets
      2. Printer's marks and bleeds
      3. Print documents
      4. Inks, separation, and screen frequency
      5. Overprinting
      6. Create PostScript and EPS files
      7. Preflight files before handoff
      8. Print thumbnails and oversized documents
      9. Prepare PDFs for service providers
      10. Prepare to print separations
  8. Extend InDesign
    1. Automation
      1. Data merge
      2. Plug-ins
      3. Capture extension in InDesign
      4. Scripting
  9. Troubleshooting
    1. Fixed issues
    2. Known issues
    3. Crash on launch
    4. Preference folder read-only issue
    5. Troubleshoot file issues
    6. Unable to export InDesign file to PDF
    7. InDesign document recovery

Replicating content across various pages is no easy task; copy-pasting can be cumbersome and time consuming. Use linked content features to manage multiple versions of content. You can place and link content within the same document or even across different documents. Linked content makes it easier to support emerging workflows, where for example, you design for vertical and horizontal layouts. Linked content also works well for traditional print and publishing workflows, where you synchronize boilerplate text on different pages or documents.

Linked content behaves similar to traditional links. See Use the Links panel for an overview. You can designate an object as parent, and then place it at other places as child objects. Whenever you update the parent object, the child objects are flagged and you can update them to synchronize with the parent.

You can place and link objects using either the Content Collector tools, or choose Edit > Place and Link menu command.

The icon displays on the upper-left corner of linked object. The item is displayed as linked object in the Links panel.

Content Collector tools

Content Collector and Placer tools let you duplicate page items and place them on open InDesign documents. As content is collected, it is displayed in the Content Conveyor. Use Content Conveyor to easily and quickly place and link multiple page items within and across open documents.


Click in the toolbox to open the Content Conveyor.

  • Use Content Collector tool to select an object and add it to the conveyor
  • Use Content Placer to place page object on a page
Note:
Press B to toggle between Content Collector and Content Placer tool.

Content Conveyor

A. Content Collector tool B. Content placer tool C. Create link D. Map styles E. Edit Custom Style Mapping F. Place options G. Browse  H. Collect All Threaded Frames I. Load Conveyor 

Content Collector

Use the Content Collector to add page items to the Content Conveyor.

Content Placer

Use the Content Placer to place the items from the Content Conveyor to the document. When you select this tool, the current item is added to the place gun.

Create Link

Enable Create Link to link the placed item to the original location of the collected item. You can manage the links using the Links panel.

Map Styles

Map paragraph, character, table, or cell styles, between the original and placed items. By default, style names are used for mapping. See Custom style mapping.

Edit Custom Style Mapping

Define custom style mapping between the original and placed items. Map the styles to automatically replace original styles in the placed item.

Place Options

Specify the Conveyor options while placing items.

  • Remove items from the conveyor after you place them
  • Place the current item multiple times. The item remains loaded in the place gun.
  • Place the item and move to the next item. The item is however kept in the conveyor.

Browse

Navigate through the items in the Content Conveyor.

Collect All Threaded Frames

Enable this option to collect all threaded frames. The story and all frames are collected. If this option is disabled, the story is collected in a single frame.

Load Conveyor

Use to load the conveyor with items.

  • Selection: Use this option to load all selected items

  • Pages: Use this option to load all items on the specified pages
  • All: Use this option to load items from all pages and pasteboard

Enable Create Single set to group all the items in a single set.

You can collect individual page items, or collect related items as "sets." In some cases InDesign automatically creates sets to preserve the relational integrity of the page items.

The following are a few method of collecting items as sets, some manual and some automatic:

  • Marquee select a number of items
  • Use the Load Conveyor option and then select range of pages or all document content or selected items and items will be accordingly collected in a set.
  • Collect an item that has related content such as a part of an interactive button that has other items and states associated with it, it will collect all related items in a set (this set will always drop in one gesture)
  • Collect a text box with threaded text spanning into other objects and ’collect All Threaded Text Frames’ checkbox is checked on the conveyor, it will pick all threaded text boxes into a set.

Place and link

  1. Select a page item by either selecting the frame or place the insertion cursor in the text. You can also select multiple items by using Shift+Click.

  2. Choose Edit > Place and Link. The cursor is loaded with the items, and the items display in the Content Conveyor.

  3. Click on a page or draw a frame to place the linked item.

  1. In the Links panel, select the linked item.

  2. From the Links panel menu, choose Link Options.

    Link Options

    Note:

    Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to change the Cancel button to Reset. Click Reset to revert to default options.

  3. Select the options as required:

    Update Link When Saving Document

    Enable this option to update the link when you save the document.

    Warn if Link Update Will Overwrite Local Edits

    Enable this option to show a warning message if updating the link will overwrite any local edits made to the linked object.

    Preserve Local Edits while Updating Object Links

    Select from the available categories to preserve local edits while updating links.

    Category

    Examples

    Appearance

    Object style attributes such as Stroke, Fill, Effects. This excludes any text or text frame related attributes, such as overprinting, non-printing settings etc

    Size and Shape

    Height, width, transforms, text frame attributes, and other column size attributes

    Interactivity

    Animation, object States, button actions

    Frame Content

    Image, video, content placed or pasted into frames, and effects and settings applied directly to such objects.

    Others

    Attributes excluded from other categories, such as text wrap on frames, object export options; text frame attributes such as , baseline options, auto-size options, vertical justification and so on.

    Remove Forced Line Breaks from Story

    Enable to remove any forced line breaks in the story. Removing line breaks lets the text reflow smoothly in the linked frame if it is resized or reformatted.

    Define Custom Style Mapping

    Enable this option if you want to map styles, and automatically apply another style to the linked content instead. See Custom style mapping.

Note:

To specify default link options, with all documents closed, open the links panel menu and choose Link Options.

Custom Style Mapping

Text styles (paragraph, character, table, cell) or style groups can be mapped to different styles while linking. The mapped styles are automatically applied to the linked content, instead of the original styles applied to the parent. Custom style mapping comes in handy, for example, when you want to use sans serif fonts for digital and serif fonts for print publications. Or if you want, vary the text style between the horizontal and vertical layouts.

To define custom style mapping, do one of the following:

  • In the Link Options dialog box (Links panel > Link Options), enable Define Custom Style Mapping and then click Settings.
  • Click in the Content Conveyor.
Custom Style Mapping

  1. Select a source document and Style type.
  2. Click New Syle Mapping.
  3. Choose source and mapped styles or style groups from the list
Note:

Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to change the Cancel button to Reset. Click Reset to revert to default options.

Update a linked item

If an original item is modified, symbol displays over the frame and in the Links panel. To update do one of the following:

  • Click  near the top-left of the frame
  • In the Links panel, double-click  symbol

If you have made local edits to a child item, the edits are overwritten with content from the original item. If you set Warn if Link Update Will Overwrite Local Edits, a warning message displays.

Note:

Use the Link Info pane to determine if you’ve made local edits to the story; story status displays “Text Modified” if you’ve made local edits.

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Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online