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  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. Contextual task bar
      3. Customize your workspace in InDesign
      4. Toolbox
      5. Set preferences
      6. Properties panel
      7. Touch workspace
      8. Default keyboard shortcuts
      9. Undo edits and manage History panel
      10. Document recovery and undo
    3. Generative AI (Not available in mainland China)
      1. Text to Image
      2. Generative Expand
      3. Generate Effect in InDesign (Beta)
      4. 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. Insert MathML to create math expressions
      8. Glyphs and special characters
      9. Text composition
      10. Text variables
      11. Generate QR codes
      12. Edit text
      13. Align text
      14. Wrap text around objects
      15. Anchored objects
      16. Linked content
      17. Format paragraphs
      18. 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
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      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
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      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. InCopy on the web (Beta)
    6. Share and collaborate        
    7. Share for Review
    8. Review a shared InDesign document
    9. Manage feedback
    10. Invite to edit
  7. Export, import, and publish
    1. Place, export, and publish
      1. Publish online
      2. Publish online dashboard
      3. Copy, insert graphics
      4. Export to Adobe Express
      5. Export content for EPUB
      6. Adobe PDF options
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      9. Export to Adobe PDF
      10. Export to JPEG or PNG format
      11. Import SVG files
      12. Supported File Formats
      13. 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

Named Grids panel overview

Use the Named Grids panel (Window > Type & Tables > Named Grids) to save frame grid settings in named grid format, and apply those settings to other frame grids. You can apply or change frame grid formats efficiently, and easily keep the appearance of a document consistent, using grid formats.

Named Grids panel

A. Grid name B. New Grid Format button C. Delete icon 

In the Named Grids panel, the Layout Grid format is shown by default. The layout grid setting for the currently selected page is reflected in this grid format. When more than one layout grid is set for a single document, the settings shown in Layout Grid in the Named Grids panel vary depending on the selected page layout grid contents.

When a frame grid with grid formatting is selected, the current grid format name is highlighted in the Named Grids panel.

Create named grid formats

Like styles, named grid formats let you save a collection of frame grid settings and apply those settings to other frame grids.

  1. To define a new grid format in accordance with the existing frame grid format, select the frame grid with the selection tool.
  2. Choose Window > Type & Tables > Named Grids.
  3. Choose New Named Grid from the Named Grids panel menu.
  4. Specify options in the Edit Grid Format dialog box, and click OK.

If the named grid format you want to use is already saved in another InDesign document, you can import that grid format into the current document.

Note:

When a new frame grid format is created based on an existing frame grid, changes to format attribute options also are applied to the selected frame grid. If you do not want to modify the selected frame grid format, deselect the frame grid before showing the Edit Grid Format dialog box.

Named Grid options

Named Grid options appear when you choose Window > Type & Tables > Named Grids.

Grid Name

Enter the name of the grid format.

Font

Select the font family and font style, and set the default font for the text to be placed in the grid.

Size

Specify individual grid sizes.

Vertical and Horizontal

Specify the grid scale for full-width Asian characters in %.

Char Aki

Specify the spacing between grid cells in the frame grid. This value will be the grid cell size.

Line Aki

Enter a value to specify the grid line spacing. The value used here is the distance between the bottom (or left) edge of the character embox for the first line to the top (or right) edge of the character embox for the next line.

Line Align

Select an option to specify line alignment for the frame grid. For example, if Align Left/Top is selected, the beginning of each line for a vertical type frame grid will be aligned with the top edge of the frame grid. (See Align or justify text.)

Grid Align

Select an option to specify whether to align the text to the embox, ICF box, or roman baseline. See Align paragraphs to a baseline grid.

Char Align

Select an option to specify the method of aligning small characters to larger characters in a line. (See Align text of different sizes.)

Apply a named grid to a frame

You can apply a custom named grid or the Layout Grid to a frame grid. If you apply the Layout Grid, the same settings defined in the Layout Grid dialog box are used in the frame grid.

  1. Select the frame grid using the Selection tool. You can also use the Type tool to click on the frame and position the text insertion point or select text.
  2. Click on the name of the format to be applied in the Named Grids panel or Control panel.

    Applying a grid format causes grid format attributes to be set for text in the frame grid, but grid format attributes will not be set for text which has been given Character or Paragraph styles, or text which has had settings individually modified from the Character panel or Paragraph panel.

    Note:

    Priority is given to character style, paragraph style and grid format in that order in the frame grid. Accordingly, when grid formatting is applied to text that has been given paragraph or character styles, a '+' mark is shown next to each applied style name. (See Text formatting precedence.)

    Before and after applying a grid format to the frame grid

  3. To apply grid format attributes to the entire story, select the frame grid using the Selection tool and select Edit > Apply Grid Format.

You can also add named grids to object styles. If you add a named grid to the default object style for grid frames, all grid frames you create appear formatted according to the named grid you specify. (See About object styles.)

Edit named grids

You can change the grid format definitions at any time. When you change the definition of a grid format, all of the frame grids formatted with that style change to conform with the newly defined style.

  1. Using the Named Grids panel, select the grid format to be edited, and choose Named Grid Options from the panel menu, or double-click the grid format you want to edit in the Named Grids panel.

  2. Change the settings in the Modify Named Grid dialog box. (See Create named grid formats.)

  3. Click OK.

This modifies the grid format given to the currently selected frame grid. To modify settings for frame grids which are not currently selected, perform the above operation without selecting any objects in the document, or double-click the grid format name in the Named Grids panel while holding down Shift+Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Command+Option (Mac OS).

Delete named grids

The formatting applied to text in a frame is unchanged even if a grid format is deleted, but the link to the grid format is removed.

  1. Select the name of the grid format you want to delete in the Named Grids panel.
  2. Choose Delete Named Grids from the panel menu, or click the Delete icon at the bottom of the Named Grids panel.

When you delete grid formats, the frame grid to which the grid format was applied doesn’t appear to change, but the format is no longer connected with the grid format.

Import grid formats from other documents

  1. Choose Load All Named Grids from the Named Grids panel menu.
  2. Double-click the InDesign document containing the grid formats you want to import.

When you import a grid format from another document that has the same name as a grid format in the current document, the existing grid format in the import destination will be overwritten, and when this grid format is applied the grid format for all the frame grids will be changed.

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