Add editorial notes in InDesign

The Notes feature in InDesign uses the workflow user names to identify the author of a note or a tracked change. Notes and tracked changes are color-coded for each user as defined in Notes preferences in InDesign or the User dialog box in InCopy (File > User).

Notes can appear only in text. In InDesign, they can be printed only from the Story Editor, and they cannot be exported to PDF.

When you add editorial notes to managed content in InDesign, these notes become available to others in the workflow. The notes are primarily intended to be used with an InCopy workflow, but you can take advantage of them in InDesign. For example, you can place text in notes that you might want to put into a story later. In InCopy, when you export to Adobe PDF, notes can be converted to PDF comments.

You can add as many notes as you want in any location. However, you cannot create a note within another note.

To show or hide notes, choose View > Extras > Show Notes or Hide Notes.

Use Notes mode

Notes Mode is a convenient way to add, split, or delete notes, depending on where the insertion point is located or what text is selected.

Manage notes

A note anchor  marks the location of a note. The Notes panel displays the contents of the note, along with specific information about the note.

• To convert text to a note, select text and choose Type > Notes > Convert To Note. A new note is created. The selected text is removed from the body of the story and pasted into the new note. The note anchor or bookend is located where the text you selected was cut.

• To convert a note to text, select the text in the Notes panel that you want to add to the text of the document. Or, in Story Editor, select the text in the inline note. Then choose Type > Notes > Convert To Text.

• To split a note, place the insertion point in the note where you want it to be split and choose Type > Notes > Split Note.

• To navigate among notes, click the insertion point in the story and choose Type > Notes > Previous Note or Notes > Next Note.

Edit Notes preferences

Preferences settings let you set the color for note anchors, bookends, and backgrounds when inline in the Story Editor. You can also choose to display note info as a tool tip, as well as choose whether to include note content in Find/Change operations and spell checking in the Story Editor.