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Creative Cloud libraries in InDesign

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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. 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 (Not available in Mainland China)
      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
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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
      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
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      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

A Creative Cloud Library is a collection of design assets. Several types of design assets can be added to a Creative Cloud Library. The CC Libraries in InDesign support the following assets: Colors, Color Themes, Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, and Graphics

 Brush Styles and Layer Styles assets are not supported in InDesign.

How does a Creative Cloud Library help?

Creative Cloud Libraries help you organize, browse, and access creative assets. For example, you may want to create a Creative Cloud Library that contains all the components most frequently used in a specific project.

  • Aggregate: Collect components from various documents and projects.
  • Organize: Categorize components into libraries that are meaningful to your workflows and projects.
  • Collaborate: Share assets and components from your libraries with other users. Allow others to work with items in your shared libraries, or share them with more users.
  • Manage / View / Access: Use your components across computers and tools. For example, between InDesign and Photoshop or Illustrator.
  • Reuse: Use your components multiple times, wherever and whenever you want.

Libraries panel overview

Creative Cloud Libraries are displayed in the CC Libraries panel in InDesign. If you create libraries on different computers while using the same Adobe ID, the assets and libraries are all visible in the CC Libraries panel across computers.

Use the CC Libraries panel to:

  • Create, view, rename, remove, and use a Creative Cloud Library
  • Add, remove, edit, and rename assets in a Creative Cloud Library
  • Sort and view assets in a Creative Cloud Library

Open the Libraries panel

Select Window > CC Libraries to open the CC Libraries panel. To create a new Creative Cloud Library, select the Libraries panel menu and select Create New Library. To delete any irrelevant library, select the library and select Delete. To rename any library, select the library and choose Rename.

 You can migrate the assets from InDesign object libraries to new or existing Create Cloud Libraries. For details, see Migrating object library assets to CC Libraries.

Work with library assets: Colors

 Hover the pointer on an available color asset to view the name and hexadecimal code of the color.

Add colors from objects in a document

  1. Select text or an object in the current document.

  2. To add the stroke color to the CC Library, click the Add Stroke Color icon in the CC Libraries panel.

     The Add Stroke Color icon is enabled only if a stroke is applied to the selected object or text.

  3. To add the fill color to the CC Library, click the Add Fill Color icon in the CC Libraries panel.

The colors are added as swatches to the Colors category in the CC Libraries panel.

Add color swatches from the Swatches panel

  1. Open the Swatches panel (Window >Color > Swatches).

  2. Select one or more swatches from the panel.

    To add all the swatches of the following types in a group to the current CC Library, select the Group title in the Swatches panel:

    • Process (CMYK, RGB, Lab)
    • Spot (CMYK, RGB, Lab)
    • ANPA, FOCOLTONE, TRUMATCH, etc.

  3. Click Add selected swatch to my selected CC Library .

 If you have chosen to add the swatches in a group, the Add selected swatch to my selected CC Library button is enabled only if the group contains at least one of the supported swatches:

  • Process (CMYK, RGB, Lab)
  • Spot (CMYK, RGB, Lab)
  • ANPA, FOCOLTONE, TRUMATCH, etc.

The swatches are added to the Colors category in the CC Libraries panel.

If you've selected a group, all the supported swatches are added to the current library.

Add color themes to CC Library

  1. Generate a color theme from an image on the current document using the Color Theme tool.

    For details on generating color themes from images on InDesign documents, see Generate color themes using the Color Theme tool.

  2. In the Color Theme tool, click Add this theme to my current CC Library .

The image theme is added to the Color Themes category in the current CC Libraries panel.

Add CC Library color or color themes to Swatches panel

  1. Right-click one or more colors or a color theme in the CC libraries panel.

  2. Choose Add to Swatches or Add Theme to Swatches, respectively from the context menu.

Apply colors to objects and text in a document

  1. Select an object or text in the active InDesign document.

  2. Click a color in a library in the CC Libraries panel (the color is applied to the active proxy [fill or stroke]).

  3. To apply a color fill, right-click the color and choose Set Color.

 Use the proxy to determine what the color is applied to - an object or text's fill or stroke properties.

Edit colors in a CC Library

  1. In the CC Libraries panel, right-click a color and choose Edit.

  2. Select a color using the Color Picker dialog and then click OK.

Work with library assets: Paragraph and Character Styles

You can add InDesign paragraph or character styles to your CC Libraries and then share these across documents, devices, or users. You can add paragraph or character styles from text in a document, from the Paragraph or Character panels, or from the New Character Style or New Paragraph Style dialog boxes. 

 Text Styles have been renamed and the assets categorized under the Text Styles are available under the Character Styles category.

Add paragraph or character styles from the text in a document

  1. Select the text (on the current document) on which character or paragraph style is applied that you need to add to the current CC Library.

  2. Click Add Paragraph Style  or Add Character Style  in the CC Libraries panel.

The paragraph or character style is added to the Paragraph Styles or Character Styles category, respectively in the CC Libraries panel.

Add paragraph or character styles from Paragraph Styles or Character Styles panels

  1. Open the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel:

    • Window > Styles > Character Styles
    • Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles

  2. Select one or more styles from the panel.

    To add all the styles in a group to the current CC Library, select the Group title in the Paragraph or Character Styles panel.

  3. Click Add selected style to my current CC Library .

The selected paragraph or character styles are added to the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles category in the CC Libraries panel.

If you have selected a group, then all the paragraph or character styles are added to the current library.

Add paragraph or character styles from the New Paragraph Styles or New Character Styles dialogs

  1. Open the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel:

    • Window > Styles > Character Styles
    • Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles

  2. From the flyout menu, choose New Character Style or New Paragraph Style.

  3. In the New Character Style or New Paragraph Style dialog, specify the options to create a new style.

    For details, see Add paragraph and character styles.

  4. Check Add to CC Library and select the required CC Library from the drop-down list or the option to Create New Library

  5. Click OK to create the new style and simultaneously add it to the selected CC Library.

The newly created paragraph or character style is added to the Paragraph Styles or Character Styles category, respectively in the CC Libraries panel.

Apply a single CC Library paragraph or character style to text in a document

  1. Select a text object in the active InDesign document.

  2. Right-click the style in the selected CC Library and choose Apply Paragraph Style or Apply Character Style.

The Character Styles and Paragraph styles that are applied from the CC Libraries panel will be added as styles to the respective panels in InDesign.

In addition, all styles hierarchies will be maintained. For example, say Paragraph Style 2 was based on Paragraph Style 1 and that had a nested Character Style 1. In this case, both Paragraph Style 1 and Character Style 1 will be added to their respective panels. And Paragraph Style 2 will be added to the Paragraph Styles panel.

 If a character or paragraph style does not have the font associated with it on the local computer, a warning icon is displayed at the lower right corner of the style thumbnail in the CC Libraries panel.

Add CC Library styles to Paragraph or Character panels

  1. Select one or more paragraph or character styles in the CC Libraries panel.

  2. Right-click the selected styles and choose Add to Paragraph Styles or Add to Character Styles.

Work with library assets: Graphics

To add graphics from a document, select an InDesign asset in the document and select Add Graphic  in the CC Libraries panel. The asset is added to the Graphics category of the CC Libraries panel as an InDesign snippet. You can also add graphics from Adobe Stock to your InDesign Library. For details, see Using Adobe Stock in InDesign.

Place CC Library graphics using drag-and-drop or the right-click menu

  1. Drag-and-drop the graphic from the CC Libraries panel onto the document.

     If you drag-and-drop a graphic, by default, it is placed as a linked graphic. To place it as an embedded graphic, use the Alt+drag-and-drop combination.

    To place one or more graphics on a document, right-click the graphics in the CC Libraries panel and choose:

    Place Copy: Place an InDesign asset as a snippet or embed a graphic from another Creative Cloud application (such as Photoshop or Illustrator).

    Place Linked: Place a graphic from another Creative Cloud application (such as PhotoShop or Illustrator) as a library-linked graphic.

     You cannot place an InDesign asset as a linked graphic on a document so the Place Linked option is not available if you right-click an InDesign asset.

  2. If you have used the right-click menu to place one or more graphics, the graphics are added to the placegun.

    Use the placegun to selectively add the graphics to your document.

Place a CC Library graphic using the Place From CC Libraries menu option

  1. Select File > Place From CC Libraries.

    The CC Libraries panel is filtered to display only the Graphics category.

  2. Click a graphic and click Place.

    The asset is added to the InDesign placegun.

  3. Use the placegun to place the graphic on the document.

If you place a linked graphic on a document, the graphic appears in the InDesign Links panel.

The icon to the right of each graphic in the Links panel indicates if the graphic is linked  or embedded .

To locate a linked graphic in the CC Libraries panel, right-click the graphic and select Reveal in CC Libraries.

Edit an InDesign asset in a CC Library

  1. Right-click the asset and choose Edit.

    The asset is opened in an InDesign document window.

  2. Make the required changes and save the asset.

    The asset is added to the InDesign placegun, and the changes are reflected in the asset in the CC Library.

Relink CC Library assets

Graphics placed on InDesign documents can be relinked to graphics in a CC Library. The placed graphics can also be relinked to a graphic file on the local computer.

  1. To relink a graphic to a CC Library graphic, right-click the graphic and choose Relink to CC Libraries.

  2. To relink to a local graphic file, right-click the graphic and choose Relink.

You can add text objects from your document to Creative Cloud libraries and then share them with other users and across applications. Text assets in a library retain the character/paragraph styles and other attributes originally applied to them. You can reuse text assets in libraries across InDesign or Illustrator documents.

If a text objects has effects and appearances applied to it, you must add it to the library as a graphics asset to preserve them.

Add a text asset

To add a text in an active InDesign document Select a text object, click   in the CC Libraries panel, Select Text from the menu and click Add.

Use a text asset in a document

Do one of the following:

  • Right-click a text asset in the CC Libraries panel and select one of the following options:
    • Place Linked: Creates a link in the Links panel and the link is maintained with the CC Library asset. Any update to the asset updates the linked text asset on the document. It also keeps styling information intact along with Character/Paragraph styles.
    • Place Copy: Does not create a link, any update to the CC Library text asset does not update the text asset on the document. Styling information is kept intact along with Character/Paragraph styles.
    • Place Without Styles: Only the text is brought in without any link or styling information.
  • Place the pointer inside a text frame, right-click a text asset in the CC Libraries panel, and select Place Inline.
  • Drag an asset onto the document to create a linked text asset.
  • Drag an asset with Alt key pressed to create a non-linked text asset.

 By default, InDesign brings the text asset into the document with its character/paragraph and attributes preserved intact. If you want to use the text asset in your document as plain text without any of these associated styles, right-click the text asset in the CC Libraries panel and choose Place Without Styles from the in-context menu.

Integration with Illustrator

Text assets added to libraries are also available from within the Libraries panel in Illustrator. You can edit and use text assets across these two applications. In the Libraries panel List view, the icon to the right of the text asset in the Libraries panel indicates the application in which it was created.

For more information, see Rendition of shared text assets in Illustrator and InDesign.

Edit a text asset

In the CC Libraries panel, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click the text asset and then choose Edit.

  2. Edit the asset when it opens up in an InDesign document. 

  3. Save the document.

The text asset is updated in the Creative Cloud Library and the thumbnail is automatically refreshed. Also, the asset is updated across all locations where it is used as a linked asset.

Rename a text asset

In the CC Libraries panel, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click the text asset and choose Rename.

  2. Type a new name for the asset and press Enter.

Delete a text asset

In the CC Libraries panel, right-click a text asset and then choose Delete.

Manage CC Library assets

In the CC Libraries panel, you can rename, delete, duplicate, copy, or move across CC Libraries assets.

Rename assets

  1. Right-click an asset in the CC Libraries panel and choose Rename.

  2. Type a new name for the asset and press Enter.

Delete assets

  1. Right-click one or more assets in the CC Libraries panel.

  2. If you select one asset, choose Delete.

    If you select multiple assets, choose Delete Selected Items.

Duplicate assets

  1. Right-click one or more assets in the CC Libraries panel.

  2. If you select one asset, choose Duplicate.

    If you select multiple assets, choose Duplicate Selected Items.

Copy or move assets from one CC Library to another

  1. Right-click one or more assets in the CC Libraries panel.

  2. If you select one asset, choose Copy to or Move to.

    If you select multiple assets, choose Copy Selected Items or Move Selected Items.

  3. In the sub-menu, select the CC Library to copy or move the assets.

Search in the CC Libraries panel

Search for a CC library asset by its name in the CC libraries panel. You can search for assets in the following locations:

  • Current library (Default)
  • Adobe Stock
  • All libraries

  1. In the Search drop-down menu, select the location to search within.

  2. Type the asset name in the Search box and press Enter.

Collaborate with Creative Cloud users

You can share your libraries with other users for them to view, edit, use, rename, move, or delete the contents of the shared library. If another Creative Cloud subscriber has shared a library with you, you can further share it with other Creative Cloud users.

To share a library

  1. In the CC Libraries panel, select a library from the drop-down.

  2. In the CC Libraries panel, click the flyout menu, and choose Collaborate.

  3. In the browser page that opens up, provide an email address and optional message for the person you would like to share the library with.

Cancel a share

  1. In the CC Libraries panel, select the name of a library you would not like to share anymore from the drop-down.

  2. In the CC Libraries panel, click the flyout menu, and choose Collaborate.

  3. In the browser page that opens up, delete the names of all the users with whom the Creative Cloud library is shared.

Accept an invite

  1. Launch the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app and log in with your Adobe ID credentials.

  2. You receive a notification in the Creative Cloud desktop app when a library is shared with you. Select the bell icon to access your notifications.

  3. Select Accept for each library collaboration invitation.

Leave a shared library

  1. In the CC Libraries panel, select the name of a library you would not like to collaborate on anymore from the drop-down.

  2. In the CC Libraries panel, select the flyout menu, and select the Leave library option.

Delete a shared library

  1. In the CC Libraries panel, select the name of a library you want to delete from the drop-down.

  2. In the CC Libraries panel, select the flyout menu, and select the Delete library option.

  3. Select Delete to confirm the action.

 You can only delete a library that you own.

Use InDesign objects in other CC applications

The InDesign objects that you add to the Graphics category of a CC Library can be used in other CC applications such as Illustrator or Photoshop.

Since a copy of every InDesign object is stored in the form of a PDF file, when you use this object in Illustrator or Photoshop, these applications use the PDF rendition of the object.

 If you use an InDesign Character Style in Illustrator or Photoshop, those applications will attempt to map the properties of the asset with the properties for character attributes available in the host application. Any properties not found in the host application will be ignored.

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