Every couple weeks we’ll get a call from a client producing interactive PDF forms. Inevitably, what they want is a way to define the Acrobat form fields directly in their InDesign layout. There isn’t a way yet to build your form fields in InDesign. However Acrobat 8’s new automatic Form Field Recognition feature can save […]

One of Adobe’s highly touted features in InDesign CS3 is the ability to place multiple graphics at a time. InDesign provides small preview of each graphic next to the place cursor. You can cycle through your loaded graphics by pressing the right or left arrow keys until you reach the one you wish to place. […]

Every now and then I’ll come across a tip that makes me slap my forehead and ask “How did I miss that one?”

Photoshop CS3 and CS2 both let you easily extract images that are embedded in PDF documents. Next time you open a PDF file in Photoshop CS3, look at the top of the import window that normally displays a preview of all the available pages in your PDF. Click on the Images radio button and you’ll be presented with a list of all the images embedded in that PDF.

Tip: In Photoshop CS2, the Images option is hidden under a pop-up menu.

Choose the image you want and click the OK button to open it. You can then save it in any file format you like.

Option-dragging is a shortcut to duplicate objects in most modern design applications. But in InDesign, duplicating with the Option key goes much deeper.

In InDesign, you can also hold down the Option key when making some Control panel adjustment to make a duplicate of your selected item. For example, if you make change to the location values and then hold down the Option key when typing Enter, a duplicate of your object will appear in the new location.

Windows Users: Use the Alt key for the same result.

Add InDesign’s ability to perform basic math operations, and you have an great shortcut for quickly and precisely duplicating objects. (Read “Let your design apps do the math for you” back in QuickTips #24)

Last month’s first mini-workshops were a hit. Thanks to everyone who made it out for one of our first topics in August. Here is the new lineup for September and October.

Join us at the Creativetechs office Wednesday mornings 9:30am to 11am. Pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learn into use the same day.

The cost is $50 per workshop.

Ever find yourself wanting to create a quick hanging indent for a drop cap or bulleted list? The special “Indent to Here” character in QuarkXPress or InDesign makes it a snap. Type this character in a text block and all remaining lines of the paragraph are indented to that point. To make things easier, Quark […]

Here’s a light InDesign tip for any designers finding themselves cranking out the occasional old-school direct mail letter. You can easily create a “yellow highlighter” character style with InDesign’s Custom Underline feature. While the effect itself is a bit cheesy, the technique does let us demonstrate a few shortcuts using InDesign’s character styles.

Starting in August, Creativetechs is offering weekly, mini-workshops every Wednesday morning in our office.

Here’s the pitch: Join us Wednesday mornings at 9:30am, pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learned into use the same day. The cost is $50 per workshop.

Photoshop provides a neutral gray canvas around your images when you work in full screen mode, or when you zoom out so the image is smaller than your document window. Have you ever wished you could change the color of this default grey? There’s and easy way, and although most people don’t know the trick, […]

A couple months ago our production and training guru, Jason Hoppe, developed a great series of “What’s New in CS3” booklets for our summer workshops at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts. If you missed out (or don’t live in the Seattle area) here are the PDFs for you to download: What’s New in Photoshop CS3.pdf […]