InDesign CS4 is Now Available!
Here's Ten Reasons to Consider Upgrading.

Calendars, Anyone?

I know I said that this list was in no particular order, but I decided to put this one at the top because I wish I had a dollar for every time I've seen it requested.

The old workarounds are no longer necessary. That's right, no double-sized single pages that get placed into a second document. No more need to rotate your monitor (if you happened to be fortunate enough to be able to) and no more neck strain.

A simple right click on the spread in the in the Pages panel brings up the contextual menu where you can choose to rotate the spread.

The result is a vertical spread with very little effort.

One thing to note. This is a display setting. Nothing is actually changed in the document itself and as the name implies this a spread based setting. You can't change the orientation of just one page in the spread.

Even with that, I'll bet you a dollar that every calendar designer out there is going to love this.

The CS4 interface is more tightly integrated between applications than ever before. The all new OWL (Operating System Widget Library) brings consistency among the suite applications and adds something Mac users may find quite Windows-like, an application window.

Before you go swearing that you'll never upgrade, this feature is a user preference and is turned off by default. So, if I hadn't told you about it, you might have never known it was there. On the other hand, it's quite likely that Windows users will find this to be a welcome addition when they find themselves working on a Mac. And those Mac users that have been known to create a blank gray document and sending to the back just cover up the desktop will love it (you know who you are).

Tabbed Document and N-Up Views

If you're viewing this site in a modern browser then you're already familiar with tabbed browsing and who wouldn't find that to be a welcome addition to their favorite page layout application. It's arrived and I love it.

Open as many files as you want. They'll all be neatly tabbed at the top. Want them arranged differently? Hit the Arrange Documents button and take your pick of layouts.

Quicker than you can say CS4 everything's done:

You can even have more than one group of tabbed documents. If you want them independent, then just pull them apart. The possibilities are endless.

Show Hidden Panels

For anyone with limited screen real estate CS4's ability to show hidden panels by simply mousing over the right side of the screen will be real boon. You can make any settings you'd like using the panels and when you move the mouse back to your document, the panels will magically disappear again.

Gone But Not Forgotten

If you liked the Command Bar (formerly the Pagemaker Toolbar), I regret to inform you that it's gone. Apparently there wasn't enough interest to work it into the new interface.

The Button Tool has been removed. The capability to turn just about anything into a button has always existed and is now the only way to do it. If you think that's a bad thing, please see the honorable mention section for a bit more.

Don't go searching for the navigator panel, either. It's been integrated into the Hand Tool. More about that below.

An Illustrator Favorite Finally Arrives in InDesign

If you've ever used Illustrator's Smart Guides and wished you could align object in InDesign as easily, your wait is over. Smart Guides have finally come to InDesign. You can use them to align object to objects, the page, or to evenly distribute objects.

Nobody's Going to Force You to Use Them

If you're among those that don't care for them, just turn them off in your preferences. Smart Guides are turned on by default and I recommend that you leave them on and try them out. I wasn't a very big fan of them originally but now I wouldn't want to live without them.

New and Improved, But You'll Need Patience

I know what you're thinking. The Hand Tool? How could that possibly be a reason to upgrade?

As I mentioned in my discussion about the new interface, the navigator panel is gone. If you depended it on it to get around your document, you're going to love the new hand tool...once you get the hang of it.

The new feature kicks in when you take advantage of patient user mode. This involves choosing the hand tool and clicking and holding on the page. The page will zoom out and the familiar red border that you've seen in for many years in the navigator panel will appear on your page.

Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom to in or out and then drag the selection where ever you'd like.

Give it a Try and Then Another

As I said, you'll love it after you get used to it. It took me a while to feel comfortable and get a feel for it but it was worth it.

A Small But Very Welcome Enhancement

We've all been there. We start to format something, such as a cell style and there it is, the Paragraph Style drop down. Suddenly the realization that an an appropriate style hasn't been created hits and so it's time to cancel and move over to the Paragraph Styles panel do so.

Then it's back to the Cell Styles panel to do it all over again. No more. Anywhere that InDesign calls for a style there's a new choice: New [type of] Style.

In addition to the above example, other locations for new styles are nested character styles and and Based On in the Paragraph Styles panel, and the Paragraph Style in the Object Styles panel.

You had to know this was coming. Adobe didn't buy Macromedia for nothing and they've been hinting at this capability for quite a while, even demonstrating it at the InDesign Conference in early 2008 as "future technology."

The future has arrived and InDesign has a brand new trick up its sleeve: Export to Flash. The beauty of this is that you can export a fully functional SWF file or a XFL file that can be opened in Flash CS4 as a starting point for a Flash presentation.

Most users will likely just export to SWF where the new page transitions and button features (see the honorable mention section for details) can be taken advantage of and you need no real knowledge of Flash programming.

Give it a try. Just click on the arrows. This took all of five minutes to do using the sample buttons and few simple settings on the export.

Tables Just Got Easier to Edit

Do I need to really say any more on this? This one's been on everyone's wish list since tables and the story editor were introduced. It's here now and fills a large void in the capability of the Story Editor.

Tables are listed in cell order and can be edited just like any other text. As a side benefit, InCopy users can now track changes in tables (see below). Notes capability has also been added.

 

Customizable Display

If you've ever used the Info Panel to find out more about a linked file, I think you're going to like the new Links Panel. You can elect to show as little or as much about a file as you'd like (the choices are too lengthy to list here but suffice it to say, nothing's been left out) and it can be displayed either in a row or highlighted in an attached Links Info section.

Edit With

Many folks, myself included, prefer to use the operating system to preview certain file types such as JPG. The problem with that is that choosing the Edit Original command from the Links Panel didn't take you to the proper application.

That little detail has been addressed. Introducing Edit With, the Links Panel's newest addition. Choosing a link along with this command gives a choice of applications to edit your file.

This is going to be a great time saver if, like me, you find yourself saving as PDF from Photoshop or Illustrator. No more launching Acrobat accidentally.

Often Requested, Finally Here!

The majority of users may never need this feature but for folks that have been clamoring for it, it's here.

Conditional text is quite simple to use. Open the Conditional Text panel and and set up the conditions. In the example below we want to generate two separate document for Mac and Windows procedures but we only want to create it once.

We create conditions for Mac only and Windows only text. Select the text and just assign the condition.

By turning visibility on or off for either Mac or Windows we have a platform specific document.

Other uses for this feature include school books where the teacher edition has the answers to questions included. Anyone working on those types of books will be thrilled with this.

And in case you're wondering, yes, conditions can be applied via find/change.

Cross Another One Off the Feature Request List

For anyone working on long documents, the absence of a true cross reference feature in InDesign has meant using third party plugins, scripts or painfully tedious manual procedures.

InDesign CS4 brings native cross referencing capability. This feature has rather cleverly been added to the Hyperlinks Panel.

As with hyperlinks, you need to first define a destination for the cross reference. Once that's been done, adding a cross reference is straight forward. Click the Create new cross-reference button in the Hyperlinks panel and make the appropriate choices.

The display options for the cross reference text are very customizable and allow for the application of a character style as well.

Page Transitions

Anyone using InDesign to create PDF presentation is probably familiar with the workflow. Create presentation; Export to PDF; Open in Acrobat and add page transitions. Not so horrible until you need to make changes.

New to CS4 is the ability to add those page transitions within InDesign. If you need to make a change and export a new PDF, those page transitions get to go along for the ride.

Added bonus: these page transitions work just as nicely in an exported SWF file.

Kuler Panel

If you find yourself struggling to find just the right combination of colors to use in your documents you should already be familiar with Kuler, a great place at Adobe Labs that allows you to create swatch combinations that work well together.

In fact, you don't even need to do any work. Others have done it already and saved their themes for you to download and utilize. In CS4, you don't even have to leave InDesign to take advantage of Kuler.

Adobe has added a connection directly to Kuler in InDesign. Just open the Kuler panel and either search Kuler for just the right colors or create your own.

Buttons

As long as we're on the topic of PDF Exports, let talk buttons. As I touched on the interface discussion, the button tool is gone but you can right click on just about anything and turn it into button.

They're a bit different now working more like groups than frames. Because of this I find that creating states for buttons is now far easier and straightforward than in the past.

Additionally, InDesign CS4 ships with a boatload of sample buttons with assigned behaviors. If you haven't explored the power of InDesign for creating interactive PDFs, there's no time like the present.

Data Merge to PDF

If your intended output from a data merge is PDF, set up the merge and select Export to PDF from Data Merge panel menu. No need for the intermediate step of creating an InDesign file.

Smart Text Reflow

This is a feature I've seen requested over and over again from folks that point out that "Word can create a new page as I type, why can't InDesign?" Now it can.

Simply enable and configure (there are several settings) this feature in your preferences and you're good to go.

Smart Dimensions

Draw an object and you'll see the dimensions right at the cursor. Move that object and you'll see the x/y coordinates. A nice companion to the smart guides.

Nested Line Styles

How many times have you wanted to set up a different style for the first line or two of a paragraph? We've all used the old workarounds including using an end nested style here character or triggering the end of the style with a soft return.

Here's another case of workarounds no longer being needed. As an added benefit, these line styles can even be combined with other nested styles.

GREP Styles

If you've used the power of grep in find/change then you'll be happy to see that it's been extended to styles. Just define the expression and include it in your nested style. This would be terrific for the use of formatting things like phone numbers which might or might not have parenthesis around the area code.

Live Preflight

A quick glance at the lower left portion of the screen will reveal any issues with your document. This feature is customizable and can be turned off if you're working on a project not requiring it.

Improved Step and Repeat

Not so much a new feature but one that's been fixed. Objects created by the step and repeat command are selected after being created. These items are also assigned to the correct layer and stacking order.

InCopy Improvements

Hyperlinks Panel

If you're using an InCopy workflow you're well aware of the InCopy's inability to create hyperlinks. That limitation has been removed with CS4 which now has the same hyperlink and cross reference capability as InDesign.

Note: The InCopy user must have access to the destination content in order to use this feature so some workflow adjustments might be necessary.

Non-Facing Pages for Standalone Documents

A small improvement but one that will be welcome by those using InCopy to create content that's not destined to wind up on facing pages. A facing pages check box similar to that found in InDesign has been added.