InDesign PDF creation
CRASH COURSE IN INDESIGN
How to make a multi page PDF book (single page or spreads)
TO BEGIN:
Before you begin, MAKE A FOLDER FOR THIS PROJECT.
-Then, go to InDesign-Preferences-Units and Increments and set to INCHES.
-Then go to File-New Document (NOT new book)
-Set page size to letter for a traditional saddle stitch book (made in folios printed front and back).
TEXT:
When you want to add text you have to make a text box.
You can create outlines just like in Illustrator.
If there is a red + it means there is more text than what your seeing.
You can highlight text & adjust kerning (space between each letter) and letting (space between each line).
Uncheck “hyphenate” on top.
IMAGES:
For InDesign TIFF is the best format, but high resolution JPGs are fine too. You can also drop in PDFs.
Be as close to 100% size from the beginning so you don’t have to resize the image too much.
To place an image,
-File-Place
-Click on page you want to place image on
(Shortcut for place: Command D)
-The image appears with a loaded cursor
-Hold down shift to resize, then
-Go to Object-Fitting:
Fit frame to content OR
Fit content to frame (Option-Command-E)
Also, use
Object-Arrange Bring to Front
Object-Arrange-Send to Back
(you can also do that in the layers palette)
To put color on all page backgrounds, do this on EACH page:
-draw a box on each page and fill it with the color
-then go Object-Arrange-Send to back
-then go object-Lock position
EXPORT AS PDF BOOK:
When done,
-File-Export: choose format: Adobe PDF
-then an export PDF window will come up
-IMPORTANT: choose whether you want it in all (single page) or spreads
-choose which size (in top drop down menu that says “custom”)
print resolution: laser prints (lulu generally wants this)
ebook: for email
press: printing press
screen: for just screen viewing
-READ the WARNING screen that comes up; make sure all is OK
-Two files will export (one is automatically generated); keep BOTH in your folder
PACKAGING
Go to File-Package
It will tell you what is wrong
Package-Save
FULL SCREEN VIEWING
To view your InDesign book full screen when it is done:
-Command L, then arrow forward and backward through the images
-you can zoom in and out on the images (command + or command -)
TIPS:
-To get rid of lines around everything, be in preview mode (bottom right square on tools bar)
-View at optimized or high quality display (View-Display Performance)
-Don’t embed your images; your InDesign file will get too large. Instead, keep all of the images in a separate folder within a folder with your InDesign document. The images are only LINKED; if you do not have the original images, THE IMAGES WILL NOT SHOW UP. Go to windows-Links to see your links.