Identifying imported images

To identify some of the graphics that have already been imported into the document, you’ll use two different techniques involving the Links panel. Later in this lesson, you’ll also use the Links panel to edit and update imported graphics.

1. Center page 1 in the document window by choosing it from the page field at the lower-left corner of the document window.

   

   Note

   The page order of this file is set up to show how the pages will fold. The pattern is the same as the trifold template in Lesson 3’s “Exploring on your own” ss.

2. If the Links panel is not visible, choose Window > Links or click the Links panel icon () in the panel dock.

3. Using the Selection tool (), select the Songs of the Garden logo type on page 1. Notice that the graphic’s filename, Title.ai, becomes selected in the Links panel when you select the graphic in the layout.

   

   Now you’ll use the Links panel to locate another graphic in the layout.

4. In the Links panel, select RR-logo.ai, and then click the Go To Link button (). The graphic becomes selected and centered on the screen. This is a quick way to find a graphic in a document.

   Tip

   You can also click the page number to the right of a filename in the Links panel to jump to that link and center it in the document window.

   These techniques for identifying and locating linked graphics are useful throughout this lesson and whenever you work with a large number of imported files.

Viewing information about linked files

The Links panel makes it easy to work with linked graphics and text files and to display additional information about linked files.

1. In the Links panel, select the graphic named Sunflower_2.psd. If you cannot see the names of all the linked files without scrolling, drag the horizontal divider bar in the Links panel downward to enlarge the top half of the panel so that all the links are visible. The Link Info area at the bottom half of the panel displays detailed information about the selected link.

2. In the Links panel, click the Select Next Link In The List button () to view the Link Info about the next file in the Links panel list, RR-logo.ai. You can examine all the links in the list this way, one at a time. Currently, most links display an alert icon () in the Status column. This icon indicates a linking problem, which you’ll address later. After you’ve examined the link information for various images, choose Edit > Deselect All, and then click the Show/Hide Link Information button () above Link Info to hide the Link Info area.

   Note

   In this document the page numbering follows the folding pattern, making the first spread pages 5, 6, and 1 because it’s the outside covers and the flap that folds in. The second spread is the inside, pages 2, 3, and 4. The Links panel shows this order.

   By default, files are sorted in the Links panel by page number but with files used multiple times in a document listed at the top. You can sort the file list in different ways by clicking the column headings. Next, we’ll add more column headings to make additional information available at a glance.

3. A faster way to view important link information is to customize the information displayed in the Links panel columns. Open the menu in the Links panel and choose Panel Options (at the bottom of the menu). Under Show Column, click Color Space, Actual PPI, Effective PPI, and Transparency. Click OK. (The important information in your workflow may vary from this example.)

   Note

   Resolution of raster images is measured in pixels per inch (PPI).

4. Pull out the panel to the left to see the new columns. The Links panel now has additional columns showing information for the options you turned on. Drag the first column divider to the right to make the first column wide enough to see the filenames. This customized view is a fast way to see important information about linked graphics, such as whether something has been scaled up so much that it will look bad when printed (jagged edges, blurry, or pixelated).

   Tip

   Effective resolution combines the actual resolution of the image with the amount it’s been enlarged or reduced in size within InDesign. The standard minimum resolution for high-quality printing is 300 PPI for the effective resolution. Therefore, use caution when enlarging images so that the effective resolution does not fall below 300.

   

Showing files in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS)

Although the Links panel gives you information about the attributes and location in the document of a specific linked graphic file, it does not let you make changes to the file or change the name of the file. One way you can access the original file of an imported graphic file is by using the Reveal In Explorer (Windows) or Reveal In Finder (macOS) option.

1. Select Sunflower_2.psd. From the Links panel menu, choose Reveal In Explorer (Windows) or Reveal In Finder (macOS). The folder where the linked file is currently stored on your computer opens, and the file is selected. This feature is useful for locating files on your hard drive.

   Tip

   You can also choose Reveal In Bridge from the Links panel menu to locate an imported graphic file.

   

2. Close the window and return to InDesign.

Importing, sizing, and cropping

1. Navigate to page 5. Open the Layers panel by clicking the Layers panel icon () in the panel dock, and then click the Photos layer so that the imported images will be placed on that layer. Choose File > Place and navigate to the Lesson11 folder. Select the file Blue-Hydrangea.psd and click Open.

2. Move the loaded raster graphics icon () into the pasteboard area just above the page and click once. This places the graphic independently of any existing frame. InDesign automatically creates a frame around the graphic and scales it to actual size (100%).

   

3. This photo is much too large at actual size, so you’ll need to resize it. In this case, it needs to be scaled down. One way to do this is to type a percentage or measurements in the Control panel and InDesign will scale the graphic to those numbers, in the direction of the selected reference point (). Or you can scale the graphic visually. Choose the Selection tool () and hold down Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS). Drag the lower-right handle up and to the left. Watch the Control panel’s Size and Scale (or the numbers in the gray box next to the Selection tool) until the image is about 2 inches high. Holding down the Ctrl or Command key while dragging scales both the frame and the content within (in this case an image). Adding the Shift key keeps the image proportions so that the image is not distorted while it’s changing size.

   Note

   Many of the steps in this lesson refer to the Control panel. You can use the Properties panel if you prefer, but it is not part of the default [Advanced] workspace. To open it, choose Window > Properties. To save screen space, dock it with the rest of panel dock, drag the tab to the bottom of the panel dock, and then click to open and close it as needed.

   

4. Drag the image down and to the right of the empty frame at the upper left of the page until you see the green Smart Guides appear that show the top of this frame aligned with the empty frame.

5. Now we want to crop out most of the leaves. To do this, you change the size of the frame without changing the size of the graphic inside. Drag the lower-right corner handle in toward the flower so that most of the leaves are no longer visible. Then click the content grabber () and notice that the image bounding box (shown in a contrasting color to the layer color) is now much larger than the frame, indicating that part of the image is being cropped by the frame. Drag the image up and to the left so that the flower is centered in the frame.

   

Placing a graphic into an existing frame and using frame fitting options

The next way to use File > Place is to place a graphic into an existing frame.

1. Click the empty frame to the left of the Blue-Hydrangea.psd image. Choose File > Place, select Butterfly-on-flower.psd, and click Open. This time the image is imported into the frame. Once again, it’s at actual size (100%), and that’s too large since only part of the butterfly is visible in the frame.

2. Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Content To Frame, which seems like the right choice. But examine the result: the image is indeed within the frame, but the butterfly is distorted (stretched vertically). Confirm this by clicking the content grabber () in the center of the frame (so that you are viewing data about the image rather than the frame), and then look at the scale values in the Control panel or the Properties panel. The horizontal and vertical numbers are very different, showing the distortion.

   Tip

   All frame fitting options are also available as buttons on the Control panel:

   

   and the Properties panel:

   

   

   

3. To scale the image without distortion, choose Object > Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally. The image is not distorted, but now it’s too small, leaving the bottom half of the frame empty. Choose Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally. This option sizes the image within the frame without distortion, and it crops part of the image if it’s a different shape than the frame (as in this case). However, this is still not what we want because the butterfly is too far to the right of the frame.

   

4. Choose Object > Fitting > Content-Aware Fit. This feature intelligently fits the image in the frame by evaluating various parts of the image. The butterfly and flower are now nearly centered in the frame automatically. You can nudge the content over if you’d like.

   

5. Select the circular picture frame in the lower left and place the image Calla-Lilly.psd. This frame was set up to center the image at 100% size. The photo is centered within the frame, but the subject of the photo (the flower) is not centered in the original image. Select either the circular frame or the image within and choose Object > Fitting > Content-Aware Fit. The flower now fits much better in the circle because Content-Aware Fit attempts to find the subject of an image. Notice that InDesign scaled as well as moved the image.

   Note

   You can choose fitting options for a frame before you place a graphic. You’ll do this in a later exercise.

   

Placing a graphic into an existing frame by dropping from the desktop

1. Another way to import graphics is to drop them onto a page from your desktop. Switch to File Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (macOS), and open the Lesson11 folder, which contains the Starflower.jpg file.

   Resize and arrange your File Explorer window (Windows) or Finder window (macOS) and your InDesign window, as needed, so that you can simultaneously see the list of files in the Lesson11 folder and the InDesign document window. Make sure that the right side of page 5 in your document is visible.

2. Choose Edit > Deselect All. Drag the Starflower.jpg file over the empty frame to the right of the circular frame and release the mouse button. You do not have to select the empty picture frame before dropping the image.

   

3. Click the content grabber () and notice that the image bounding box (blue) is smaller than the placeholder frame (orange). Select the frame and choose Object > Fitting > Fit Frame To Content. Then switch to the Selection tool () and move the picture to a pleasing position in the group as you wish. Choose Edit > Deselect All when you’re done.

Using Adobe Bridge to import graphics

Adobe Bridge is a separate application available to Creative Cloud users with an All Apps subscription. Bridge lets you browse local and networked computers for graphics and then place them into an InDesign layout. Importing files is just one of many features the application provides. If you don’t have Bridge available, you can complete this exercise by dropping the graphic files from the desktop again, but this time change your folder view to icons.

1. Navigate to page 1. Then choose File > Browse In Bridge to launch Bridge. Bridge automatically opens the folder in which the InDesign document is saved or in which a selected graphic is stored. If you don’t see this folder, click the Folder panel at the top of the left panel to navigate to the Lesson11 folder.

   Note

   If you do not already have Bridge installed, Creative Cloud will install it when you choose Browse In Bridge. On first launch of Bridge from within InDesign, an alert appears asking you to enable the Bridge extension. Click Yes to enable this extension.

   

2. Scroll down until you see the maple leaf images. Click the graphic maple-leaf-.psd once, and then click the filename to make it editable. Rename the file maple-leaf-yellow, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS) to commit the change.

   

3. If necessary, make the Bridge window smaller by dragging the lower-right corner and position it so that you can also see page 1 (the cover) of the InDesign document. Drag the maple-leaf-yellow.psd file into your InDesign document onto an open area of the pasteboard above the page and near the dark blue square. Scroll to make the pasteboard above visible if necessary. Pause for a moment while pressing the mouse button to return to InDesign. Click the pasteboard to place the image at full size.

   Tip

   To learn more about what you can do with Bridge, start at the Bridge page on the Adobe website: https://helpx.adobe.com/bridge/get-started.html.

   

4. Use the Selection tool () to position the leaf graphic in the upper-left corner of the page, on top of the empty Blue-Dark frame. Press Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS) and drag a corner of the frame to scale both the frame and its contents. Scale to a size just a bit larger than the empty Blue-Dark frame. Then align the top and right edges of the graphics frame with the top and right edges of the Blue-Dark frame.

   

   A very useful feature of dragging photos from Bridge is that you can quickly change pictures in a frame while seeing the new image in Bridge and then the result in InDesign. This technique is very useful in projects where the layout repeats but you need to import different pictures. You’ll try this now.

   Tip

   You can also replace an image by dragging it from Explorer or the Finder and dropping it over another image. If this doesn’t work, check that the layer in which the graphic appears isn’t locked.

5. With the yellow maple leaf still selected, bring the Bridge window to the front again (if needed) and choose the file maple-leaf-red.psd. Drag and drop it right over the yellow maple leaf. InDesign retains the scaling, and now you’ve switched out the image with the new one, in position, in just a few seconds. Try it again with maple-leaf-orange.psd. Select the image with the content grabber and set the reference point to the center position () using the Control, Transform, or Properties panel. Then rotate the image within the frame by typing 20 in the Rotation Angle field in any of the above panels. Drag and drop the red leaf again. The image is switched while both the scaling and rotation are retained.

   

6. To see how the reference point affects the center of rotation and how this changes the results, experiment with rotating the image again using different reference points, such as the upper left or lower right. In different situations using a different reference point will get the result you’re looking for quicker than if you always leave the reference point on the default setting.

7. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Working with clipping paths from Photoshop in InDesign

1. Navigate to page 4 of the document by double-clicking page 4 in the Pages panel, and choose View > Fit Page In Window.

2. In the Layers panel, make sure that the Photos layer is selected so that the imported image is placed on that layer. You can lock the Background photos layer to be sure you don’t accidentally click into the blue square’s or background photo’s frame. Choose File > Place, and double-click the file Pears.psd in the Lesson11 folder.

3. Position the loaded raster graphics icon () outside the blue square in the center of page 4—to the left and slightly below the top edge (make sure you are not placing the pointer in the square itself)—and click to place the image of two pears. If you need to reposition the graphics frame to match the following image, do so now.

   Tip

   If you accidentally click within the existing frame, choose Edit > Undo Place and try again.

   

4. Choose Object > Clipping Path > Options. Move the Clipping Path dialog, if necessary, so that you can see the pear image.

5. Choose Photoshop Path from the Type menu. If Preview is not selected, select it now. Choose Two Pears from the Path menu. The background is now hidden, or clipped out, by the path. Click OK.

6. Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Frame To Content.

   

7. Switch to the Selection tool () and double-click the pears image. Press Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS), and then click the lower-right corner handle. Drag up and to the left to scale both the frame and its contents. Make the pears image about the size shown, and then drag it toward the bottom of the blue square, also as shown.

   Tip

   You can switch to the Selection tool by pressing the V key.

   

8. Press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag up and to the right. This creates a copy of the image. Choose Object > Clipping Path > Options, and then choose Right Pear from the Path menu and click OK. Then, choose Object > Fitting > Fit Frame To Content. Switch back to the Selection tool (), then click to select the frame (at first, the content will be selected), and use the same technique to scale this pear to about 80% of the original size (the Control and Properties panels show the scale amount as you scale the object). You can also type 80 in the X scale field in the Control or Properties panel and press Enter or Return to apply the same scale number to the Y dimension when Same Settings () is on. If Different Settings () is on, add Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS). Move the image slightly inside and below the top of the blue frame as shown. Finally, move the pointer outside the bounding box until it changes to the rotate pointer (). Rotate the photo to the right about –28 degrees.

   Note

   Notice the double arrows () that appear when you press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click an object, indicating that a copy of the object will be made when you drag, leaving the original object in place.

   

   

9. Press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag down and to the left to create another copy of the single pear. Choose Object > Clipping Path > Options, choose Photoshop Path, and this time choose the Left Pear path and click OK. Then choose Object > Fitting > Fit Frame To Content. Switch back to the Selection tool, click to select the frame, and move the pointer outside the bounding box until it changes to the rotate pointer (). Rotate the photo to the left to about 22 degrees, and then move it down and position it between the two pears at the bottom as shown.

   Note

   You can also type 22 in the Rotation Angle box in the Control or Properties panel.

   

10. Notice how a clipping path allows an image to overlap multiple other objects. You can also move images in front of or behind other objects. Take a few moments to experiment.

11. Choose File > Save to save the file.

Working with transparent backgrounds from Photoshop in InDesign

1. Navigate to the leftmost page of this spread (page 2) by sliding page 4 to the right. Do this by holding down the spacebar. The hand icon () appears. Keep the spacebar pressed and drag until page 2 is centered in your window.

2. Select the Rectangle Frame tool () in the Tools panel and draw a frame in the lower area crossing over the border between page 2 and page 3 and extending into the pasteboard below the document pages.

3. You can choose fitting options for a frame before you place a graphic. Choose Object > Fitting > Frame Fitting Options. In the Frame Fitting Options dialog, choose Fit Content Proportionally from the Fitting menu and then click the top-center reference point in the Align From area. Click OK.

   

4. With the frame still selected, choose File > Place and double-click the Tulips.psd file in the Lesson11 folder. InDesign fits the image proportionally to the frame as specified. Choose Edit > Deselect All.

5. Now we want to scale the picture without scaling the frame. Switch to the Selection tool and click the photo over the circle of the content grabber () to select the contents of the frame, in this case the photo of the tulips. The handles of the bounding box of the photo (not the frame) will be active. You’ll see that this bounding box is a contrasting color to the frame bounding box. In the Control or Properties panel, set the reference point to the top center () position, make sure Same Settings () is on, type 70 in the Scale field, and press Enter or Return.

   Tip

   You can press the Esc key when you have content selected to switch to the Selection tool and select the frame instead. You can also toggle between selecting the content and selecting the frame by double-clicking with the Selection tool.

6. The photo scales downward from the top center, resulting in the image being larger but also further down. Drag or use the arrow keys to nudge the position of the photo so that most of the image is cropped out, with just the tops of the flowers and leaves showing on the page. Refer to the figure below for reference. Press Esc to select the graphic’s frame again, and use the Selection tool to make the frame wider or taller if necessary.

   

   Note

   It may be helpful to press the W key to change to Preview mode to see where the photo crosses the trim edge of the page. Then press the W key again to toggle back to Normal mode.

   Notice how different the edges of the tulip image are compared to the edges of the pears image. The edges of the tulips and leaves blend softly into the background. This is the purpose of using transparency in Photoshop to remove a background rather than a vector path: to create a soft edge between the image and any background onto which it is placed.

Working with a Photoshop file with layers

Next, we’ll work with a layered Photoshop file and adjust the visibility of the individual layers.

1. Navigate to page 1, the cover panel. If you locked the Background photos layer in the previous exercise, go to the Layers panel and unlock it now. Using the Selection tool, click the background image, Cover-RedFlower.psd, and choose View > Fit Page In Window. This file, which you relinked in a previous exercise, has four layers.

   Note

   You can open the Links panel to confirm that this is the image you select.

2. Choose Object > Object Layer Options to open the Object Layer Options dialog. This dialog allows you to show and hide layers.

3. Move the Object Layer Options dialog so that you can see as much as possible of the selected image. Select the Preview option to view changes while keeping the dialog open.

   

4. In the Object Layer Options dialog, click the eye icon () to the left of the Cobblestones layer. The layer is turned off, leaving only the Red Poppy layer visible.

5. Click the eye icon () to the left of the Sky with Clouds layer. Click OK.

6. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Creating an anchored graphics frame

An anchored graphics frame moves with the text to which it’s anchored if editing causes the text to reflow. In this exercise, you’ll anchor the CD title to a text frame on the center page.

1. In the Pages panel, double-click the second spread, and choose View > Fit Spread In Window. At the bottom of the pasteboard is the Songs of the Garden logo. You’ll insert this graphic into a paragraph on the page.

   Note

   If the Anchored Object Control square is not visible when selecting the logo, choose View > Extras > Show Anchored Object Control.

2. Press and hold Z to temporarily access the Zoom tool, or select the Zoom tool () and click to zoom in on the logo and the text frame above it.

3. Choose Type > Show Hidden Characters to view the spaces and paragraph returns in the text. This helps you locate where you want to anchor the frame.

   Note

   Showing hidden characters is not a necessary step when placing anchored graphics; it is used here to help identify the structure of the text.

4. Select the Type tool () and click in front of the word “Addie” at the beginning of the second paragraph. Press Enter or Return, creating an empty paragraph. Press the up arrow, which moves the cursor to the beginning of the empty paragraph, and then type three or four spacebar spaces.

5. Return to the Selection tool (), and click the logo. (Be careful to click outside the content grabber so that you select the frame and not the graphic within.) Notice the small solid-red square near the upper-right corner of the frame. You can drag this square into a text frame to anchor an object to text.

   

6. Hold down the Shift key, and drag the red square near the upper right of the logo frame to the beginning of the empty second paragraph, within the space characters. Holding the Shift key creates an inline graphic that flows within the text (as opposed to floating outside the text frame). You’ll see a thick cursor indicating the point where the graphic will be inserted. Release the mouse button. After the graphic is anchored, the red square on the graphic’s frame changes to an anchor symbol. The graphic will stay between the first and third paragraphs and move up or down if text is added or deleted without you having to also move the graphic each time.

   

   Tip

   When the leading for a paragraph is set to Auto, inline graphics do not overlap with any text above or below their insertion point.

   Once a graphic is anchored, you can select it with the Type tool and apply text attributes that affect its position. Now you’ll create space between the graphic and the surrounding text with the Space Before option.

7. Select the Type tool (), and then click to the right of the inline graphic at any of the space characters to establish the insertion point in that paragraph.

   

   Tip

   When you hold down the Shift key and click the arrow button, InDesign changes the measurement in larger increments than when you do not hold down the Shift key. The amount varies with the measurement units set in Preferences. When you are using inches, the amount is .25 in. versus .0625 in. without the Shift key; when using millimeters, the amount is 10 mm versus 1 mm.

8. Click the Paragraph Formatting Controls button () in the Control panel. Hold down the Shift key and click the up arrow button to the right of the Space Before icon () four times to change the value to 1 in. As you increase the value, the anchored graphics frame and the text below it shift downward. Note that the cursor also gets longer, reflecting the large Space-Before value.

9. To see how the anchored graphic flows when text is edited, click to the right of the period that ends the first paragraph, and then press Enter or Return twice. Notice how the graphic moves down each time you press the key. Press Backspace (Windows) or Delete (macOS) twice to remove the extra paragraph returns, and the graphic moves back up.

10. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Adding text wrap to an anchored graphics frame

You can customize how the paragraph text wraps around an anchored graphics frame. The text wrap settings offer many different options to flow text around a frame or the shape of the graphic within the frame.

1. Using the Selection tool (), select the graphics frame with the Songs of the Garden logo you placed in the previous exercise.

2. Press Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (macOS), and drag the upper-right handle of the frame up and to the right until you’ve scaled the graphic and its frame to cover roughly 15–20% of the second column. With the graphic still selected, drag it downward so that the top is below the first paragraph.

   

3. Choose Window > Text Wrap to access the Text Wrap panel. Position the panel so that you can see the changes as you apply settings. In the Text Wrap panel, select Wrap Around Object Shape () to flow the text around the graphic.

   Note

   An animation may play that demonstrates Subject-Aware Wrapping, which is the default setting under Contour Options, in the Type menu, where it’s called Select Subject. You’ll learn about this feature later in the lesson. Click OK to close the animation.

4. Under Wrap Options, choose Right Side from the Wrap To menu. Under Contour Options, choose Same As Clipping from the Type menu. To increase space between the text and the graphic, click the up arrow button in the Top Offset option () three times to change the value to 0.1875 in.

   

   Text can also wrap around a graphic’s shape rather than around the rectangular bounding box.

5. With the Text Wrap panel still open, under Contour Options, choose Detect Edges from the Type menu. The other settings will stay the same. Detect Edges creates a vector path around the objects. The text wrap is determined by the shape of the objects in this graphic, in this case by the letters.

6. To view the results clearly, choose Edit > Deselect All, and choose Type > Hide Hidden Characters to hide the paragraph returns and spaces. You could toggle back and forth between normal and preview modes as well, all while leaving the Text Wrap panel open.

7. In the Text Wrap panel, experiment with the available options from the Wrap To menu. Return to Right Side as your final choice.

   

   The path created when using the Detect Edges contour option is an editable vector path with points and handles as shown above. For example, you can manually adjust the anchor points by dragging them to a new position. You can also add or delete points and convert them from corner points to smooth points (and vice versa) with the Pen tool (). You can change the shape of curves by adjusting the anchor point handles with the Direct Selection tool ().

8. Select the Direct Selection tool (), and then click the graphic to view the anchor points used for the text wrap. Experiment with moving individual points and notice how that reflows the text.

   

9. Examine this path in the 11_End.indd file, where many points along the bottom of the graphic were deleted to better control the text flow of the first line of the paragraph below the anchored graphic. You don’t have to follow this path exactly, but use it as an example.

   Tip

   When you hover over an anchor point with the Pen tool, the icon adds a minus sign to indicate that if you click that point, it will be deleted.

10. Close the Text Wrap panel, and choose File > Save.

Importing an Illustrator file

InDesign takes full advantage of the smooth edges of vector graphics, such as those from Illustrator. When you use the High Quality Display setting, vector graphics and type appear with smooth edges at any size or magnification.

1. In the Layers panel, select the Graphics layer. Choose Edit > Deselect All to make sure nothing is selected in your document.

2. Choose View > Fit Spread In Window to see the entire spread.

3. Choose File > Place, and select the Illustrator file Garland.ai from the Lesson11 folder. Make sure that Show Import Options is not selected. Click Open.

4. InDesign shows the loaded vector graphics icon (). Click in the upper-left corner of the spread to add the Illustrator file to the page. Use the Selection tool () to position it as shown here. Graphics created in Illustrator have transparent backgrounds by default.

   Note

   If an Illustrator file imports with a white background, delete it and import it again, but turn on Show Import Options and then turn on Transparent Background.

   

5. Choose File > Save to save your work.

Importing an Illustrator file with layers

You can import native Illustrator files with layers into an InDesign layout and control the visibility of the layers. One way this feature is used is to publish different versions of a document. The part that changes is set up on different layers that can be turned on only in the matching version, while the main design stays the same.

1. Deselect all objects by clicking in the pasteboard of the document window. Click the empty graphics frame to the left of the red frame on the far left of the spread.

2. Choose File > Place. In the lower left of the Place dialog, select Show Import Options. Select the file Flower-Title.ai, and click Open. The Place PDF dialog appears when Show Import Options is selected (because Illustrator files are written in PDF file format).

3. In the Place PDF dialog, make sure that Show Preview is selected. Click the General tab and choose Bounding Box (All Layers) from the Crop To menu and make sure that Transparent Background is selected.

4. Click the Layers tab to view the layers. This file has three layers: a background image of a flower (Flower Drawing), a layer of text in English (English Title), and a layer of text in Spanish (Spanish Title).

   

   Although you can now designate which layers you would like to display in the imported graphic, the small Preview area makes it difficult to see the results.

5. Click OK. You’ll select the layers to display while working in the layout.

6. Press Ctrl+= (Windows) or Command+= (macOS) a couple of times to zoom in and center the graphic on your screen.

7. In the Control or Properties panel, click the center reference point () and then click the content grabber () to scale the graphic (content) within the frame (container). Click the downward open triangle () to the right of either the X or the Y scale percentage field and choose 75%. InDesign scales the graphic and centers it in the frame. (If you use the Properties panel, you may need to click the three dots at the lower right of the Transform area to reveal the More Options area, which contains the scaling entry fields.)

   

   

   

8. Press the Esc key to select the frame, press the Shift key, and click the translucent red frame. Click the red frame again to make it the Key Object. Use the horizontal and vertical center buttons in the Control, Properties, or Align panel to center the graphics frame with the flower over the translucent red frame.

   

   

9. Choose Edit > Deselect All, click the flower graphic, and choose Object > Object Layer Options. Move the dialog, if necessary, so that you can see the graphic in the document.

   

10. Select Preview, and then click the eye icon () next to the English Title layer to turn it off. Click the empty box next to Spanish Title to turn on that layer. Click OK, and then choose Edit > Deselect All.

    

    Using layered Illustrator files allows you to store variations of an illustration in one file without having to create separate files for each variation.

Creating an InDesign library

Now you’ll create your own library and add text and a graphic to it. When you add a graphic to an InDesign library, the original graphic file is not copied into the library; instead, InDesign maintains a link to the original source file. Graphics stored in a library still require the original, high-resolution file for high-resolution display and printing.

1. Choose File > New > Library. (If the CC Libraries alert appears asking whether you want to try out CC libraries now, click No.) Type CD Projects as the library filename, navigate to the Lesson11 folder, and click Save.

   Note

   See the sidebar on the next page for more information about CC Libraries.

2. Navigate to page 6 (the back cover of the CD insert). Using the Selection tool (), drag the Ricky Records logo to the library you just created. The logo is now saved in the library for use in other InDesign documents.

   

3. In the CD Projects library, double-click the Ricky Records logo. In the Item Information dialog, type Ricky Records Logo in the Item Name field, and click OK.

   Tip

   If you Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (macOS) an object into a library, the Item Information dialog box appears as soon as you drag the item into the library. You can assign a name to the object as you add each item.

   

4. Using the Selection tool, drag the address text frame to the CD Projects library.

5. In the CD Projects library, double-click the address text block in the Library panel. For Item Name, type Ricky Records Address, and click OK. Click the panel menu and choose Large Thumbnail View so that it’s easier to see the items.

   

   Now your library contains both text and graphics. As soon as you make changes to the library, InDesign saves the changes.

6. Close the CD Projects library by clicking the close button at the top of the library panel group.

Congratulations! You have completed this lesson.