Using InDesign Manual 2025

Toolbox The Toolbox , also called Tools, contains all items you need for drawing, text and object creation and the manipulation tools you will use to create your yearbook spreads. To open the Toolbox, go to Window > Tools. Many of the tools in the toolbox have hidden tools nested underneath. For example, the Rectangle tool has a small arrow at the lower right corner of its icon. Click and hold the Rectangle tool button and you will be able to access the Ellipse and Polygon tools. Palettes Palettes are floating windows that allow various tasks to be performed easily. There are a number of palettes in InDesign to help you monitor and modify your work. You can access palettes under the Window menu.

Docking a palette You can organize your workspace by docking palettes into groups or vertically to the right side of the workspace. To dock a palette, drag the tab of one palette to the lower edge of another palette. When the bottom of the other palette highlights, release the mouse button and the two palettes will connect. To separate docked palettes, drag the tab of the docked palette away from the group of palettes. The action of unlocking a palette or toolbar is called to float. You can reset all palette locations by choosing Window > Workspace > Default. Show and Hide palettes To open or close a palette, click on the Window menu and choose the palette. To show or hide all open palettes at one time, make sure you do not have a text-insertion point in text or in a text palette box, and then press the Tab key. To close a palette, click the Close button in the upper left or right corner of the palette, depending on your operating system. Rulers When you open a new or existing document, located just above and to the left are ruler markers in picas. You can change these units of measurement to other types by selecting Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Units & Increments (Mac). The default is in picas. Or, you can change it on the fly by right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) on the ruler itself and changing the type there. To activate ruler guides, click and drag on the top or left ruler and place the guide on the page. Remember to use the black arrow (Selection tool), to place the ruler guide on your page. Grids Depending on how you are creating your layout, using only the ruler guides to align objects, frames, and text may not be enough. For precise layout work, you may want to use baseline or document grids . A baseline grid is particularly helpful when spacing text on your layout. The document grid looks like graph paper and is useful for placing objects and text in

Palette tabs The Palette tab is located at the top or side of the palette and looks similar to a folder tab. By

selecting the tab, you can pull a palette to the front, drag the palette to the outside of the group palette or create a new palette. Control Panel The Control Panel (below) will allow you to make precise manipulations to objects and type. It is visible under the main menu at the top of the program. If it is not visible, the Control Panel can be found under Window > Control. This is different from the Control Center, which is a Walsworth Enhancement. Typically you will use the Control Panel in relationship to objects by adjusting their location on the page spread, as well as specific object width and height.

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