296 Incorporate Photoshop files into InDesign layouts

- [Instructor] I have a Photoshop file here, and you can see over here in the Layers panel that this image is made up of a bunch of layers. I have an image over here, a text layer down here, and so on. Now I want to put this graphic inside my InDesign layout. So, in this case, I've already saved it to disk as a native Photoshop file, a PSD file, because I like using Adobe's native file formats when I can. Actually, PDF is also a good format to use, especially when working with type layers.

I talk about that in detail in my course, InDesign Insider Training: Working with Photoshop and Illustrator. But in this case, I'm just going to use the PSD file format; and I'm going to close this document by pressing Cmd + W or Ctrl + W on Windows. Then I'll switch over to InDesign, and I'm going to place that graphic. To do that, I'll go the File menu and choose Place. There's the PSD file that I created, so I'll select that and click Open. It loads the Place cursor, and now all I need to do is click and drag.

So that looks great except for one big problem. It has a big white box behind it. I didn't want it to have a white background. I wanted it to be transparent. So how do I get rid of that white background? Well, obviously, I first want to check to make sure the frame itself has a fill of none, right? Because if this had a fill of paper or some color, then it wouldn't let the background show through; but in this case, I can see up here in the Control Panel that this does have a fill of none.

Now if this were a PDF file, the next thing I would check is the import options dialogue box because there's a checkbox inside there called Transparent Background; and so when you place a PDF inside of InDesign that you want to have a transparent background, you have to turn on Show Import Options and then make sure the Transparent Background checkbox is turned on. But, once again, this is not a PDF; this is a regular, old Photoshop file, a PSD file, with layers and everything.

So how do I make the background transparent? Well, I just gave you a clue. I said the word "layers." That white background is actually a layer inside the Photoshop file. So to make the white go away, I could go ahead and open my original Photoshop file and then remove that layer or hide it and then save it and come back to InDesign; but I don't need to go through all that work because InDesign lets me turn on and off Photoshop layers right here inside of InDesign.

To do that, I make sure the image is selected on my page, then I go up to the Object menu and I'll choose Object Layer Options. You can see here at the top of the dialogue box, the names of all the same layers that I saw back in Photoshop; and if I want to get rid of that white background, all I need to do is look for the background layer, right there, and click on the little eyeball icon. That hides that layer. It's exactly the same thing as going back to Photoshop and hiding the layer there.

So now when I click Okay, you can see that the white background disappears and I have a transparent background. I love that ability to turn Photoshop layers on and off with that feature. Now I should point out that this even works for Illustrator files that have layers and even layered PDF files too. But I use that Object Layer Options feature most often with Photoshop files like this.