Okay, we have our document open, but we have a problem, it's mostly empty, empty document not good. Let's look at how we can get some text in here, edit it, and format it. The main tool in InDesign for manipulating text is the Type tool that's the one over here in the tool panel with a T on it. The Type tool lets me do two things in InDesign, it lets me create text-frames, that is frames that are going to contain text and it also lets me edit the text inside those frames. First, I'm going to take that Type tool and draw out a rectangle with it.
When I let go over the mouse button, you'll see that the Type tool created a text-frame and the text cursor is flashing inside of here, I can go ahead and start typing now. In this case though I don't want to type all the text that I want to put in here, so I'll delete that, instead, I want to place text from my hard drive. I can place either a Word file or an RTF file with fully-formatted text inside of any text-frame. I'll do that by going to the File menu, choosing Place, and then choosing the file I want to import.
In this case this brochure_intro.rtf file, when I click Open all the formatted text is placed inside the text-frame. Over here on the right side of the page I've an empty text-frame, and I can place text inside of this by typing in it. I'll click on top of the frame and then just start typing. I'd like this text to be in all caps, but instead of typing it over in all caps, I'm going to select it just by dragging over it and apply some formatting that will make it look like all caps. You change your text formatting in the Control panel, that's the panel that goes across the top of your screen.
To make this all caps, I'll simply select the All Caps button. When I click on that the text becomes all caps, it's not really all caps, it just looks that way. And if I click the button again it goes back, let's make that all caps and then let's change the color of one word, I'll just drag over that second word and change the fill color of the word. Once again I'll go to the Control panel and I'll choose a fill color from the middle of the Control panel, this gives me all the color swatches inside this document.
I'll talk about color swatches and how to create new ones in a later chapter. In this case I'm simply going to click on the blue swatch and then click down here, and then you'll see that the text is now blue. I'll make one more little text formatting change here. I'll select some text perhaps it's one sentence at the end of this text-frame and I'll make it italic. I'll do that by going to the Style popup menu on the left side of the Control panel, I'll choose Italic and the text changes to italic. Oops! I missed one letter, I better select that one letter and make that italic.
I'm going to use a keyboard shortcut, I love keyboard shortcuts, I'm going to press Command+Shift+I or Ctrl+Shift+I and that changes it to italic as well, it does the same thing as choosing it out of the Control panel. Now as you can see there are many other features up here in the Control panel for formatting text. InDesign is a text and typography powerhouse and I'm going to be covering lots, lots more about text in later chapters. Now this document is starting to come together, but you know what Shakespeare would say about this, Words, words, words! Bring on the pictures, hold on wheel, that's where we're headed next.
Author
Released
5/7/2012- Getting started in just 30 minutes: the quick start guide to InDesign
- Understanding your workspace
- Creating and setting up new documents
- Creating and applying master pages
- Entering and editing text
- Placing graphics
- Working with color and gradients
- Editing frame and path shapes
- Working with layers, objects, and groups
- Rotating and scaling objects
- Applying character and paragraph formatting
- Using styles
- Creating and formatting tables
- Exporting to EPUB and interactive PDF
- Packaging, printing, and exporting your final document
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
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Q: Where can I learn more about graphic design?
A: Discover more on this topic by visiting graphic design on lynda.com.
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What is InDesign?1m 23s
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Introduction
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Welcome57s
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Using the exercise files1m 38s
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1. Learn InDesign in Thirty Minutes
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Getting started3m 33s
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Adding or editing text3m 23s
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Adding or replacing graphics4m 31s
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Moving objects around4m 55s
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Printing and creating a PDF4m 57s
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2. Understanding Your Workspace
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Working with panels3m 58s
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3. Creating a Document
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Creating new documents7m 39s
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4. Managing Pages
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Changing page size4m 38s
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Overriding master page items2m 43s
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Adding page numbering2m 22s
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5. Text
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Understanding text frames3m 38s
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Typing and editing text4m 48s
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Importing text3m 47s
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Threading text frames3m 12s
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Setting text frame columns4m 31s
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Putting text on a path5m 50s
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Using the Story Editor5m 10s
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Checking spelling5m 12s
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Using Find/Change4m 45s
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6. Graphics
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Importing graphics8m 20s
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Using the Links panel7m 17s
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7. Formatting Objects
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Selecting objects5m 2s
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Colorizing images1m 59s
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Adjusting transparency4m 4s
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Adding drop shadows3m 33s
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8. Color
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Creating color swatches4m 33s
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Creating gradient swatches3m 53s
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Applying gradients4m 22s
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9. Frames and Paths
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Creating text outlines4m 12s
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10. Managing Objects
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Stacking objects2m 5s
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Grouping and locking objects3m 10s
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Nesting objects3m 23s
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Understanding text wrap5m 51s
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Using anchored objects6m 13s
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11. Transforming Objects
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Duplicating objects5m 37s
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Rotating objects2m 22s
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Scaling objects4m 21s
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Skewing objects1m 8s
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Mirroring objects3m 50s
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12. Character Formatting
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Changing case3m 23s
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Using Find Font3m 54s
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13. Paragraph Formatting
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Using drop caps3m 26s
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Setting tabs7m 36s
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Adding automatic bullets4m 10s
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Numbering paragraphs6m 10s
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14. Styles
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Using character styles4m 45s
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Using object styles2m 47s
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15. Tables
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Creating a table4m 29s
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Adjusting rows and columns4m 36s
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Formatting a table4m 32s
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Formatting cells6m 2s
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Applying table styles5m 33s
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16. Long Documents
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17. Interactive Documents
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Exporting EPUBs6m 12s
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Creating an interactive PDF12m 49s
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Building a Flash SWF4m 7s
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18. Packaging, Printing, and Exporting
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Packaging for output3m 34s
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Using the Print dialog box4m 52s
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Printing a small booklet2m 46s
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Exporting a PDF7m 56s
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Exporting text3m 27s
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Conclusion
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Next steps1m 25s
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Video: Adding or editing text