When working with difficult clients, it can be tempting to take out some frustration on the clients’ files, such as naming links within a file rather inappropriately. An example would be a picture placed into an InDesign file with the name lousypicture.jpg. Seems harmless enough, but this is a tame example compared to what might be going through your mind as a reader. Also, no – I’ve never done this and I’ve always behaved in a professional manner to my clients.
Seems like harmless enough fun… until the client requests packaged InDesign files of their artwork. Then it’s easy for the client to see all of the inappropriate names that were given to the links in their artwork, and unless they have a sense of humour about it, expect to receive… negative feedback.
If you’ve been in a situation like this and needed to rename all links in a document, then scripter Kasyan Servetsky has an ideal script for you: batch rename and link. Once the script is run, it renames and relinks all links in an InDesign file based on their page number and their position on the page. So a name such as lousypicture.jpg will now become AA_0002_r1.jpg
I’d originally used this script four years ago when I received a strange use-case where a customer wanted the images from their annual report labelled in terms of what pages the images were on, and this script was quite handy for that.
However, I can see the more appropriate use-case of having to rename inappropriate or offensively-named links when handing files over to clients.
You finally have an approval on that print project you’ve been working on for the last few months. All that’s left to do is make a PDF for the printer and be done with it, right?
Nope. It’s time to do some housekeeping on the file. Let me use this metaphor, once you’ve made dinner, you don’t leave your dirty pots and pans in the sink, do you?
It’s time to do some housekeeping, and in this episode of “must haves” on the Colecandoo Youtube channel, we’ll look at several scripts to keep your files nice and tidy.
Disclaimer
One word of caution with any of the scripts shown in the video. They are all destructive in nature. That is, they intentionally remove items from a document. Make sure you save your work prior to running these scripts, just in case they have a catastrophic impact on your artwork. I’m showing these scripts for educational purposes only, this is not a tutorial on how to use these scripts.
The first script removes items from the pasteboard. Run the script and select the distance from the trim edge and importantly whether threaded text on the pasteboard should be removed.
I can hear some of you now saying “but what if I’ve left important notes on the pasteboard for the next person who works on the artwork”? Well, either don’t use this script, or put your notes on after you’ve run this script.
This script removes any purely empty frames, that is no fill or stroke that have no special settings applied such as text wrap or text on a path. Once run, it scans the document and removes all of these empty frames.
The next script resamples all images over a given resolution to a more appropriate resolution. It’s great for projects such as yearbooks where the resolution of images is often far greater than it needs to be.
Now, I was in two minds to whether I show this script or not. Out of the scripts being shown in this video, this is both the most powerful and potentially most destructive of them. Ultimately, read the instructions before using this script, and make sure you have access to backups in case things go wrong.
Colour
Next, let’s address some colour issues that may have come about from selecting registration by mistake, or left-over swatches from a Microsoft Word import.
Unlike many scripts I’ve shown previously, most of these scripts are buried in forum posts, so it’s a matter of reading the post, finding the script, copying and pasting into a text editor and saving as a .jsx file.
It’s worth noting that all of these scripts only affect colours generated within InDesign, so won’t fix colour issues in links such as PDFs or photoshop files.
Add unnamed colours
Let’s start off with this easy one-line script that adds all unnamed colours to the swatches palette. True, it’s just as easy to select this from the swatches menu. Regardless how it’s run, this should be the first step to cleaning up the swatches. You can cut and paste it from below:
app.menuActions.item("$ID/Add All Unnamed Colors").invoke();
This script launches a prompt that allows you to search for colours that are a given percentage different from each other and merge them to the swatch that appears higher in the swatches panel.
If you’re using a special knockout black swatch and don’t want it to become the default black, perhaps make it a spot colour while running these scripts.
I explain the differences between these colours in more depth in Episode 14.
I’ve written a script that converts RGB and LAB values that appear as shades of grey to equivalent shades of Black, while leaving other swatches alone to be dealt with by another script.
There are two scripts that can take faux black values and convert them either to 100% black or rich black. The faux black is determined by CMYK values beyond certain percentages. In this case, any swatch that is over 70 Cyan, 60 Magenta, 60 Yellow and 90 Black will be converted to either 100% black or rich black. You can dig into the script if you like, and redefine what constitutes a rich black or faux black.
Next is this script that removes any layers that contain no artwork.
Remove unused styles and groups
This is a series of scripts that removes any styles not used in the artwork, as well as unnecessary style groups that may have been left, whether deep in folders or not. In the video it is combined into one “catch-all” script for convenience, but it is the work of many authors, so it’s not right for me to host it. Links to the originals can be found here, here, here, here and here.
Lastly, this script removes all guidelines in a document. I can see that there would be some use for guidelines to remain in a document, but felt it was worth demonstrating.
Preflight
To be sure that the artwork is completely free of issues, we want to make sure that there are no prepress issues. To make sure that the artist complied with the preflight that was associated with the document, there’s the preflight enforcer.
As shown on the Colecandoo Youtube channel before, I’ve prepared two scripts that will either warn or prevent a user from printing or exporting to PDF until all preflight issues are resolved.
So there you have it, over ten scripts that will help make housekeeping of InDesign files a lot easier. If there’s any that I’ve missed or you feel would be worthy of a future video, let me know via my contact page.
In the third of the “must-haves” Colecandoo youtube series, I continue to look at InDesign mods that can be made using javascripts or free plug-ins. The first modifications are again javascripts installed into the startup scripts folder.
This is an alternative to Tomaxxi’s control background export script that was shown in the last “must-haves” video. Tomaxxi’s script forced the PDF export window to appear during a PDF export. Great if you want to see the progress of a PDF, not great if it’s a large file and you need to get work done.
Instead, this script pops up the background tasks dialog to display the PDF progress while allowing alterations to be made in the ID file that is open. A prompt appears once the export is complete. The original javascript contains the full path name and completion time in the prompt, but I’ve modified mine to just let me know it’s done.
Then there’s my own preflight enforcer scripts. These startup scripts will make you the most hated person in a design studio if implemented. They work by preventing the ability to print or make a PDF by either interrupting or disabling with a warning prompt until all preflight errors are clear.
Next is the website of Frans van der Geest. He has created various startup scripts that add menu items to the interface. There are too many to cover here, but make sure to check out his site, being mindful it is in Dutch, so unless you speak dutch, I’d recommend using the Chrome browser and using its auto translate feature.
Non Startup-Scripts
There are some scripts that can make minor mods away from the startup scripts folder.
Two in particular are run from the regular scripts panel, but become part of the ongoing interface and only removed either at a software update or if preferences are trashed.
Adds the “richpaste” option to the edit menu. Richpaste allows for cutting and pasting text from one application to another, but preserving minor formatting such as italics, bold, underlines; while applying the document’s paragraph style to the incoming type.
Adds three options to the pages palette – 90 CW, 90 CCW and clear rotation. Yes, these features already exist in this panel, but require navigating further into the panel. Peter’s script adds these features to a more obvious place in the pages palette.
Free Plug-ins
Other interface modifications are achieved using dedicated plug-ins. Most plug-ins are paid plug-ins and serve specific purposes, but from time to time the manufacturers offer free plug-ins that are always great to have.
Find/Change Queries
The Final Touch
A free plug-in from the Adobe Add-ons, it adds a dialog that lets you export find/change queries that you have created so others can use them.
Adds two more options to the edit menu that allow undo multiple/redo multiple commands. In-tools has History scripts that perform a similar task, and can be accessed using keyboard shortcuts
This adds an interface that shows plug-ins from Rorohiko.com. In this instance, it has several of the plug-ins that Kris has made freely available to the public
There you have it!
While the scripts and plug-ins featured are free, consider the time and the effort that the programmers spent creating them. If the use of their scripts have made you more productive and saved you money, consider a donation to them directly, or purchase one of their paid products.
If there’s any mods that you think I’ve missed, feel free to let me know on my contact page.
In this episode of Colecandoo, I’ll demonstrate several ways to data merge to uniquely named interactive PDFs. The first method uses the data merge to single records script that I released in 2015 and can be downloaded here.
This demonstration features an InDesign file that is a survey for a package tour company. It contains form elements such as check boxes, radio buttons, a combo box, text box and a submit button. It is also a Data Merge document and contains two text fields within the first paragraph.
With my script, this should be a simple task, but as I click on the PDF export preset dropdown, I notice that I don’t have an option for interactive PDF. Why is this? Well put simply, the script works by calling upon the two ways that a Data Merge can normally be exported – to a newly merged InDesign file, or to a PDF.
As described on Colecandoo before, PDF export from Data Merge is neither a print PDF nor interactive, but it’s own style. Read the full article here.
Method One
But I said it could be done, so what’s the trick? Ultimately, we have to run my script to merge to InDesign files first, and once the folder of InDesign files is generated, use another script from Peter Kahrel, namely BatchConvert.
This script is an amazing utility created by Peter Kahrel that I have written about for InDesignSecrets. It takes a folder of InDesign files and can convert them to a variety of formats, including – for our purposes – interactive PDF. Simply point the script to the folder of InDesign files that were made initially, then point the script to a folder where the interactive files should save save to. Choose the output option as PDF interactive, and then run the script. That’s the first way.
Method Two
The second method is identical to the first method in that files are initially merged to InDesign files, and again uses the batch convert script. The difference is that rather than export to PDF interactive, files remain as InDesign files. Instead, there is a checkbox at the bottom of the user interface that allows another script to run during the batch. From here, I’m going to choose a script I’ve written for this express purpose – it will create an interactive PDF with the same name as the ID file but will save it to a folder called interactive PDFs on my desktop. So that’s the second method.
Method Three
The third method demonstrates a sneak-peek at the PRO version of the data merge to unique names script.
The interface doesn’t look too much different to the previous script, with one exception – the option to run a script during an InDesign export. From this new option in the user interface, simply select the script that I used in method two. Choose some fields for the filenames, the range, and click OK. That’s the third method.
Method Four
The last method demonstrates a sneak-peek at another alternate version of the data merge to unique names script. Unlike the other methods shown, this method is by far the most direct, as it adds “PDF interactive” directly to the user interface.
To accomplish this task, choose the save location, choose the “PDF interactive” radio button, choose some fields for the filenames, the range, and click OK. That’s the fourth method.
Sidenote about Document Fonts
One issue not addressed in the video is the issue of potential font substitution while creating the interactive PDFs. This comes about because all four techniques rely on creating an InDesign file first that is removed from the original merge file, and may not have access to the fonts used by the original merge file. I’m running Extensis Suitcase font management software so I know the fonts will always be active until I turn them off, but for those relying on other solutions such as the Document Fonts folder, beware of this issue. I’ve written about this for InDesignSecrets.
An added bonus
One thing about the PDFs made during the demonstration was that the text in the dropdown field didn’t suit the formatting of the survey. Formatting of text-related form fields can’t really be controlled in InDesign except for the point size. However, I’ve made an Acrobat Action that I can run not just to this file, but all files in a folder. This action will convert the font in the text and combo boxes to Helvetica and make them 12 point. It’s worth noting that while it’s possible to change the font to whatever is on your system, other users may not have those fonts, so be conscious about this before using the action. Helvetica, Times, Symbol and Courier are present in Adobe Acrobat.
I’ve made this Acrobat Action available from my downloads page as well.
For those after a more robust solution, perhaps consider Form Magic from ID-Extras.
So there you have it, four ways to create uniquely named interactive PDFs from Adobe InDesign. If you’re interested in purchasing the upgraded versions of the data merge to unique names scripts shown in this video, contact me directly via my contact page.
