Adobe InDesign CS3 Bible

If you're a savvy InDesign user , you'll never build the same document twice. After all, that's what templates are for. Along the same lines, you never have to create the same object twice; that's what libraries are for. An InDesign library is a file ‚ similar in some ways to a document file ‚ in which you can store individual objects, groups and nested objects, ruler guides, and grids (ruler guides and grids are covered in the next section). For example, if you've created a logo in InDesign and you want to use it in other documents, you could place it in a library. Once you've saved an object in a library, it's as though you have an endless supply of copies. Every time you need a copy, all you have to do is drag one out of the library.

Creating a library is easy: Choose File ‚ New ‚ Library, choose a location to save the library in, give the library a name , and click OK. Figure 7-8 shows the dialog box.

Figure 7-8: The dialog box in which you save a new library.

You can create as many libraries as you want and store them wherever is most convenient , including on a networked server so other InDesign users can share them. When it comes to naming and organizing libraries, the choice is yours. If you work for an advertising agency, for example, you may decide to create a separate library for each client; each library could contain logos, images, boilerplate text (disclaimers, copyright information, legal blurbs), and so on. If you work for an in-house art department, you could create separate libraries for corporate logos (black-and-white, grayscale, and two-color/four- color variations), house ads, frequently used pictures, and standing art.

After you create a new library, an empty library pane is displayed, as shown in Figure 7-9. The name you assigned is displayed in its title bar. You add items by dragging them to the pane. You can group the pane with other panes (by dragging its tab onto another pane) or close it by clicking its close box or choosing Close Library from its pop-up menu.

Figure 7-9: A new (empty) library and its accompanying pop-up menu.

At this point, you're ready to begin placing objects into the library, after which, you can begin copying the objects into other documents. Before we look at moving items into and out of libraries, here's a brief description of the controls in a library pane and the commands in the accompanying pop-up menu (refer to Figure 7-9):

• The numbers in the lower-left corner of the pane indicate the number of objects currently displayed in the pane (though not necessarily visible depending on the size of the pane) and the number of objects in the library. Search capabilities let you display a subset of the entire library.

• Clicking the Library Item Information button displays the Item Information dialog box, shown in Figure 7-10. Here you can assign a name, type, and description to a library object. (You can search for library objects based on these attributes.)

  Figure 7-10: The Item Information dialog box.

• The Show Library Subset button displays a dialog box that lets you locate and display objects that meet certain search criteria.

• The New Library Item lets you add a selected object on a document page to a library.

• The Delete Library Item button lets you delete highlighted objects in the library.

• The Close Library palette menu command does the same thing as clicking a library pane's close box.

  Note ‚

  If a library pane is part of another palette, if it is the frontmost palette, and if you close that palette, the library pane is closed as well. But if the library pane is not the frontmost pane in the palette, the library remains open when you close the palette.

• The Add Item and Add All Items on Page commands let you add a selected item or all items on a document page to a library. You can also simply drag items into the pane.

• The Place Item(s) command lets you place copies of selected library objects into a document.

• The Delete Item(s) command lets you remove selected library objects from the library.

• The Item Information command displays the Item Information dialog box (refer to Figure 7-10).

• The Show Subset command opens the same dialog box that's displayed if you click the Show Library Subset button. The dialog box lets you locate and display objects that meet certain search criteria.

• The Show All command displays all library objects (rather than a subset identified by a previous search).

• When the List View option is checked, library objects are displayed in a list rather than as Thumbnails.

• When the Thumbnails View option is checked, each library object is displayed in its own thumbnail window.

• The Sort Items command lets you sort library items by name, type, and date.

To open an existing library, choose File ‚ Open or press z +O or Ctrl+O.

To delete a library, you must delete the file. Either drag the file icon to the Trash (Mac) or move the file icon to the Recycle Bin (Windows).

Adding and deleting library objects

In addition to placing individual objects, such as text and graphics frames, into a library, you can also place multiple-selected objects, groups, nested frames , ruler guides, guidelines, and all objects on a page.

There are several ways to add objects to a library. You can

• Select one or more objects and then drag and drop them into an open library pane.

• Select one or more objects and then click the New Library Item button at the bottom of an open library pane.

• Select one or more objects and then choose Add Item from the pop-up menu of an open library pane.

• Choose Add All Items on Page from the pop-up menu of an open library pane to add all objects on the current page or spread.

  Tip ‚

  If you hold down the Option or Alt key when adding an object to a library using any of the preceding methods , the Item Information dialog box is displayed. This dialog box lets you add searchable attributes to the object.

To delete a library object, drag its icon to the Trash icon at the bottom of the pane or click on the object once and then choose Delete Item(s) from the library pane's palette menu. You can select a range of objects by clicking on the first one and then Shift+clicking on the last one. You can select multiple, noncontinuous objects by holding down the z or Ctrl key and clicking on their icon.

Because the attributes of the original object are retained when you place a copy in a library, there are some pitfalls you have to watch out for:

• If you move, modify, or delete the original graphic files associated with a picture you've placed in a library and then copy the library object into a document, the Links pane will report that the graphics file is modified or missing (just as it would if you imported the picture then moved, modified, or deleted the original). It's a good idea to store graphics files used in libraries in a common location, such as in a Standards folder on the network, so the graphics files aren't accidentally moved or deleted when you delete or archive a set of project files that happen to contain objects placed in libraries.

• If you copy a text frame from a library onto a document page, any character style sheets, paragraph style sheets, or colors in the library object that have the same name as character style sheets, paragraph style sheets, or colors in the target document are replaced by those in the target document. If the target document does not contain character style sheets, paragraph style sheets, or colors in the placed text, they're added to the document.

• If you copy a text frame from a library onto a document page, make sure that the fonts are available. If they're not available, you'll have to choose alternate fonts.

When you place an object into a library, all its attributes are saved. For example, if you import a picture into a document and then place a copy of the picture into a library, the path to the original picture file is saved, as are any transformations you've applied to the picture or its frame (scale, rotation, shear, and so on). If you save text in a library, all formats, including style sheets, are retained.

Cataloging library objects

If your libraries contain only a few objects, finding the one you're looking for won't be very hard. But a library can hold as many objects as you want, and as a library becomes bigger, locating a particular object gets increasingly difficult. To make library objects easier to find, InDesign lets you tag them with several searchable attributes.

To tag a library element, select it and then choose Item Information from the library pane's palette menu. You can also display the Item Information dialog box by double-clicking on a library object or by clicking once on a library object and then clicking the Library Item Information icon at the bottom of the library pane. (Figure 7-10 shows the Item Information dialog box.) Now specify a Name, Object Type, and/or Description. In the Description field, it's a good idea to enter one or more keywords that describe the object so that you can easily find it later. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to the document.

InDesign lets you search for library objects based on the information specified in the Item Information dialog box. For example, if you've placed several different corporate logos into a library that includes many other objects, you could search for the term logo in the Name or Description field. If you used the word logo in either of these fields for your logos, a search of these fields for the word logo will identify and display your logos. The ability to search for library objects based on name and description is a good reason to name your library objects carefully and consistently and to specify keywords in the Description field of the Item Information dialog box. Follow these steps:

1. Choose Show Subset from a library pane's palette menu or click on the Show Library Subset icon at the bottom of the pane.

   The Subset dialog box, shown in Figure 7-11, is displayed.

   Figure 7-11: The Subset dialog box.

2. To search the entire library, click Search Entire Library; to search only the objects currently displayed in the page, click Search Currently Shown Items.

3. From the leftmost pop-up menu in the Parameters area, choose the Item Information category you want to search: Item Name, Creation Date, Object Type, or Description.

4. From the next pop-up menu choose Contains if you intend to search for text contained in the chosen category; choose Doesn't Contain if you want to exclude objects that contain the text you specify.

5. In the rightmost field, type the word or phrase you want to search for (if Contains is selected) or exclude (if Doesn't Contain is selected).

6. To add more search criteria, click More Choices; to reduce the number of search criteria, click Fewer Choices.

   You can add up to five levels of search criteria.

7. To display objects that match all search criteria, select Match All; to display objects that match any of the search criteria, select Match Any One.

   These options are available only if two or more levels of search criteria are displayed.

8. Click OK to conduct the search and close the dialog box.

All the objects that match the search criteria are displayed in the pane. The pane is empty if no objects matched the search criteria. If you want to display all objects after conducting a search, choose Show All from the library pane's palette menu.

Copying library objects onto document pages

Once you've placed an object into a library and, optionally , specified item information for the object, you can place copies of the library object into any document or into another library. To place a copy of a library object onto the currently displayed document page, click on the object's icon in the library pane and drag it onto the page. As you drag, the outline of the library object is displayed. Release the mouse button when the outline is positioned where you want to place the object. You can also place a library object onto a document by clicking on its icon and then choosing Place Item(s).