*Permanently* setting stroke/text wrap defaults?

[kzhessel]

I saw this question asked earlier when I did a search, though I wasn't completely satisfied by the answer.

In Quark, you can PERMANENTLY modify your tools, and those changes will apply to all documents you open. We always use lines with a .5 stroke. We always want our text frames to have a white background. We always want our boxes to have a p9 wrap. Always. Permanent. Every document.

I used the advice given earlier, to open a page, change the settings, draw a box or stroke, delete that box or stroke, and then all future boxes/strokes retain those modifications. However, the moment one closes the document, it resets to a 1 point stroke. This is going to drive us insane if we have to change it to .5 every single time. Please help!

Thanks in advance!

 

[GoGz]

If you change stroke size when you have no documents open it should become default for every other document.
Hope this helps!

 

[carlow]

hi kzhessel,

GoGz is correct with his stroke width answer. What you must do after changing this is quit InDesign. Now Indesign writes bthis information into it's pref file and every time you start InDesign this file is read.

It is not so simple with the text boxes and the wrapping. My solution would be to create a Library.

Create a new document, then create a new Lybrary (File>New>Library) a new palette will appear.

Then create a text frame with a white background and just drag it into the library. You can rename the text frame in your library so it is recognisable for you.

Do the same with a Picture box and apply a text wrap to it, then drag it in your library. Rename it and that's it.

Now you have your two typical frames available all the time.

I know it is a work around but maybe it helps you.

In CS2 version of InDesign you can create Object styles just like you do with paragraph and character styles. This would solve your problem without having to create a library

hope this helps
Carlow

 

[kzhessel]

Hmmm. GoGz tip didn't work. Document preferences override application preferences (in Quark you had a choice), so if the default is 1 pt or hasn't been set, even if you tell the app that you want it to be .5, the moment you open a document it goes back to 1 pt. The other problem with that is all defaults are "temporary," so to speak. We like our default at a single .5 line. However, we often use a double 3.5 line. The first time someone changes the stroke BEFORE they actually draw the line (instead of altering the line once it's drawn), the new default will become double 3.5, and all future lines will be double 3.5 instead of a single .5.

It just seems so silly that it can't be set automatically and permanently, and that all solutions are workarounds. I'm trying to get an already-reluctant newsroom of 50 designers to move from Quark, where they're all used to going to the line or box tool, creating a fresh one, and having it be correct every time. Libraries work but seem to impractical and clunky when there are perfectly good line and box tools available. Same goes for the object styles -- extra clicks and movements to create a very basic, simple object that should be available as a default.

We'll just have to make sure our template defaults are correct, and then pray people don't accidentally mess up those defaults as they work on pages.

Thanks!

 

[tad1952]

kzhessel - you jumped the gun. GoGz is absolutely correct.

Open ID but do NOT open any documents, create all the attributes you want: h&j's, stroke width, default font & size, drop shadow, colours, even paragraph & character styles - anything you can think of. For example, select the frame tool and give it a white fill, a text runaround, a drop shadow, an orange outline. Select the text tool & change the font, the size, the colour, etc etc.

QUIT ID

Now when you open ID, your attributes will now be the defaults.

Once I am completely satisfied with my settings, I go into user/library/preferences/adobe indesign/version 3.0/ and make a copy of the "InDesign Defaults" file. If InDesign starts acting up, I quit, delete this file, make a copy of the copy, delete the word "copy", relaunch InDesign & everything'll be exactly the way I set it up - saves a lot of work.

You can even replace this file on all your computers & everyone will now have exactly the same settings. Very simple, very easy.

I haven't tried it, but I can't see why you couldn't set everything up for one job, make a copy of the file & add the client or job name in the place of "copy", change everything for a 2nd, 3rd or 4th job, each time making a copy of the default file, adding the job name. Save a master set & when you switch to one of the jobs, delete the original default file, delete the job name & when you open ID, you'll automatically have the defaults for that particular job.

 

[kzhessel]

That's true -- if you're creating new documents from scratch (ie, File > New > Document) after you've set up your application prefs.

If you're working on OLD documents or working from a template and creating pages every day based on those templates, then document attributes override application preferences.

Give it a shot -- after setting up your app, create a new document. We'll call it Document A. With nothing selected, make the default a 10 pt line in pink. Then draw a line. It'll be 10 pts and pink. Then draw another line -- it'll still be 10 pts and pink. Save and close the document.

Create a new document, we'll call it Document B. Draw a line -- it should be .5 pts and black, like your app preferences were originally set. Good. It's behaving.

Reopen Document A. Draw a line. It'll be 10 pts and pink, NOT .5 pts and black.

While this is fine (and I'll surely come to love it for my own personal design preferences), for the techno-challenged in the room, this will be a pain. If they change any attributes of a line before they actually draw that line, then that will remain their new default in that document, and any new lines created will be 10 pts and pink, for example. If that document gets passed to another editor, even if their app preference is .5 pts and black, when they draw new lines on Document A, they will be 10 pts and pink unless it's manually changed back with nothing on the page selected.

Admittedly, in the strictest of senses, Quark behaves the same way, but they make it MUCH harder to change line and box attributes BEFORE the line or box is drawn. In InDesign, all that info is right in front of you and is not just tempting to change, but easy to change accidentally. And for the "functional" but not "proficient" -- which is very much the case around here -- I can see these kinds of accidents happening with relative frequency.

The assuring part is that it's a daily, so at worst, one page gets screwed up for one day and is easily fixed, and then tomorrow's new page based off a correct template will have the correct attributes again.

Thanks again for all your help guys -- despite my resistance to a few of InDesign's settings, I think it'll all work out just fine.

 

[tad1952]

I must be missing something because I just don't get it.

Once I ceate a document, I expect those preference to stick & if someone goes into my file and changes the preferences for any item, then it is NO ACCIDENT. If I set my defaults to be a .5 black rule, then that is the default setting I want. I can draw a line, assign it as 10 point pink, but the next line I draw will revert to my default.

On the other hand, if the decision has been made that to change the preference of the default line to 10 point pink, I would certainly expect that default to hold if I go back into the document. If we need to be working with 10 point pink rules for that particular job, then I would be very upset to go back to into that document & have my preferences change to those of the last document I was working on.

That is why templates are called templates. You set them up with all the settings exactly the way you want them. There should be absolutely no reason for anyone to be modifying any of the preferences unless it is something you have collectively decided to update - in which case you update the template first & then create your new documents based on the revised template.

I see no problem with the way InDesign is working, it sounds like a people problem - no one should be modifying preferences - especially if a job is being shared.