I have a general rule about working with a computer. Anytime I find myself doing the same thing more than ten times in a row, I stop. Most likely there is a command or tool that I can use to automate the process. That's what this chapter is about learning how to automate InDesign so the application does the dull, tedious chores for you. (Sadly, I can't apply this rule to other parts of my life, such as washing dishes, cleaning the litter box, or folding socks.) There are many different automation features. You can use Find/Change, Spell Check, Footnotes, and Find Font to quickly change text formatting. Footnotes make it possible to Simply choose the command and let InDesign do its stuff. As amazing as these features are, they are not the ultimate in automation. The next chapter shows how text and object styles are even more powerful automation tools. Of course, you're not required to learn any of these automation features. You are perfectly welcome to modify text by hand, one word at a time especially if you don't care about doing anything else in your life. |