Section 7. Configuring Plug-ins

#7. Configuring Plug-ins

Plug-ins are software modules that add features to InDesign. Many basic features of InDesign are actually implemented through plug-ins, so they can be easily updated. You can install additional plug-ins from Adobe and other companies to customize InDesign to your workflow. For example, you might purchase a plug-in that adds sophisticated database publishing features for automatically laying out a catalog.

Adobe makes it easy to find third-party plug-ins to solve your publishing needs, and InDesign makes it easy to control which ones you're using at any given time. Features added by plug-ins are integrated directly into the software as menu commands, palettes, dialog boxes, and so on.

Finding and Installing Plug-ins

If you have a specific publishing need, check the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com) for a complete list of plug-ins available for InDesign. If you know that you could save a lot of time if InDesign "just did this," check for a plug-in. You'll find plug-ins for automatically activating fonts as you open documents, for performing math equations in InDesign, and for creating bar codes among the many other plug-ins available.

Once you acquire a plug-in, follow the instructions provided with it for installation. If no instructions are provided, drag the file to the Plug-Ins folder within your InDesign application folder.

Configuring Plug-ins

If you buy a lot of plug-ins, you'll be tempted to just run them all, all the time. Why get them if you're not going to use them? However, since plug-ins take time to load when you start up InDesign and they sometimes conflict with each other, you might not want to run them all the time. To control which plug-ins load, you can create sets of plug-ins, which you can share with other users. (The plug-ins provided by Adobe in InDesign, however, are required to run and you can't change that.)

To configure the plug-ins running in InDesign, choose InDesign > Configure Plug-ins (Mac OS) or Help > Configure Plug-ins (Windows). In the Configure Plug-ins dialog box (Figure 7), you can manage all your plug-ins:

• Set menu: Choose a set of plug-ins to edit or to run with InDesign. You cannot edit the default sets (All Plug-ins, Adobe Plug-ins, or Required Plug-ins), but you can duplicate those sets and then edit the duplicates.

• Plug-ins list: Click a checkmark to the left of a plug-in name to control whether it loads with InDesign.

• Duplicate and Rename buttons: To create a custom set of plug-ins, duplicate one of the default sets and then rename it. For example, you might create a set of plug-ins specifically for production processes.

• Delete button: If you no longer need a set of plug-ins, you can remove it by clicking Delete. This does not delete your plug-insonly the set.

• Import/Export buttons: Use these buttons to share plug-in sets in a workgroup; each user needs his or her own copies of the plug-in software as well.

Figure 7. The Configure Plug-ins dialog box lets you create custom sets of plug-ins for specific workflows, projects, or clients. Information in this dialog box also helps with troubleshooting.

Note that changes in the Configure Plug-ins dialog boxincluding selecting a new set of plug-ins to loadtake effect only when you restart InDesign.