Saving, Printing, and Prepress

To save your InDesign file, choose File, Save. It's that easy. If you want to save your file to be compatible with InDesign CS, you can save it in the InDesign Exchange format (INX).

Exporting Files

InDesign files can be exported to a few different file types. In some cases, such as PDF, the result matches (at least visually) exactly what was in the original document. However, in all cases, the native InDesign information is lost, meaning that InDesign functionality tied to the document such as layers and object definitions is gone when the file is exported. For that reason, be sure to always save a copy of the original InDesign file in addition to the exported version.

Exporting PDF

To export to PDF directly from InDesign, choose File, Export, and then choose Adobe PDF. You can choose from many different options, including compression and security settings. You can also choose to create a PDF file that conforms to the PDF/X standard (see Figure 8.56).

Figure 8.56. Exporting a PDF that conforms to the PDF/X standard.

Because there are so many different ways to create PDF files these days, and because there's really no control over what a PDF can or cannot contain, leaders in the print community created a standard called PDF/X as a subset of the PDF spec that is tailored for CMYK and spot-color printing workflows. For example, a PDF/X-1a file has all transparency flattened, has no RGB content, and has all fonts embedded in the file.

Exporting EPS

If you need to export single pages in the EPS format (this can be useful for opening InDesign files in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop), you can do so through the Export dialog box (File, Export). Choose EPS as your file type (which changes the extension to .eps), and click the Save button.

The Export EPS dialog box appears with a myriad of options. If you'll be exporting for use in Photoshop or Illustrator, there's no need to mess with most of the options unless you have placed images in your document; then you should review and adjust options as appropriate in the Advanced panel of the Export EPS dialog box. The important thing to pay attention to is the Flattener Preset setting, which should be set to High Resolution if you have transparency in your file.

Separation Preview

You can view individual spot or process color plates onscreen live in your document at any time. This is accomplished through the Separations Preview Palette (accessed by choosing Window, Output, Separations Preview). In this palette, you can view each of the plates individually, or in any combination with other colors, by clicking the eyeballs on the left (see Figure 8.57). Note that when you are down to any one color, it always appears onscreen as black.

Figure 8.57. Using the Separation Preview palette to check individual plates onscreen.

Additionally, you can choose Ink Limit from the View pop-up menu to have InDesign highlight the areas in your document that exceed the ink coverage percentage that you specify in the palette (see Figure 8.58).

Figure 8.58. Specifying an Ink Limit value.

The Ink Manager

When printing color separations, you might want to specify certain settings for each ink, such as dot type and screen angle. You can access these settings by choosing Ink Manager from the Separation Preview palette menu. The Ink Manager also enables you to specify ink aliases, which can be extremely helpful when working in a document that contains several spot colors. If you have two versions of the same Pantone color in your document, you can specify one as an ink alias of the other, effectively combining both colors to separate to the same plate (see Figure 8.59). The Ink Manager also contains a single button that you can use to convert all spot colors to process.

Figure 8.59. Setting one spot color as an ink alias of another spot color.

Preflight

Preflighting in InDesign is the process of ensuring that all files and fonts are intact and current, and that all colors and print settings are correct. InDesign makes this process straightforward by providing a Preflight dialog box, accessed by choosing File, Preflight. Clicking on each of the items in the list on the left of the box (Summary, Fonts, Links and Images, Color and Inks, Print Settings, External Plug-ins) displays detailed information about those areas (see Figure 8.60).

Figure 8.60. InDesign indicates the effective resolution of a placed image so that you can make sure you haven't scaled an image too much, which would result in a lower-quality reproduction of the image

Package

The Package command (File, Package) provides a quick method for placing your InDesign file, all linked files, and any fonts used in the document into a single location (the same lists you saw when you chose File, Preflight, as described previously). You can then easily drag these files into an email or burn them onto a CD, confident that the recipient will have all the files needed to open, edit, and print your document.

Package for GoLive

The Package for GoLive command (File, Package for GoLive) packages the components of your document (text blocks, imagery, and so on) into a form that GoLive (the Web authoring package in the Adobe Creative Suite) can use to create a web page (or series of pages) from your InDesign document content. This function does not create an HTML web page; you'll still need to assemble the content in GoLive.

Printing

Because InDesign is an aggregation application, you'll find yourself needing to print from it more than all the other applications in the Adobe Creative Suite combined. To that end, the printing capabilities in InDesign (most of which are mimicked in Illustrator) are phenomenal. The following lists some of the more commonly used functions in the Print dialog box (see Figure 8.61).

Figure 8.61. The InDesign Print dialog box.

Print Dialog Options

Although InDesign supplies all sorts of detailed options at print time, most people use only a handful, such as copies and page ranges.

Change Number of Copies to match the number of copies you'd like; check the Collate button if (when printing more than one copy) you'd like the pages to come out in sets in order, as 1/2/3, 1/2/3, 1/2/3, instead of 1/1/1, 2/2/2, 3/3/3.

To print a subset of the pages in your document, choose the Range radio button and type in the pages you want to print. For contiguous pages, use a hyphen (for example, 2-4). For individual pages, use commas (for example, 1, 4, 7).

Print Presets

If you're a tweaker when it comes to the Print dialog box, you'll find the Print Presets invaluable. They enable you to store all the Print dialog box settings (save them by clicking the Save Preset button at the bottom of the dialog box) and retrieve them simply by choosing them from the Print Preset pop-up menu at the top of the Print dialog box.

Marks and Bleed Settings

If you click the Marks and Bleed item in the list at the left in the Print dialog box, you're presented with an array of options for how various printer's marks appear and how to handle bleeding (which is how far past the edge of the defined page ink should appear).

Clicking the All Printers Marks check box and then printing a test document is a great way to see what all these things look like and where they will appear on your document.

Printing Separations

Separations are necessary for printing presses to reproduce color documents. Instead of one sheet being printed with all the colors on it, a separate sheet is printed for each color. Typically, you won't be choosing this option unless you're printing directly to plate or negatives (which are used to make plates for a printing press). To print separations, choose Output from the list on the left, and then choose Separations from the Color pop-up menu (see Figure 8.62).

Figure 8.62. Choosing to print separations from InDesign.

Transparency Flattening

When printing files with transparency, flattening must occur to have the file print correctly. In the Advanced panel of the Print dialog box, you can specify a flattener preset that controls this flattening process (see Figure 8.63). The High Resolution setting results in the best quality output, longer print times. For standard proofing, Medium Resolution is fine.