When you first launch InDesign, the Start workspace displays several choices:
Clicking Recent displays any files you have recently worked on in a list or thumbnail format. To enable the Recent files workspace, go to the Preferences dialog and select > Show The Recent Files Workspace While Opening a File checkbox in Preferences > General.The CC Libraries button displays owned or shared libraries.Clicking Presets displays templates for use with new InDesign documents. Click a template to start a project using that template’s characteristics.
Other frequently used and self-explanatory buttons on the Start workspace are:
New, which opens a new document. You can also go to File > New > Document, and, when the New Document window shows up, choose your document size and press OK.Use Open to navigate to and open a saved document.
If you are moving to a recent version of InDesign CC from an older version, you may not be comfortable with the Start workspace. In Preferences > General, in the Preferences dialog, deselect Show Start Workspace When No Documents Are Open to view the workspace you are more familiar with. When you open multiple documents, they are tabbed and you can switch among them easily by clicking on the tabs. You can rearrange the document tabs by dragging them. All the workspace elements are grouped in the Application frame — one window you can resize or move. When you do so, the elements in the frame do not overlap. If you work on a Mac, you can disable the Application frame by selecting Window > Application Frame, where you can toggle the feature on and off. When the Application frame is turned off, InDesign displays the traditional free-form interface popular in earlier versions of the software. Click on any of the tools in the Toolbox to activate it. If the tool icon has a tiny arrow in the bottom right corner, other related tools are nested with the chosen tool. Click and hold a tool with the tiny arrow to see which tools are nested and then make your selection. For example, if you click and hold the Rectangle Frame tool, you’ll see a menu that also contains the Ellipse Frame and Polygon Frame tools. The tools can be loosely described as selection tools, drawing and type tools, transformation tools, and modification and navigations tools. They are (in order):
Selection Tools
SelectionDirect SelectionPageGapContent Collector and Content Placer
Drawing and Type Tools
Type and Type on a PathLinePen, Add Anchor Point, Delete Anchor Point, and Convert Direction PointPencil, Smooth, and EraseRectangle Frame, Ellipse Frame, and Polygon FrameRectangle, Ellipse, and Polygon
Transformation Tools
Scissors Free Transform, Rotate, Scale and Shear Gradient Swatch Gradient Feather
Modification and Navigational Tools
NoteEyedropper and MeasureHandZoom
Tip: Turn on the tool tips to help you understand all the icons. You’ll find the Tool Tips menu in Interface preferences. As you hover over an icon, the tool tip gives information about its use. Panels in InDesign are listed under the Window Menu so if you don’t see the one you want, go there to open it. The panels include:
Align Color Control Gradient Info Layers Links Navigator Flattener Separations Pages Stroke Swatches Tools Transform Transparency Character Styles Paragraph Styles Table Text Wrap
To expand a panel, click on its name. Similar panels are grouped together.
