Exploring the InDesign Workspace

Exploring the InDesign Workspace

A workspace is where your work is created. Workspaces typically include an area designated for creating a finished product, much like a painter would use a canvas to create a painting.

When you start InDesign for the first time, you see the default workspace, called “Essentials,” with the Control panel and Tools panel along the top and left side of the InDesign window. The arrangement of windows and panels that you see on your monitor is called the workspace. The InDesign workspace features the following areas: the document window, pasteboard, Application bar, Control panel, Tools panel, and a stack of collapsed panels.

Figure 2.7 shows the default workspace, which is called Essentials.

InDesign CC 2019 offers a number of predefined workspaces that are customized for different types of tasks. Each workspace in InDesign is designed so that panels with similar functions are grouped together. For example, the Typography workspace shows the many type- and typography- based panels that are useful for working with type. You can switch from one workspace to another by clicking Window on the application bar, pointing to Workspace, and then choosing a workspace.

Application bar

The Application bar sits at the top of the workspace and includes several menus. To open a menu, click the menu name on the Application bar. Each menu lists commands that relate to the menu category. To the right of the menu names are workspace and view options.

Control panel

The Control panel is located directly beneath the Application bar and above the horizontal ruler. Options in the Control panel change depending on what is selected in the document. For instance, if your insertion point is flashing in text, you’ll see text options in the Control panel; if you use the black Selection Tool to select a graphic object, you’ll see different options for manipulating the graphic.

Document tab

The document tab appears just above the horizontal ruler and includes the document’s name, its current magnification level, and a Close button. When more than one document is open, a tab appears for each document and the document tabs appear in a horizontal row. Click a document tab to view that document in the window. You can drag a document tab out of the group to open it in a stand-alone window.

Tools panel

The Tools panel contains the tools available in InDesign. There are tools for creating objects, such as the Rectangle tool, tools for transforming objects, such as the Rotate tool, and tools for changing the page view and navigating the workspace, such as the Zoom tool and the Hand tool. Some tools have a small triangle in the lower-right corner. This indicates that additional tools are available beneath that tool. Click and hold the tool to see the hidden tools.

Panels

Panels are small windows that contain options for working with selected objects. You make choices in panels by clicking buttons, choosing items from lists, or using a command on the panel menu. Panels are positioned on the right side of the workspace and are identified by a name and an icon.

Document window

The document window is the central area that represents the open InDesign document. It resembles a piece of paper and is surrounded by a black border. The black border represents the page border.

Pasteboard

The pasteboard is the gray area surrounding the document window. You can place items on the pasteboard before actually inserting them on the page. You can use areas of the pasteboard for temporary storage of the elements you’re working with—just drag the elements off the page, and they’ll stay on the pasteboard until you need them.

Rulers

The horizontal and vertical rulers run along the top and left sides of the document window and pasteboard area. They are helpful for measuring and positioning objects.

Status bar

The status bar is at the bottom of the workspace. The status bar gives you the status of what is going on at the moment. For example, the status bar shows which page is active in a multipage document.