Indesign - how to use

Missing Font / Find Font...
If you open a document and a pop-up window informs
you that you are missing a font, this means that the
document was created using one or more fonts that are
not installed on your computer. These might be speciality
fonts that someone has downloaded from the internet or
simply another version of a generally used font, such as
Times New Roman or Helvetica.
Text Frame Options
There are a number of things you can do to a text box
should you wish to - for example add borders, have a
coloured background, add columns or change the vertical
justification. All of these things can be done by going to
Object > Text Frame Options.... (Ctrl + B). For example,
if you’re adding borders to your text frame for emphasis,
remember to inset the text so that it sits comfortably inside
the box and does not go right to the edge.
Bulleted and numbered lists
If you have a list that requires bullets or numbers, you
can apply them by selecting the text and clicking on the
bulleted or numbered list icons on the top of your screen
under the paragraph formatting control panel.
Paragraph formatting
Bullets and numbers
To rectify this go to Type > Find Font... then select the
font that has a warning triangle next to it and replace it
by choosing another font from the drop-down menu and
pressing ‘Change All’.
Tip: When placing image captions on top of images,
keep them consistent by always aligning the text box with
the image box and having inset spacing with a vertical
justification set to ‘bottom’.
Special Characters & Glyphs
Special characters — an apparently underused InDesign
feature — include things like date, page numbers and
break characters. Special characters free you from
having to insert this data by hand (or having to modify it
by hand whenever significant changes are in order). Say
you wanted your piece of text to start on a new column
— instead of pressing ‘Return’ over and over again in
order to get to the next column, go to Type > Insert Break
Character > Column Break.
With Glyphs (Type > Glyphs), you can explore all of the
characters in a font, which is handy when looking for
a particular symbol or working in a language that has
accented characters.
To add automatic page numbering to your document,
create a box for your page number on the Master Page, insert
any letter in the style you want the page numbers to appear,
select the letter and go to Type > Insert Special Character >
Markers > Current Page Number. The page numbering will
now appear on every page you have applied that master to.
Tip: You can turn the hidden characters (i.e. spaces, tabs
returns, column brakes etc.) on by going to Type > Show
Hidden Characters. Remember you will have to be on a
‘Normal viewing mode’ in order to see them. This comes in
handy if, when amending someone else’s old document, the
text starts acting funny (odd line breaks etc.) and you don’t
know why. By turning on the hidden characters you can see
exactly which buttons the previous person pressed when
creating the piece of text.
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