Seattle InDesign User Group

Meeting Summary

Event Details

kEvin Friberg: tips & tricks when working with InDesign and PowerPoint or Excel

• Tables are now easier to update
  • Using an Excel document with new pricing information, you can select one cell and it will repopulate the information into the old cell.
  • Updating info in Excel: Go to toolbar in ID. Select one cell to populate with new information into other cells. COPY & PASTE
  • Create: new ID document. Build text box, insert table, grab and paste. Delete spare columns.
  • For a new document, make a text box first, then insert a table. “Grab” information in Excel and paste it into In Design. Then under the Object menu, select Fitting > Fit Frame To Content to resize the frame (Command/Control+option+C).
  
  
• Using EXCEL to update info
  • Copy information from Excel, put into ID. Use FIND/CHANGE. Strip away tabs from Excel.
  • Format cells.
  • It is hard to use EXCEL to make changes. Better to make formatting changes in ACROBAT. To make a PDF, in EXCEL select ALL while pressing Command in MAC or Control in PC. Copy as a table. Paste into EXCEL.
  • To change the format of a currency item (e.g., adding a space between $ sign and amount) throughout the table.
  • In Excel, choose Format > Cells > Currency and change the setting to Custom, make the change and Excel will reformat it.
  • In Excel now you can hide an extra (empty) column. You can also choose part of a table in Excel and you can change the relationship between rows and columns by choosing Edit > Paste Special > Transpose (?).
  • If you get data from an e-mail that is full of unwanted tabs, you can exercise a “Find and replace,” (Under Edit) by entering the double tab (^T^T) and replacing it with a single tab (^T). Then use formatting options in Excel to change the format.
  • If you need to eliminate or add a space, use Format > Cells > Custom and choose the appropriate configuration.
  • To change tables in a PDF document (Acrobat 9), use the Command/Control key before making the selection. Right-click to copy it as a table and paste it into In Design.
  
  
• POWERPOINT GRAPHICS
  • You can import graph and chart information from PowerPoint and save it as a PDF. Right-click and select the graph, open the chart object and it opens in a little program called “Microsoft Graph.” (Go to GRAPH > OPEN > CHART > OBJECT.)
  • This can be used to copy the information or to update the graph.
  • Freiberg makes charts in Excel instead of in Adobe Illustrator. It is better to edit cells in EXCEL than in ILLUSTRATOR. (Why? Because the formatting for replacing information is automatic/active??)
  • In POWERPOINT (right-click on PC or double-click on MAC) Go to EDIT > CHART OBJECT > GRAPHS > copy info into the right cells.
  • Click on the chart, interior parts, shows where numbers and words are. Save it as a picture > PDF, and then title it.
  • In EXCEL: go to GRAPH. Select the pie chart. Save as a picture to create a PDF from a GRAPH.
  • PIE CHARTS are easier to manipulate and edit in EXCEL.
  • Create a new InDesign document, Place (Command/Control+D). Open as high-quality display; the image is shown as all vector. Go back to Excel to reformat (space-number-space). In Excel (?) you can move parts of the Excel (spreadsheet?) and parts of the pie chart too.
  • COLOR: ALL MICROSOFT APPS. EXPORT AS RGB. To assign CMYK, bring them into ACROBAT to edit color in a PDF file. (ADOBE’S default color space is CMYK.)
  • You can apply styles to other things in Acrobat.
  • You can change the data set and the number of items on a chart in Acrobat by right-clicking and then choosing Edit With > Acrobat.
  • Convert RGB and change greys to rich black, brighten colors. (Some confusion about why the lead lines disappeared from the chart.)

• He cleaned up the Excel spreadsheet, reducing the elements to Style, Price, Store, Dates and product Logo.
  • For columns that will hold links to images, @ symbol in column name.
  • Save Excel document as text: Save As > Txt > Tab delimited.
• In InDesign, Window > Automation > Data Merge. InDesign automatically brings in data fields from the Style Source:
  • [logo]
    
  • [item descriptor]
    
  • [reg price]
    
  He then creates the merged document.
  InDesign creates a new merged file separate from the data merge template.
• You may encounter an “Overset Text Report” if too much text has been put into the template. These can be hand-adjusted on an individual basis.
• You can reverse-engineer your spreadsheet to make Excel work better. Use your Excel experts. Streamline work by creating a good spreadsheet.
• Hit Preview to preview all (500) pages. Really fast!
• OTHER USES FOR DATA MERGE: Window > Automation > Data Merge can be used to create post cards, letters, business cards.

Thank You

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers:
Eleana Pawl & Allegra Berrian - Note Takers
KaCe Whitacre Bob Moffat - Check-in & Photography

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will focus on working across Applications within the Adobe Suite. As always, if you have suggestions for specific topics or are interested in presenting, please contact us at seattle@indesignusergroup.com. Interested in earning a few extra raffle tickets? Volunteers who help with photography, check-in, or note-taking will receive extra tickets for helping out -- contact us at seattle@indesignusergroup.com if you're interested.

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