Importing and Modifying Graphics

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You might use a library to store boilerplate text, a photo of each writer who contributes to a publication, or frequently used page elements such as a logo or an image with a caption.

CREATING AND USING CC LIBRARIES

Creative Cloud Libraries make your favorite assets available to you anywhere. You can use CC Libraries to create and share colors, character and paragraph styles, graphics, Adobe Stock assets, and more using your favorite Creative Cloud desktop and mobile apps and then access them across other Creative Cloud apps whenever you need them. You can also share libraries with anyone who has a Creative Cloud account, so it’s easy to collaborate, keep designs consistent, and even create style guides to use across projects.

CC Libraries work much like the InDesign libraries you use in this lesson. To create a new CC Library, follow these steps:

1. Choose Window > CC Libraries to display the CC Libraries panel, or click the CC Libraries panel icon ().

2. Click the Library panel menu, and choose Create New Library.

3. Enter CD Elements in the Create New Library field, and then click Create.

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   The CC Libraries menu includes several commands that let you create and manage CC Libraries and control how library elements are displayed in the panel.

4. Use the Type tool to select all of the text in the address at the bottom of page 3, click the plus sign at the bottom of the CC Library panel, and then click the Add button. Both the text and the paragraph style will be added to the library. You can add both formatted and unformatted text to a library, as well as the styles and color associated with the text.

   

5. Use the Selection tool () to select the “Songs of the Garden” graphic on page 4, and then drag it into the library window. Double-click the name “Artwork 1” and type to change the name to Songs of the Garden logo. Be sure to click the name and not the icon of the graphic itself. Drag another graphic to the library and name it, such as the red maple leaf at the top of page 4. Examine the organization of the library.

   

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   When you add an asset to a CC Library, it’s assigned a default name. If you want to change the name of an asset, double-click its name and then enter a new one.

   After you’ve saved assets to a CC Library, you can use them in other InDesign documents, as well as in other Adobe CC applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

6. Choose File > New > Document to open a new InDesign document. Click Create to use the default settings.

7. Drag the “Address” asset in the CC Library to the page. The Address paragraph style uses Paper as the fill color, so you’ll need to add a fill color to the text frame to see the white text. The Address paragraph style is also added to the list of styles in the Paragraph Styles panel.

8. Drag the “Songs of the Garden logo” asset from the CC Library to the page, and then click with the loaded graphics icon to place the graphic.

9. Close the document without saving changes and return to the document you were working on.

You can also share CC Libraries with team members and other colleagues. For more information, see the “Exploring on your own” section at the end of this lesson.

USING SNIPPETS

A snippet is a file that holds objects and describes their location relative to one another on a page or page spread. Snippets are a way to conveniently reuse and place objects in position, and can be shared with others. You create a snippet by exporting objects to a snippet file, which has the .idms extension. (Earlier InDesign versions use the .inds extension.) When you place a snippet file in InDesign, you can determine whether the objects are placed in their original positions or where you click. You can store snippets in an object library and Adobe Bridge as well as on your hard disk. Artwork added to CC Libraries from InDesign is also stored as a snippet.

To create a snippet, do one of the following:

• Using a selection tool, select one or more objects, and then choose File > Export. From the Save As Type (Windows) or Format (macOS) menu, choose InDesign Snippet. Type a name for the file, and click Save.

• Using a selection tool, select one or more objects, and then drag the selection to your desktop. A snippet file is created. Rename the file.

To add a snippet to a document, follow these steps:

1. Choose File > Place.

2. Select one or more snippet (IDMS or INDS) files, and then click Open.

3. Click the loaded snippet cursor where you want the upper-left corner of the snippet file to be.

   If you placed the insertion point in a text frame, the snippet is placed in the text as an anchored object.

   All objects remain selected after you place the snippet. By dragging, you can adjust the position of all objects.

4. If you loaded more than one snippet, change the snippet loaded in the cursor by pressing the arrow keys, and click the loaded snippet cursor to place the currently selected snippet.

Rather than place snippet objects according to where you click on a page, you can place them in their original locations. For example, a text frame that appeared in the middle of a page when it was saved as a snippet can appear in the same location when you place it as a snippet. To place snippets in their original location:

• Open the File Handling section of the Preferences dialog box. Within the Snippet Import area, choose Original Location.

  The default is Position At: Cursor Location, which places the object based on where you click on a page.

• Or, press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) when you click with the loaded snippet cursor to override the current Snippet Import settings. If your preferences are set to Current Location, the snippet will be placed in its original location instead.