Being a bit lazy
fidel (332 pencils) | Thu, 2005-08-25 18:44Well this is my first Blog for the InDesign Blog.
I made magazines for about 18 years and one thing that I always liked was doing one thing and be able to use it time and time again. Yes I'm a little bit lazy.
I made my mags in Pagemaker (I hate Quark, don't ask why I don't know myself). In Pagemaker I could use paragraph styles and other automation possibilities (Swatches...). Once made I just had to load them in another document and voila I just had to get my previous effort and maybe apply some changes like Font Family, weight and so on. But my hierarchy of styles was still intact.
Came on InDesign and with the advanced options of Character styles (and to be able to load them in another document) was just what I wanted. But one thing was still impossible: create a document with master pages and to be able to load those master pages into another document. I know, I know there is the template possibility, but I want to use those possibilities without going through the hassle of the template option.
One thing that I do when I get a new version of a program is to see if my hangups get solved. Well I found something, maybe for some of you it was already an option but I am a slow learner.
Finally found an option to load master pages from one document to another. It works in Indesign CS1 and CS2, maybe also in earlyer versions, didn't had the time to check it out.
Here we go.
Open the document with the Master Pages you want to copy (origin doc). Open the document where you want the master pages to be applyed (target doc). Be sure you are in origin doc. Go to Window menu > Arrange > Tile. Now the documents are open one next to eachother.
In the origin doc go to the Pages palet > double click the master you want to copy to the target doc (the name of the master page should be marked in black).
To copy the master pages to the target doc, you do the following: with the name of the selected master page selected and marked in black, drag it to the target doc. When hovering over the target doc you will see your cursor change to a hand. When you see this just let go of your mouse buttton.
Et voilà the master pages is copied to the target document and is added to the Master pages in your pages palet.
Yes I'm lazy and proud of it.
I love comments
Commenting on this Blog entry is closed.
I would not call that lazy. I would call that smart and efficient. Thanks for the tip, this is really the easiest option to copy a master page.
Yep your lazy... Lazy and dumb!
This will tell you why ;)
I don't honestly think your lazy and/or dumb,
its basically a compliment (click the link to see what I mean)
Thanks for clarifying that. I had to read that article to get it. I was certainly hoping it wasn't an insult.
Read the article, funny. It's not easy to offence me, certainly not with a wink.
... of all invention. I don't totally agree that it's laziness. :)
Thanks for the tip.
but... today is my bad day and it just doesn't work! each time i try to do it, there is a serious indesign error... and i have to restart everything... do you have and idea what might be wrong? Is there any other solution to copy the master into new file? tnx...