Imagine you can extract, quantify, analyze and index every bit of text from your InDesign documents, in any language, based on your own criteria: a predefined word list, a set of fine-tuned regular expressions, such or such character styles or containers. This tool has just been born and is called IndexMatic³.
What’s New in IndexMatic³ [UPDATE]
March 06, 2023 | IndexMatic³ | en | fr
15 InDesign Scripts and Snippets You May Have Missed
February 21, 2023 | Snippets | en | fr
If you visit this website from time to time, you know that it contains a plethora of free InDesign scripts, but you may not know that other cool nuggets are regularly open-sourced in our GitHub repository called IdGoodies. The latter being hardly documented, here is an overview of some scripts—and interesting code snippets—you will find there…
Getting Started with IDJS (InDesign UXP Scripting Format)
January 11, 2023 | Extras | en | fr
The funniest thing I've read about the ExtendScript-to-UXP migration is in the (AI-generated?) documentation from Adobe: “ExtendScript uses an antiquated version of JavaScript (ES3), from the era when JavaScript was coded on punched cards.” LOL! Adobe is trying to make us feel like our JSX scripts are ancient artifacts, but let's see if IDJS will actually bring about a technological revolution in InDesign…
The Magic Parent Bounding Box
August 04, 2022 | Tips | en
Geometry in InDesign can get deadly complex. Take a document, create a frame, insert a table, change a particular cell into a “graphic cell,” convert its inner object into an ellipse, play with strokes, rotate and scale the object, transform the parent frame in the fanciest way. Then ask yourself the question: what are the exact coordinates, shape or area of the final table cell?…
The Case of Converting InDesign Inches to Ciceros
July 26, 2022 | Tips | en
While working on his Measurements scripts, my colleague Mikhail Ivanyushin reported me weird biases related to units conversion. In particular, he observed a discrepancy between InDesign's display and direct results from ExtendScript when addressing inches-to-ciceros translation…
IndyFont 1.144 | Critical Bug Fix
June 09, 2022 | IndyFont | en | fr
Thanks to the feedback of an expert user, we discovered a critical flaw in the OTF export module of IndyFont. In short, the script was unable to generate a valid OpenType font having more than 255 glyphs in the Private Use Area. This serious issue is now fixed in iF 1.144. Go to your private link to update!
SmartSort 1.17 for InDesign CC/CS6/CS5/CS4
April 06, 2022 | SmartSort | en | fr
Fast, free, and feliz, SmartSort is an InDesign script that alphabetizes word lists (paragraphs or cells) with respect to the language used in your text. It's as easy as Right Click ▸ SmartSort… ▸ Sort! This new version essentially provides stability fixes. Download/update right now, and enjoy ;-)
The Hard Problem of Quantified Alternatives in ExtendScript
January 21, 2022 | Tips | en
In most cases, ExtendScript regular expressions cannot digest the (a|b)+
scheme. This bug is not new, but it's worth defining its symptoms and extent. This article presents a very simple problem, with no known solution to date…
How to Emulate a Lookbehind in IndexMatic²
January 12, 2022 | IndexMatic² | en | fr
Although most GREP patterns are supported in IndexMatic², lookbehind is not. This operator allows you to capture a match only if some particular pattern occurs BEFORE it. Under certain circumstances you might need to build an index based on such fine-tuned queries. Let's see how to get around the wall…
The Definitive Tutorial on Bézier Curves
November 03, 2021 | Extras | en | fr
Freya Holmér premiered in August a grandiose tutorial video, The Beauty of Bézier Curves, that every developer and/or graphic designer should watch! Especially if you are interested in the internal coding of outlines and path points in InDesign…
Porting your InDesign Script into IdExtenso — Step 5
October 19, 2021 | Tips | en
In this episode we seriously improve the relationship between user settings and user interface. As a result, we get a smart InDesign script that both remembers the choices the user made within the session and adapts to the context, that is, whether the script should target the selection or a larger scope…
Coordinate Spaces & Transformations in InDesign [UPDATE]
October 14, 2021 | Tips | en
Coordinate Spaces & Transformations is a free eBook covering all atomic subjects that a InDesign scripter or developer should grab before using transformation matrices and the related methods. The last update has minor corrections and notes…
Porting your InDesign Script into IdExtenso — Step 4
October 09, 2021 | Tips | en
The previous episode dealt with modularity in IdExtenso, now is the time to take full advantage of it! Today we will see how to add a dialog interacting with user options. You will be amazed at how quickly this component fits into the script…
Porting your InDesign Script into IdExtenso — Step 3
September 24, 2021 | Tips | en
In this episode, you will learn how to arrange your code so that it fits into IdExtenso's “modular space.” Modularity is a key term when it comes to maintaining a large-scale project. Even if our sample script is not in itself of pharaonic complexity, we will transform it, as an exercise, into a pure module…
Porting your InDesign Script into IdExtenso — Step 2
September 15, 2021 | Tips | en
Today we will embed in IdExtenso the code we prepared in the previous episode. That's of course an important move, especially when you perform it for the very first time (since then you need to install the framework.) But you will discover in what follows the immediate advantages that $$ offers you…
Porting your InDesign Script into IdExtenso — Step 1
September 07, 2021 | Tips | en
So, you have the root idea and a basic code for your next InDesign script. All is fine. It works so well that you're now planning to release it, which opens additional questions: Will it work everywhere? How do I trace risky functions? What if I need to integrate new features later on? How do I deal with persistent user settings? How to add a basic interface? How will I localize the dialog in other languages? Can I make my script available in a dedicated menu? Will it work in a JSXBIN package as well? Can I obfuscate my code?…
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