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InDesign 2.0: Photoshop to InDesign workflow
By Nick Hodge | January 18, 2003
![[1546] InDesign CS Logo](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1546.gif)
Visit the new InDesign Prepress Section: Adobe InDesign: Prepress Techniques
There are a variety of methods for taking a Photoshop file and placing to into InDesign. After over a year of InDesign 2.0 in production use, I thought it opportune to expose another workflow choice taken by these customers. It directly relates to the placement of files from Photoshop into InDesign 2.0 layouts.
Apart from supporting the traditional TIFF (.tif) file format, InDesign also permits the placement of JPEG (.jpeg, .jpe, .jpg), Macintosh PICT, GIF, Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and other bitmap-style formats.
The most commonly touted method is to save an Adobe Photoshop .psd file, and place this into InDesign 2.0. Transparency, otherwise known as alpha channel support, is fully supported in InDesign 2.0. What does not work, however, are vector layers. When placed into InDesign 2.0, vector layers including text layers are rasterised at the resolution of the Photoshop file (or transparency flattener, depending on the mechanics of the file).
![[1340] 01_transfile.jpg](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1340.jpg)
Example 1: Photoshop image, containing Transparency as shown by the checkerboard pattern.
![[1341] 02_transplaced.jpg](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1341.jpg)
Example 2: The same Photoshop image, containing Transparency, placed into InDesign. The transparency is respected.
With Photoshop 6.0, and included in Photoshop 7.0, Adobe added the ability to save a Photoshop PDF file. Photoshop PDF has many benefits, and also shares many of the features of the Photoshop PSD format.
This format, like the Photoshop PSD format, has the following features
- Transparency support.
- Photoshop layers. including text layers, adjustment layers, layer masks etc are saved in the same file
Additionally, Photoshop PDF has the following features that Photoshop PSD does not have:
- Its PDF. can be displayed in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Vector layers. keeping text/vector shapes kept as vector shapes for crisp printing and screen viewing)
- Security. using the security features of Adobe PDF, your images can be locked from viewing/editing by other people.
- Compression. images can be compressed using ZIP(lossless: no pixels are hurt) or JPEG (lossy: image data is changed)
With InDesign, Adobe has added support for the placement of PDF files without having to resort to "making and EPS" to ensure quality output. InDesign 2.0 also permits the placement of PDF files that contain transparency information - and holds the transparency information.
To save a Photoshop PDF for placement into InDesign, the go to File>Save As.
![[1342] 03_pdf.jpg](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1342.jpg)
Example 4: File>Save As. Choosing Photoshop PDF, here I am saving the layers (permitting late stage editing of the text layer if I wish)
![[1343] 04_pdf.jpg](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1343.jpg)
Example 5: File>Save As. Choosing Photoshop PDF: a subsequent dialog box permits the saving of Transparency, applying security and in this particular file: retain the vector data as vector.
This Photoshop PDF can be placed into InDesign - the the same as any PDF. When placed into InDesign 2.0, the file looks similar to the following. Notice I am only seeing the Proxy View of the image:
![[1344] 05_lrplaced.jpg](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1344.jpg)
![[1345] 06_hrplaced.jpg](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1345.jpg)
In the above example, I have turned on "High Quality Display". The vector quality of the text, and any vector shape layers (including vector clipping groups) are respected; just as they are respected when printing or exporting as PDF or EPS.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the file extensions supported by Photoshop PDF are .pdf and .pdp
![[1346] 07_pdf.gif](http://media.nickhodge.com/legacy/1346.gif)
What is the difference? Nothing, apart from the file extension. The contents are exactly the same. The reason why there are two options is for the Windows platform. On Windows, the extension is used to associate a file with an application. .pdf is associated with Adobe Acrobat. When you double click on a file, this dot extension is used to assist Windows in determining which application to launch to view the file. With InDesign 2.0, when using the contextual menu "Graphics>Edit Original", this association is also used. As this is a Photoshop PDF, and normally when editing/viewing the file - you would like to show it in Photoshop, an additional extension is permitted: .pdp, or Photoshop PDF.
I would recommend using the .pdp extension when saving a file from Photoshop as a Photoshop PDF. There were changes in InDesign 2.0 and 2.0.1 to support .pdp as equivilent to .pdf.
For MacOS users, the extension for InDesign 2.0 files is .indd
In fact, I would always use Photoshop PDF as the primary format when taking files from Adobe Photoshop to InDesign. There are no downsides: the file size is smaller, vector text and layers are supported and kept as vector.
Topics: mungenet |
September 5th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
[...] InDesign 2.0: Photoshop to InDesign workflowNick HodgeThe best way of taking Photoshop files into InDesign 2.0 [...]
November 8th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Just wondering... with InDesign, what sort of format does it use? i.e. jpg?
November 8th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
you can place JPG files into InDesign, yes. From version 1.0
You can also export pages as JPG images.. if that is your thing
November 9th, 2007 at 9:40 am
So (sorry Im not real experienced with this sort of thing) does InDesign create in jpg format? Could I export images to a program like FrontPage to create webpages?
November 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Amanda
InDesign is a print-publication design tool. If you are producing web sites/pages, I suggest Microsoft Expression Web or Adobe Dreamweaver.
Nick
May 8th, 2008 at 7:15 am
[...] so you should recreate text within the InDesign environment before exporting. Here, blogger, Nick Hodge talks a bit about Photoshop and InDesign [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 am
hi there, i just started my first "real" job, and keep encountering the same problem when working with InDesign files. The problem is, that once I send them to the lady who opens them up in Photoshop to resize them for the web, they get all pixellated and I don't know how to fix it up for her before I send them to her so she doesn't have to resize everything all the time. The poster size i work with in print is 2x3 feet and she needs a tiny version of it for the online newsletter. Thank you very much for any advice help or suggestions!!!
May 24th, 2008 at 10:36 am
magda
Photoshop renders your files as images -- and will always be pixelated.
Maybe you need to try a different design for the web; or a different tool?
Nick
June 16th, 2008 at 1:41 am
hi, a quick question, I am having the problem that when I place a file in Indesign (both jpeg and pds) that the image quality becomes terrible, its really pixilated. Is there anything obvious you can suggest?
Thanks.
June 19th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Alison Kim,
You might be viewing your project in a Typical Display setting which will give you a pixelated view. Try changing your Display Performance setting under the "View" menu to a high quality display and see it that solves your problem.