Can we have multiple bleed and slug layouts?

[Eternal Warrior]

Hi all,

So I'm currently making multiple versions of the same advert for a product all at varying sizes and layouts.

Because I often need the same elements over and over and I don't want to have to have a folder with up to 10 INDD files when one will suffice... I am making each advert as a new page in my InDesign file and using Liquid layouts and master pages to modify them.

However the problem arises (particularly with slug areas) that visually speaking I don't need the same amount of slug/bleed for each layout...

I.e. an A5 advert doesn't need the same amount of Slug area as an A4...

Whilst for this particular project the bleed isn't such an issue because its all for magazine artwork (max size of a single page A4). I have another project coming up where it would be more of an issue.

So I want to know if its possible to have different slug and bleeds for all the liquid layouts and If not:

• Do I need to submit a feature request?
• OR is this likely to come soon / if I update my InDesign to the very very latest version (21.1.0 rather than whatever CC 2017 I'm currently running) will this solve this?

Many thanks,

Eternal Warrior

[amaarora]

Hi Eternal Warrior​,

I think it cannot be done since bleed is a document level setting. I would be interested to know if it is otherwise

One close workaround can be to set the bleed at max value. Then you can specify the bleed as appropriate rather then "use document bleed settings" when exporting. You can export the .indd as .pdf and then explore the Crop PDF pages in Adobe Acrobat DC options? (Bleed box)

-Aman

[Laubender]

Hi Eternal Warrior,

bleed and info area are document properties and not page properties.

That's still true with InDesign CC 2017.1 .

I do not think that this will change in the foreseeable future…

What's also missing with Liquid Layout is that with resizing the values for the page margins are also resized.
It would also be wonderful if the baseline grid could be defined by page and would be resized as well.

So go ahead and submit a feature request.

For now export to PDF, open the PDF with Acrobat Pro/DC and change the values for bleed there.

Regards,
Uwe

[Eternal Warrior]

Ok thanks Laubender (Uwe) and amaarora (Aman). I will go ahead and submit this as a feature request along with your suggestion about the baseline grid.

In the meantime I will leave this thread open and see if anyone else has any other ideas or knows more just in case.

Do you have any solutions for the immediate slug box issue?

Best wishes,

EW

[BobLevine]

My $0.02 worth.

Liquid layout and alternate layout are half baked features that were originally intended for DPS layouts. It never worked properly and for my money, they are more trouble than they are worth.

When I need multiple layouts, I’ll duplicate a page and use the page tool to resize it or just save it as different documents.

Of course with all things, YMMV.

[Eternal Warrior]

Was trying to avoid having "unnecessary" extra InDesign Documents - Particularly for archiving purposes. But thanks for your input.

Haven't heard YMMV for a while! I'm assuming this still stands for Your Mileage May Vary?

Best,

EW

[rob day]

I.e. an A5 advert doesn't need the same amount of Slug area as an A4...

I assume you are exporting individual pages, so the slug dimension would be scriptable.

[Eternal Warrior]

Generally speaking It would be individual pages for final versions but there are exceptions.

Also in the interest of improving communication in the pre-approval stages this would often be packaged into (or back into) a single PDF where applicable.

Best,

EW

[Willi Adelberger]

When I make advertisements I create an INDD with the maximum of bleed and slug which would be required. Upon export I reduce the bleed to the requirements of the publisher. So I don't change the bleed in the INDD, only in the export settings.

[Eternal Warrior]

I can understand how this might work with bleed settings but surely not for the Slug if that is required?

The Difference between slug on an A5 and A4 surely looks dramatic?

[Willi Adelberger]

What is the purpose you need the slug for? I need it normally only for information for the printer which is important for production.

[Eternal Warrior]

Well typically - aside from information for the printer - I like to include some information about when that document was made and last modified and by who and any exact CMYK values if required etc... because the files can get passed around a lot and sometimes get sent internationally to other companies/manufacturers we work with.

It's also good for archiving purposes this way because even if someone edits the file and therefore changes the metadata etc normally they leave the slug alone.

Best,

EW

[rob day]

A script could also temporally change the slug size during the export—it could set the slug, export the page, and reset the slug to it's original dimensions. If you are using OSX I can post an example AppleScript.

[Steve Werner]

The script sounds like a good idea. I think it's pretty unlikely that a request to create a custom slug size would be make it to the top of feature requests with the product managers.

[rob day]

Here's the AppleScript with annotations:

---------------------------------

tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2014"

    -------------------Display a Dialog ----------------------

    set lw to 250

    set myDialog to make dialog with properties {name:"PDF Settings"}

    tell myDialog

        tell (make dialog column)

            tell (make border panel)

                tell (make dialog column)

                    tell (make dialog row)

                        set PresertList to name of every PDF export preset of application "Adobe InDesign CC 2014"

                        make static text with properties {static label:"PDF Preset:"}

                        set myPDFPresetDropdown to make dropdown with properties {string list:PresertList, selected index:3, min width:lw}

                    end tell

                    tell (make dialog row)

                        make static text with properties {static label:"Slug Size"}

                        set slugEdit to make measurement editbox with properties ¬

                            {edit units:points, edit value:0, maximum value:1000, minimum value:0, small nudge:1, large nudge:10, min width:90}

                    end tell

                    tell (make dialog row)

                        make static text with properties {static label:"Page"}

                        set pageNum to make integer editbox with properties ¬

                            {edit value:1, maximum value:1000, minimum value:0, small nudge:1, large nudge:10, min width:50}

                    end tell

                end tell

            end tell

        end tell

    end tell

    -------------------Display Results ----------------------

    set myResult to show myDialog

    if myResult = true then

        set PDFPreset to item ((selected index of myPDFPresetDropdown) + 1) of PresertList as item

        set slugSize to edit value of slugEdit as string

        set pn to edit value of pageNum as string

    else

        return

    end if

    destroy myDialog

    -------------------PDF Save folder-----------------------

    set doc to active document

    --set pn to document offset of active page of active window

    set myFolder to (choose folder with prompt "Please select an Export Destination") as string

    set myFileName to name of active document

    set thePath to (myFolder & myFileName & ".pdf")

    -------------------Save preferences for reset-----------------------

    set docviewprefs to properties of view preferences of doc

    set docprefs to properties of document preferences of doc

    -------------------Set the slug and Export-----------------------

    set properties of view preferences of doc to {horizontal measurement units:points, vertical measurement units:points}

    --include slug & bleeds, and set the page number

    set properties of PDF export preferences to properties of PDF export preset PDFPreset

    set properties of PDF export preferences to {page range:pn, use document bleed with PDF:true, include slug with PDF:true}

    set properties of document preferences of doc to {document slug uniform size:true, slug top offset:slugSize}

    export document 1 format PDF type to thePath

    -------------------------------Reset Slug----------------------------------

    set properties of view preferences of doc to docviewprefs

    set properties of document preferences of doc to docprefs

end tell

[Obi-wan Kenobi]

Rob,

Not tested but seems very cool! [Time to go to sleep!]

Thanks!

(^/) 

[Obi-wan Kenobi]

Hi,

Rob is right! Slug is scriptable! 

In this video, I've 4 docs without slug! The script creates them!

So, we could imagine a script that will create a slug [1] depending of the page dimensions and export the page 1 to pdf, then modify this slug [2] and export the page 2, …

(^/)