If you’re using Adobe InDesign to create and format pages, you’re probably saving your work as a .INDD file. This file type is proprietary to Adobe and includes everything you need to create a great brochure, book, magazine spread or most any other design. Discover the ins and outs of INDDs — and learn how to create an INDD file yourself.
INDD stands for InDesign Document. Whenever you're working in InDesign, you're working with an INDD file. Routinely used by graphic designers, journalists, marketers and publishers who work with Adobe products, the INDD format is the default file type for InDesign.
The INDD format incorporates everything a page layout needs — from fonts and formatting information to page content, swatches and styles.
In 1999, the first version of Adobe InDesign introduced the INDD format. Pagemaker, which Adobe acquired in 1994, served as the basis for InDesign’s build.
Today, InDesign is a big part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Apart from InDesign, INDD files are most closely associated with Adobe InCopy — a professional writing tool and word processor.
The InDesign Document file type is customised built for layout design. Here’s are some of the ways people use INDD files:
Use INDD files to create books, magazines, brochures, flyers and other print or web items with a strong design element. This easily sharable format helps graphic designers collaborate.
INDD files are also ideal for designing e-publications, online newsletters and presentations. It’s easy to incorporate video, animations and other graphics with static boxes.
InDesign is also often used to create engaging presentation slides — incorporating sound, video, animation and text.
InCopy users often work with INDD files to write directly into a formatted page. To have easy collaboration between creative content teams, writers can open and edit INDD files directly within InCopy.
Find out more about vector files
Depending on your project, the INDD file format may work better in some scenarios than others. Here’s what you need to know:
You can only open and edit INDD files with Adobe InDesign and other compatible programmes in the Creative Cloud suite. Open InDesign, select File > Open, then choose your document.
Follow these easy steps to create an INDD using Adobe InDesign:
You can open INDDs with some third-party programmes — however, the file won’t be fully compatible and making edits may be a challenge.
There’s no functionality to allow INDD files to open in Photoshop — but you can export your INDD to PDF format simply by selecting File > Export > Save as Type > Adobe PDF (print) > Save. To maintain the quality of the file when it’s exported, select a high resolution. You can then download and open the file in Photoshop.
INDDs are a form of vector file . Unlike raster files made from pixels, vector files don’t lose resolution when scaled because they’re built on a complex graph-like formula that is infinitely expandable.
To export a full INDD project to InCopy — including fonts, formats and other information — follow these four steps:
Find out more in this guide to exporting content from InDesign.
Should I use InDesign or Photoshop?
Though both part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, InDesign and Photoshop are used for different purposes. Photoshop works best for editing photos and creating graphic designs, which you can then add to InDesign to illustrate your pages and publications.
Find out more in this guide: Adobe vs. Illustrator vs. InDesign.
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