Datasheet

28
Part I: Before You Begin
icon to open it from the Control panel and several other panels; you can also
choose Edit➪Quick Apply (Ô+Return or Ctrl+Enter).
To quickly select a panel, just click its tab from its open panel group. When a
panel is active, its controls have the following characteristics:
✓ To display and select an option, click a pop-up menu or an iconic
button; the changes take effect immediately.
✓ To place a new value in a field, highlight the value that’s already in
the field and enter the new value. Note that fields accept values in all
supported measurement systems, as described in the “Specifying mea-
surement values” section, earlier in this chapter. To implement the new
value, press Shift+Return or Shift+Enter. To get out of a field you’ve
modified, leaving the object unchanged, press Esc.
✓ To increase or decrease the value in the field, use the clickable up and
down arrows where available.
✓ To use math to perform changes, enter calculations in the field. You can
add, subtract, multiply, and divide values in fields by using the follow-
ing operators: +, –, * (multiply), and / (divide). For example, to reduce
the width of a frame by half, type /2 after the current value in the Width
field. Or, to increase the length of a line by 6 points, you can type +6
next to the current value in the Length field. You can also use percent-
ages in fields, such as 50%, which adjusts the current value by that
percentage.
As with the tools, if you make sure that Tool Tips is set to Normal or Fast
in the Interface pane of the Preferences dialog box (choose InDesign➪
Preferences➪Interface [Ô+K] or Edit➪Preferences➪Interface [Ctrl+K]), you’ll
get some ideas as to what the panel iconic buttons and fields do.
If panels are getting in your way, you can make them all disappear by press-
ing Tab — as long as the Type tool is not active and the text cursor is active
within a text frame, of course. Press Tab to get your panels back.
Working with docks
Docks have controls to collapse and expand them. Click the double-arrow
iconic button at a dock’s upper corner to collapse or expand the dock. You
can also resize the main dock by dragging its resize handle. Figure 1-4 shows
the dock controls and what they look like when expanded and collapsed.
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