What Is the File Extension INDD?
Files with the extension “.INDD” are page layout files. Adobe InDesign designates its files with that extension. Page layout programs offer a wide range of capabilities but are a bit complex to learn. InDesign and its competitors are programs that enhance the success of print projects. Although less complicated programs may work, it’s important to use the right tool for the job.
- Adobe’s InDesign first came out in 1999. InDesign is the successor to its PageMaker program which Adobe acquired when it bought Aldus in 1994. Through the 1990’s PageMaker continued to lose market share to its chief competitor QuarkXPress, the first version of which was published in 1987. InDesign was positioned to be a more viable competitor to QuarkXPress.
- All page layout programs work to combine text, graphics and photos for smoother processing of pages and documents for print production. They offer greater flexibility and make it easier to manipulate all elements on the page. In addition, they operate by linking these elements on a base page rather than embedding them. In this way, the base document continues to be a small file that can be opened and refreshed quicker. It’s important to remember that photos and graphics are never part of the actual document even though you will see representations of them onscreen. When sending the page layout document elsewhere for printing, these elements must be gathered and included or the document will not print.
- InDesign and other page layout programs provide the designer or layout artist the opportunity to automatically flow text throughout the document. This development creates huge efficiency gains for designing and laying out magazines and newsletters containing long articles that run over multiple columns and pages.
Likewise, graphic images and photos can be adjusted in InDesign or a similar program. Although massive changes like cropping or re-sizing are not recommended in page layout programs, minor tweaks or size adjustments do not create problems and can save the deadline. - Pre-flighting is the term used to check a file prior to putting into in the production work flow. Most printers and publishers use some sort of pre-flighting software to insure that all components and fonts are included to avoid delays in the production cycle. The latest version of InDesign is offering a live pre-flight that looks for production pitfalls in real time, so you can correct them as they occur.
- Traditional offset printing presses and high-end laser printers (now referred to as digital presses), have file preparation requirements that exceed what can usually be handled by simpler word processing programs.
Programs like InDesign and QuarkXPress are designed to cope with the color gamut specific to print production known as CMYK. That acronym stands for the four ink colors used by printing presses to replicate full color. They are cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Most basic word processing programs are designed to work in the opposite spectrum which is RGB (red, green, blue) and is the spectrum used to project color. Televisions and computer monitors use RGB color representations. Web-based applications work in the RGB spectrum since their output will be projected, not printed. - Although InDesign can be purchased as a stand-alone software package, it’s usually offered by Adobe as part of its Creative Suite. The Creative Suite package includes a number of programs designed to work in conjunction with each other. It includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Acrobat in addition to InDesign.