Extracting the Original Photos from a Word Document

This is my favorite "use-immediately" tip from the InDesign conference I attended last week in DC. I literally needed to use this technique the first day I was back at work. The InDesign conference was awesome - I'll be sharing my favorite tips from the conference in the weeks to come.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who receives Microsoft Word or PowerPoint documents from clients with photos I need embedded in those documents. In the past, I've tried to copy and paste them into Photoshop which only yields a low res copy. Then I have to go back and ask the client to track down the original jpg or tif files which takes a while. Sometimes the originals are lost and I'm out of luck.

Now I finally know how to properly extract those original photos thanks to Anne-Marie Concepcion of Seneca Design and InDesign Secrets. Of course, garbage in, garbage out - if the client inserted a low res photo all you're going to extract is that original low res photo but at least it's something!

1. Open up your Microsoft document. If it's a Word doc, you're ready for the next step. If it's a Powerpoint file, open a blank Word document. Copy all of the photos from Powerpoint into that new blank Word doc and save the Word doc.
2. Open a new InDesign document. Choose File > Place (Cmd + D), select the Word document, make sure the "Show Import Options" check box is selected and click Open. In the Show Import Options dialog box, check "Import Inline Graphics". Click OK and place the file.
3. Go to your Links panel and select all of the placed photos. Click on the Links panel's flyout menu and choose Unembed Link. In the dialog box that comes up, click No. You will be prompted to select a folder to place the embedded photos. Decide where you want the photos and click Choose. The original photos will be extracted to that file location.

New Yorker Halloween Cover

I like this illustration for it's understated color and ironic message.

2010 calendar from Amy Soczka

Beautiful and simple vector natural art on this calendar featured at Design*Sponge.

Type Around a Sphere and Other Type on a Path Tips

I don't know how long it has existed but I only discovered the Type on a Path dialog box recently. That's the Adobe suite for you - there are always a couple different ways to create the same effect and the easiest, most efficient way is sometimes hard to find. At least I know about it now. These tips work in both Illustrator & InDesign.

Arcing Text around a Circle

I used to create this effect with two circles of different sizes and visually and manually align them so they looked even. This way is much easier:

1. Open a new document and draw circle (hold down Shift while drawing to keep it proportional).
2. Select the Type on a Path tool and click on the circle. Type in your text and center it. With the hollow point arrow tool, move the text center line to the outside top of the circle.

3. With the text still highlighted, double-click on the Type on a Path tool in the toolbar to bring up the Type on a Path dialog box. Select Effect: Rainbow, Align to Path: Center and click OK.
4. Copy the text, Paste in Front and move the text to a new layer. Move this text's center point tot the bottom center.

Wrapping Text Around a Sphere

1. Open a new document and place your world graphic or other round object. Draw a long oval as shown.
2. Select the Type on a Path tool and click on the oval. Type in your text and center it. With the hollow point arrow tool, move the text center line to the inside bottom of the oval.
3. With the text still highlighted, double-click on the Type on a Path tool in the toolbar to bring up the Type on a Path dialog box. Select Effect: Skew, Align to Path: Center and click OK.

CD Artwork

I'm finally catching up on finding and adding cover artwork to iTunes so my albums can be reunited with their covers. It's funny how technology comes in a circle: moving away from artwork to a text only list back to including the artwork again. Here are some of my favorite covers.


Pink Floyd, Pulse - unique and creative concept. Excellent execution considering the album release date: 1995 and Photoshop version at the time: 3.0. Sarah McLachlan, Mirrorball - love the warm tones and textures and flower-like shape.


Jamie Cullum, Catching Tales - The bright red text and funky font make this cover pop. Sarah Brightman, Harem - I love the smooth empty space of the water and the sky. The curls on the text add interesting flair.


Sissel, Into Paradise - I know this technique is probably past its due date by now but I still like the erased title and photo edges. Shiller, Tag und Nacht - (Day and Night in German) simple, graphic, striking.

Random Green Inspiration

Creating Running Heads with Text Variables

This "how to" is very handy for books and other long documents. I was delighted once I learned how to use text variables to automatically generate running heads and maybe you will be too. So much time saved. So many master pages eliminated. No more worrying if I remembered to change the running heads when the chapter title was revised. I'm sure I've only just touched the surface of text variable capabilities and I'm looking forward to exploring more. Here's how to use text variable to create running heads:

1. Open your book or long document in InDesign.
2. In my example, I have a paragraph style called "chapter number" applied to the chapter number and a paragraph style called "chapter title" applied to the chapter title. Make sure your document has a paragraph style(s) applied to the text you want to use to generate the running head.
3. Select Type > Text Variables > Define. You can either modify the available options or click the "New" button. In this example, I clicked New.
4. To create the chapter number text variable: I named my text variable "Chapter Numbers" and chose Type: Running Header (Paragraph Style), Style: the paragraph style named chapter number, Use: First on Page. I inserted a colon and and space in the Text After field. Click OK. Click Done.
5. To create the chapter title text variable: I named my text variable "Chapter Title" and chose Type: Running Header (Paragraph Style), Style: the paragraph style named chapter title, Use: First on Page. Click OK. Click Done.
6. Go to your master pages and create a new text box for your running heads. Select Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable and choose Chapter Numbers. Select Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable and choose Chapter Title. Apply paragraph and character styles to format your text as desired. Make sure the width of the text box is large enough to fit your longest chapter title.

Creating an Interactive Table of Contents

Here are two ways to create an interactive table of contents in InDesign. By interactive, I mean that by clicking on Chapter 1 or page 11, the pdf document jumps to the beginning of Chapter 1 on page 11.

The easy way
If your document is straight-forward and you are able to auto-generate a table of contents, great! This is the easiest way to create an interactive table of contents, by letting InDesign do it for you:

1. Once you've complete the layout and style application for your document or book in InDesign, you're ready to automatically generate a table of contents. You will need to have a paragraph style applied to the chapter titles. This style will be used create the table of contents.

2. Click on Layout > Table of Contents to bring up the Table of Contents dialog box.
3. Add the chapter titles paragraph styles to the left box. Select an entry style for your table of contents (you can create it later if necessary and re-generate the table of contents).
4. Still in the Table of Contents dialog box, under Options, make sure the Create PDF Bookmarks box is checked. Click OK.
5. When exporting a pdf, under the General tab, be sure you check the boxes for Bookmarks, Hyperlinks and Interactive Elements.

The manual way
If for some reason you can't auto generate a table of contents or want to add a "go to page" command to another piece of text unrelated to the table of contents, use these steps to make your text interactive. I'm using hyperlinks because I find them simpler and easier to use than bookmarks.

1. Open a document in InDesign.
2. With the text tool select your point of origin text (the text you'd like a user to click to jump to another page). With this text selected, go to the Hyperlink panel fly-out menu and select New Hyperlink.

3. In the New Hyperlink Dialog box, under the Link To: drop down box, select Page.
4. Type in the page number you'd like to jump to, set the Appearance Type to Invisible Rectangle and click OK.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 as needed.
6. When exporting a pdf, under the General tab, be sure you check the boxes for Bookmarks, Hyperlinks and Interactive Elements.

Controlling a Viewer's Experience of Your PDF

Whether you'd like your pdf to be viewed in book view (two-up continuous with a cover page) or single page view or appear with the Pages Panel, you can make sure that happens every time the pdf is opened. Here's how to control a viewer's experience of your pdf:

1. Open a pdf in Acrobat. I'm using Acrobat Pro so I'm guessing you probably need Acrobat Pro for this to work.
2. Select File > Properties or hit Cmd-D to bring up Document Properties.

3. Click on the Initial View tab.
4. Now choose whether you want page only or side panels (page, bookmarks, etc) under Navigation tab drop down menu. Choose from single or two-up options under Page drop down menu. Choose from options like fit page, fit width or a zoom percentage in the Magnification drop down menu. Choose any other options as desired.
5. Save the pdf. Close it and reopen it to confirm your initial view settings have been applied. It will now open with these view setting every time.

I Love Dust Eames Pillow

I like the simple green and white color scheme and vintage typography and graphics on this pillow. From ILoveDust on ClickforArt.com