<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html
  PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<!--#config errmsg="" --><!-- saved from url=(0022)http://help.adobe.com/ -->
<html lang="en-us">
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
        <meta name="lang" content="en-us" />
        <meta name="area" content="livedocs" />
        <title>InDesign CS4 * Create new documents</title>
        <meta name="product" content="$product" />
        <meta name="productv" content="" />
        <meta name="keywords" content="" />
        <script type="text/javascript" language="Javascript" charset="UTF-8"><!--[CDATA[
        var currentTreeNode = "WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-715ba.html";
// ]]--></script>
<script src="terms.js" type="text/javascript" language="Javascript" charset="UTF-8">...</script> <script src="help.js" type="text/javascript" language="Javascript" charset="UTF-8">...</script>  <script src="utilities.js" type="text/javascript" language="Javascript" charset="UTF-8">...</script> <script src="event.js" type="text/javascript" language="Javascript" charset="UTF-8">...</script> <script src="treeview.js" type="text/javascript" language="Javascript" charset="UTF-8">...</script> <script src="toc.js" language="Javascript" type="text/javascript" charset="UTF-8">..</script> 
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--[CDATA[
var headId = document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0];         
if (use_ie_6_behavior) {
    var linkId = document.createElement("link");
    linkId.href = "content-ie6.css";
    linkId.rel = "stylesheet";
    linkId.type = "text/css";
    headId.appendChild(linkId);
}
// ]]-->
</script>
<!--#include virtual="/livedocs/ssi/globalheader.ssi" -->
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="tree.css" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="content-fonts.css" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="content-hyperlinks.css" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="content.css" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="localeSpecific.css" />
    </head>
    <body id="content_body" onload="window.focus();">
        <a name="top"></a><div id="mnemonic">
            <div class="InDesign"><table><tr><td class="banner">InDesign CS4</td><td class="pod"><img src="images/PDF.gif" width="16" height="16" hspace="15" valign="50%" />&#160;&#160;
                     <a title="PDF" href="http://help.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/6.0/indesign_cs4_help.pdf">
                         PDF (adobe.com) 
                    </a></td></tr></table></div>
        </div>
        <div id="searchbar">
<!-- BEGIN SEARCH CONTENT -->
            <form class="search_form" id="search" name="search" action="search.html" target="_self">
                <img src="images/search.png" />
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--[CDATA[
function clearSearch(){
    if (document.search.q.value == terms_AHV_SEARCH_BUTTON){document.search.q.value = ""}; 
}
document.write('<input class=\"search_input\" \
        name=\"q\" \
        id=\"q\" \
        type=\"text\" \
        maxlength=\"256\" \
        value=\"' + terms_AHV_SEARCH_BUTTON + '\" onclick=\"clearSearch()\"><\/input>'); 
// ]]-->


</script> 
            </form>
        </div>
<!-- BEGIN PAGE CONTENT WRAPPER -->
        <div id="page_content_wrapper">
<!-- BEGIN PAGE WRAPPER -->
<table id="page_content_table">
<tr>
<td id="col1">
<!-- BEGIN IONCOMMENTCOUNT -->
            <div id="ionComCount">
            </div>
<!-- END IONCOMMENTCOUNT -->
<!-- BEGIN GROUP TOC WRAPPER -->
            
<!-- END GROUP TOC WRAPPER -->
<!-- BEGIN NAV WRAPPER -->
            <div id="group_toc">
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--[CDATA[
if ( typeof(terms_BOOK_SHORT) != 'undefined' ) {
  document.write("<p>" + terms_BOOK_SHORT + "<\/p>");
}
// ]]-->


</script> 
            </div>
            <div id="nav_content">
            </div>
<!-- END NAV WRAPPER -->
</td>
<td id="col2">
<!-- BEGIN CONTENT WRAPPER -->
<!-- BEGIN BREADCRUMBS -->
            
            <div id="breadcrumb">
                
<ul class="navigation"><li class="prev"><a accesskey="p" class="prev" href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-715ba.html" title="Creating documents"><img src="images/blank.gif" alt="Previous" width="17" height="17" /></a></li><li class="next"><a accesskey="n" class="next" href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-714ba.html" title="Customize the pasteboard and guides"><img src="images/blank.gif" alt="Next" width="17" height="17" /></a></li></ul><div class="hierarchy"><a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-715ca.html">Layout</a> /
     <a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-715ba.html"><b>Creating documents</b></a> 
     </div>

            </div>
<!-- END BREADCRUMBS -->
            <div id="content_wrapper">
<!-- BEGIN PAGE TITLE -->
                <h1>
                    Create new documents
                </h1>
<!-- END PAGE TITLE -->
                <br clear="both" /><div id="minitoc"><div class="t"><div class="b"><div class="l"><div class="r"><div class="bl"><div class="br"><div class="tl"><div class="tr"><div><h3>Contents [<a href="#" onclick="return toggleMiniToc('minitoc-links', this);" class="hideLink">Hide</a>]</h3><ul id="minitoc-links"><li><p><a href="#WS9CEB9252-B355-477c-8E7E-022D66B2CBEAa"><h4 class="topictitle4">Create a new document</h4>
</a></p></li><li><p><a href="#WS431DDEA7-5428-4a22-A036-B0984DDEEC64a"><h4 class="topictitle4">New Document options</h4>
</a></p></li><li><p><a href="#WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7159a"><h4 class="topictitle4">Document window overview</h4>
</a></p></li><li><p><a href="#WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7146a"><h4 class="topictitle4">Creating custom page sizes</h4>
</a></p></li><li><p><a href="#WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7145a"><h4 class="topictitle4">Define document presets</h4>
</a></p></li><li><p><a href="#WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7144a"><h4 class="topictitle4">Create a document using a preset</h4>
</a></p></li></ul></div></div><br clear="both" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br clear="both" /><div><p>Page
design begins with the basics: starting a new document, setting
up pages, and positioning margins and columns or changing grid settings. </p>
<p>You can also create tables of contents and indexes by managing
a document in a book file with InDesign.</p>
<p>For a video on setting up new documents, see <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/vid0068" target="_blank">www.adobe.com/go/vid0068</a>.</p>
</div>
<div id="WS9CEB9252-B355-477c-8E7E-022D66B2CBEAa" class="nochunk"><a name="WS9CEB9252-B355-477c-8E7E-022D66B2CBEAa"></a><h3 class="topictitle3">Create a new document</h3><div><ol><li><p>Choose File&#160;&gt; New&#160;&gt; Document.</p>
<p>The
New Document dialog box combines the Document Setup and the Margins
And Columns dialog boxes, so that you can set up the page size, margins,
and page columns all in one place. You can change these settings
at any time. </p>
</li>
<li><p>Choose a Page Size or specify a custom Width and Height for
your document.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Click the orientation for the page, either Portrait&#160;<img src="images/P_Portrait_Lg_N.png" /> (tall)
or Landscape&#160;<img src="images/P_Landscape_Lg_N.png" /> (wide).</p>
</li>
<li><p>Specify options in the Margins and Columns sections, if necessary.</p>
</li>
<li><p>To specify the dimensions of the bleed and slug areas, click
More Options. The bleed and slug areas extend out from the edges
of the defined Page Size. To make the bleed or slug areas extend
evenly on all sides, click the Make All Settings The Same icon&#160;<img src="images/bleed_settings_same.png" />. (See <a href="WS431DDEA7-5428-4a22-A036-B0984DDEEC64a.html">New Document options</a>.)</p>
</li>
<li><p>Click&#160;OK to open a new document with the settings
you specified.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="tip"><img src="images/tip_help.png" />To set default layout settings for all new documents,
choose File&#160;&gt; Document Setup or Layout&#160;&gt;
Margins And Columns, and set options when no documents are open.</div></div></div>
<div id="WS431DDEA7-5428-4a22-A036-B0984DDEEC64a" class="nochunk"><a name="WS431DDEA7-5428-4a22-A036-B0984DDEEC64a"></a><h3 class="topictitle3">New Document options</h3><div><div class="section"><dl><dt class="dlterm">Facing Pages</dt>
<dd>Select
this option to make left and right pages face each other in a double-page <dfn class="term">spread</dfn>,
such as for books and magazines. Deselect this option to let each
page stand alone, such as when you’re printing flyers or posters
or when you want objects to <dfn class="term">bleed</dfn> in the binding. <p>After
you’ve created a document, you can use the Pages panel to create
spreads with more than two pages or force the first two pages to
open as a spread.</p>
</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">Master Text Frame</dt>
<dd>Select this option to create a text frame the size of the
area within the margin guides, matching the column settings you
specified. The master text frame is added to the A‑Master. (See <a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6faaa.html">Using text frames on master pages</a>.)<p>The Master Text Frame
option is available only when you’ve chosen File&#160;&gt; New&#160;&gt; Document.</p>
</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">Page Size</dt>
<dd>Choose a page size from the menu, or type values for Width
and Height. Page size represents the final size you want after bleeds
or other marks outside the page are trimmed. </dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">Orientation</dt>
<dd>Click Portrait&#160;<img src="images/P_Portrait_Lg_N.png" /> (tall)
or Landscape&#160;<img src="images/P_Landscape_Lg_N.png" /> (wide).
These icons interact dynamically with the dimensions you enter in
Page Size. When Height is the larger value, the portrait icon is
selected. When Width is the larger value, the landscape icon is
selected. Clicking the deselected icon switches the Height and Width
values.<div class="tip"><img src="images/tip_help.png" />To specify the dimensions of the bleed
and slug areas, click More Options in the New Document dialog box.
To make the bleed or slug areas extend evenly on all sides, click
the Make All Settings The Same icon <img src="images/bleed_settings_same.png" />. </div></dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">Bleed</dt>
<dd>The Bleed area allows you to print objects that are arranged
at the outer edge of the defined page size. For a page of the required
dimensions, if an object is positioned at its edge, some white may
appear at the edge of the printed area due to slight misalignment
during printing. For this reason, you should position an object
that is at the edge of the page of the required dimensions a little beyond
the edge, and trim after printing. Bleed area is shown by a red
line on the document. You can set bleed area settings from Bleed
in the Print dialog box.</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">Slug</dt>
<dd>The slug area is discarded when the document is trimmed to
its final page size. The slug area holds printing information, customized
color bar information, or displays other instructions and descriptions
for other information in the document. Objects (including text frames)
positioned in the slug area are printed but will disappear when
the document is trimmed to its final page size. <p>Objects outside
the bleed or slug area (whichever extends farther) do not print.</p>
<div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:  </span>You can also click
Save Preset to save document settings for future use.</div>
</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p></dl>
</div>
</div></div>
<div id="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7159a" class="nochunk"><a name="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7159a"></a><h3 class="topictitle3">Document window overview</h3><div><p>Each
page or spread in your document has its own pasteboard and guides,
which are visible in Normal View mode. (To switch to Normal View,
choose View&#160;&gt; Screen Mode&#160;&gt; Normal.) The
pasteboard is replaced with a gray background when the document
is viewed using one of the Preview modes. You can change the color
of this preview background and guides in Guides &amp; Pasteboard
preferences.</p>
<div class="fignone"><img alt="" id="ty_01" src="images/ty_01.png" /><div class="figdesc">Document and guides in Normal View Mode </div><br /><dl><dt class="dlterm">A.</dt>
<dd>Spread (black lines)</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">B.</dt>
<dd>Page (black
lines)</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">C.</dt>
<dd>Margin guides (magenta
lines)</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">D.</dt>
<dd>Column guides (violet
lines)</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">E.</dt>
<dd>Bleed area (red lines)</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p><dt class="dlterm">F.</dt>
<dd>Slug area
(blue lines)</dd><p class="dlseparator"></p></dl>
</div><p>Document window notes:</p>
<ul><li><p>Lines of other colors are ruler guides which, when present,
appear in the layer color when selected.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Column guides appear in front of margin guides. When a column
guide is exactly in front of a margin guide, it hides the margin
guide.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div></div>
<div id="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7146a" class="nochunk"><a name="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7146a"></a><h3 class="topictitle3">Creating custom page sizes</h3><div><p>If
you routinely specify a custom page size, you can add it to the
Page Size menu in the New Document dialog box. You add custom page
sizes to the Page Size menu by editing the New Doc Sizes text file
in the Presets folder (in the InDesign application folder). This
text file is self-documenting; to define custom page sizes, open
the file in a text editor and follow the instructions in the file
itself.</p>
<p>Page sizes defined in the New Doc Sizes file will appear in the
New Document dialog box and the Document Settings dialog box.</p>
<div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:  </span>You can also specify a custom page size in the New Document
dialog box or the Document Settings dialog box; however, custom
page sizes specified in these dialog boxes are not available to
other documents you create.</div>
</div></div>
<div id="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7145a" class="nochunk"><a name="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7145a"></a><h3 class="topictitle3">Define document presets</h3><div><p>You can save document settings for page
size, columns, margins, and bleed and slug areas in a preset to
save time and ensure consistency when creating similar documents. </p>
<ol><li><p>Choose File&#160;&gt; Document Presets&#160;&gt;
Define. </p>
</li>
<li><p>Click New in the dialog box that appears.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Specify a name for the preset and select basic layout options
in the New Document Preset dialog box. (See <a href="WS431DDEA7-5428-4a22-A036-B0984DDEEC64a.html">New Document options</a> for a description of each option.)</p>
</li>
<li><p>Click&#160;OK twice. </p>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="tip"><img src="images/tip_help.png" />You can save a document preset to a separate
file and distribute it to other users. To save and load document
preset files, use the Save and Load buttons in the Document Presets
dialog box.</div></div></div>
<div id="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7144a" class="nochunk"><a name="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7144a"></a><h3 class="topictitle3">Create a document using a preset</h3><div><ol><li><p>Do
one of the following:. </p>
<ul><li><p>Choose File&#160;&gt;
Document Preset&#160;&gt; <var class="varname">[name of preset]</var>.
(Hold down Shift while choosing the preset to create a new document
based on the preset without opening the New Document dialog box.)</p>
</li>
<li><p>Choose File&#160;&gt; New&#160;&gt; Document, and
then choose a preset from the Document Preset menu in the New Document
dialog box.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The New Document dialog box displays
the preset layout options. </p>
</li>
<li><p>Make changes to the options (if desired) and click&#160;OK.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="tip"><img src="images/tip_help.png" />To skip the New Document dialog box, press the
Shift key as you select a preset from the Document Preset menu.</div></div></div>

                <div id="related">
                    <div class="separator">&#160;</div>
                    <div><p>&#160;<a href="WS34CD94D0-0B08-4b0e-9FF5-319B986D5BC3a.html">Recommended workflow for InDesign documents</a></p><p>&#160;<a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6d58a.html">Use document templates</a></p><p>&#160;<a href="WS11365BBD-AC8C-4d47-9394-FB96A53EA94Ca.html">Add documents to a book file</a></p><p>&#160;<a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7089a.html">Preview documents</a></p><p>&#160;<a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-70e6a.html">Create layers</a></p><p>&#160;<a href="WS045460C6-5455-44d9-AB0A-3171FBD01A0F.html">Change document setup, margins, and settings</a></p>
</div>
                    <p><a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/vid0068" title="http://www.adobe.com/go/vid0068">Setting Up a New Document video (adobe.com)</a></p>
                </div>
                <div id="footer">
                    <p><img src="images/Community.png" />&#160;<a title="community help (adobe.com)" href="http://www.adobe.com/go/lr_InDesign_community_en">community help (adobe.com)</a></p>
<!-- BEGIN IONCOMMENTS -->
                    <div id="ionComHere">
                    </div>
<!-- END IONCOMMENTS -->
<!--#include virtual="ionComments.ssi" -->
                    <p id="creativecommons"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/" id="creativecommons_text"><img id="creativecommons_img" src="images/CC.png" alt="This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License" /></a></p>
                </div>
            </div>
<!-- END CONTENT WRAPPER -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>
        </div>
<!-- END PAGE CONTENT WRAPPER -->
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--[CDATA[
scrollToNameAnchor();
// ]]-->
</script> 
<!--#include virtual="/livedocs/ssi/globalfooter.ssi" -->
<!--#include virtual="/ubi/analytics/analytics_ssi.html" -->
    </body>
</html>