Casey D'Andrea, Loop's very own InDesign expert (and trainer/consultant) is the patron saint of keyboard shortcuts. Casey has done his own makeover of InDesign CS3's keyboard shortcuts, functional area by functional area. In addition to creating his own customized keyboard shortcut file, Casey also produced a layered PDF file that highlights his changes, and adds some colour commentary to explain many of his changes.

It's a must-have collection of keyboard shortcut ideas, and you can download the shortcut files and the accompanying PDF below.

Casey has worked at Loop for several years and spends a lot of time traveling across the country delivering customized training to our corporate clients.

THe reason i decided to make this is...

It was always disconcerting when trying to track down a specific command. Some are not well advertised and there are indeed some great ones tucked in there! Your options are limited as the "show set" button within the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog presents a raw text listing of all the commands. You could also use InDesign's well laid out help system. By the way, that's over 1200 commands, and no, I did not count them manually ;-)

I've been using InDesign since version 1.0 and over the years I added my own custom shortcuts. I've reworked, reorganized and laid out the complete list of commands that can be assigned keyboard shortcuts. In CS3, they've added new panels as well as included previously bundled items, i.e. scripts, InCopy plug-ins. You can quickly search for the command you're curious about.

SCREENSHOT GALLERY...

Click on any of the thumbnails below for a larger view and a brief description.

functional layers to read pdf Legend for the funny shortcut symbols extensive use of styles, some are complexFYI, i'm not getting paid to plug this 
my reasoning behind changes abundant use of styles and keeping them organized a few scattered tips throughout toc to help you navigate the pdf

LOADING THE Shortcut FILE...

I've embedded a copy of the InDesign shortcut file inside the PDF version of the file. Click on the Attachments icon along the left side of Adobe Reader / Acrobat, which will pop open along navigation panel along the bottom of the window.

Depending on whether you want to share the shortcut file, 1200+, place it into one of two locations. If you place into the first location it will be locked down to prevent anyone from overwriting it. If someone wants to make revisions, they will be prompted to make a copy.

  1. All users access:
  2. /Applications/Adobe InDesign CS3/Presets/InDesign Shortcut Sets
  3. Horde it all yourself (the tilde denotes your home folder):
  4. ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/Version 5.0/InDesign Shortcut Sets

PICK YOUR PLATFORM... Mac or Windows

Each zipped file contains the workable 12-page InDesign document and the interactive PDF. The Mac version also includes the shortcut file (use the instructions at the bottom
of this page to install).

Download the Compact version

The 4-page compact version includes only the InDesign commands that, by default, have shortcuts assigned to them.
It also includes the corresponding PDF

INDESIGN CS3 DOCUMENT

  • Myriad Pro, Minion Pro, Lucida which you'll have
  • multiple layers
    • factory default shortcuts
    • custom shortcuts - make your own changes
    • toc, tips, common elements
    • rationale - reasoning for changing or adding shortcuts
    • CS3 - new and improved commands
  • some tips that might prove helpful
    • option key is your friend
    • context specific shortcuts
    • CS3 - quick access panel for shortcuts,
      provided by InDesign Secrets and DTP Tools
  • decent use of staple InDesign features
    • object styles
    • anchored objects
    • bookmarks and hyperlinks - when exported to PDF
    • nested styles - saving TONS of manual formatting
    • paragraph rules - alternating rows effect
    • master pages
    • corner options, if you can spot it
    • CS3 - text variables, well one
    • CS3 - incorporated style groups
    • CS3 - updated colour schemes, toned down
    • CS3 - renamed layers, swatches, styles

PDF DOCUMENT

  • layered to toggle what you what you want
    • default (enabled on Win version)
    • custom (enabled on Mac version)
    • new and improved
    • rationale
  • bookmarks navigation panel and hyperlinks

FEEDBACK? COMMENTS? SUGGESTIONS?

I welcome all constructive criticism.
Send me an email to let me know!