Adobe InDesign CS2 Upgrade from PageMaker review

With the Adobe InDesign CS2 Upgrade from PageMaker, the writing is now clearly on the wall. What was thought to be a pipe dream just yesterday--Adobe InDesign being considered as the standard software package for professional publishers and designers--is today on the verge of becoming a reality. Book, magazine, and high-end publishers and designers of all types are making the switch to Adobe InDesign. A glance at the new features that InDesign CS2 brings to the table makes it easy to see why.

Browse, search, organize, label, and preview graphics and InDesign documents, templates, and snippets in Adobe Bridge. Drag and drop assets from Adobe Bridge into layouts easily and efficiently.

PageMaker Conversion Features Adobe has made it nearly impossible for PageMaker users not to switch to Adobe InDesign CS2. For starters, Adobe has crammed InDesign CS2 with built-in support for numerous features that PageMaker users most desire, such as multiple undo, robust style support, flexible gradients, and easy table creation. Added to that is additional support for converting PageMaker 6.0-7.x files, a set of PageMaker compatible keyboard shortcuts, and such popular PageMaker features as data merge and InBooklet Special Edition for imposition. And if all that were not already enough to convince you to switch, Adobe now offers an exclusive upgrade price for licensed PageMaker users. In short, if you're a diehard PageMaker aficionado, there's not question that now is the time to make the switch to InDesign.

Tighter Integration with Adobe Applications Adobe has practically cornered the market with PhotoShop, Illustrator and Acrobat. With each of its past upgrades, Adobe made it increasingly easier to incorporate those and other Adobe applications--such as GoLive and InCopy--into InDesign workflow. InDesign CS2 continues that trend, and then some. Adobe Photoshop and PDF layer support, for instance, allows you to selectively display layers and layer comps in Photoshop and PDF files so that you can experiment with different design options or use multiple variations of a file in your layout--all the while linking to a single file. And a streamlined interface that's more consistent across Adobe graphics applications allows you to export directly to PDF while maintaining layers in exported Acrobat 6.0-7.0 files. These features can significantly shorten production cycles of projects and introduce greater flexibility to your designs during the work flow.

Adobe Bridge Adobe Bridge software is the new navigational control center that allows you to browse, organize, label, and preview graphics and InDesign documents and templates quickly and efficiently. (Adobe Bridge is also available separately in Photoshop CS2, Illustrator CS2, and GoLive CS2 software.) Adobe Bridge is based on the File Browser introduced in Photoshop 7.0 but goes a step further by providing centralized access to your suite project files, applications, and settings. With file organization and sharing, plus Adobe Stock Photos at your fingertips all the time, you simply search for the files you want to place using metadata--such as key words, colors or image resolution--and seamlessly drag and drop your files into your InDesign CS2 file. You can even browse and search royalty-free images from leading stock photo agencies using Adobe Stock Photos in one convenient location. Adobe couldn't make it any easier. Without ever leaving InDesign CS2, you can purchase images from several agencies in a single shopping cart and manage all of your imagery. It's as simple as that.

Easily export InDesign objects as snippets, which can be shared with colleagues or reused in other documents. When you place or drag a snippet into a layout, InDesign recreates the original objects, their formatting, and their relative positioning on the page.

InDesign Snippets and Collaboration Features Some of the most significant enhancements are InDesign CS2's collaboration features. The Snippet feature allows you to export InDesign objects as "snippets" that can be shared with colleagues for review or used in other documents. When you place or drag the snippet back into a layout, InDesign CS2 re-creates the original object, its formatting, and its relative positioning on the page. InDesign CS2 also features a collaboration tool that lets you to assign specific sections of a document to your colleagues while you continue to work on your own components. Taken together, these features add tremendous efficiencies to your workflow, giving you the ability to work simultaneously with several colleagues and making it much easier to beat your deadlines.

Improved Microsoft Word and RTF Support Adobe has done wonders to increase InDesign's compatibility with Microsoft Word. With InDesign CS2 you can import Word styles into your document, and you can even save Word import settings for future use. You can also import tables designed in Word and Excel, or create new tables from

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