Adobe InDesign CS3 - Manual (Page 353)

INDESIGN CS3
User Guide
346
See also
“About links and embedded graphics” on page 349
“Pasting Illustrator graphics into InDesign” on page 330
Copy and paste graphics
When copying and pasting a graphic from another document into an InDesign document, InDesign does not create
a link to the graphic in the Links panel. The graphic may be converted by the system clipboard during the transfer,
so both image quality and print quality may be lower in InDesign than in the graphic’s original application.
1 In InDesign or another program, select the original graphic, and choose Edit > Copy.
2 Switch to an InDesign document window, and choose Edit > Paste.
Drag and drop graphics
The drag-and-drop method works like the Place command, with images appearing in the Links panel after they’re
imported. You cannot set import options for the files you drag and drop; however, you can drag and drop multiple
files at once (the files are loaded in the graphics icon when you drag and drop more than one).
Select a graphic from Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Bridge, Explorer (Windows), the Finder (Mac OS), or your desktop,
and drag it into InDesign. The image must be in a format that InDesign can import.
After dragging and dropping a file from any location other than Illustrator, it appears in the Links panel in InDesign.
Using the Links panel, you can control versions and update as necessary.
1 Select the original graphic.
2 Drag the graphic into an open InDesign document window.
Note: In Windows, if you try to drag an item from an application that does not support drag and drop, the pointer
displays the Prohibited icon.
To cancel dragging a graphic, drop the graphic onto any panel title bar or the document title bar.
Create snippets
A snippet is a file that holds objects and describes their location relative to one another on a page or page spread. Use
snippets to conveniently reuse and position page objects. Create a snippet by saving objects in a snippet file, which
has the .INDS extension. When you place the snippet file in InDesign, you can determine whether the objects land
in their original positions or where you click. You can store snippets in the Object library and Adobe Bridge as well
as on your hard disk.
Snippets contents retain their layer associations when you place them. When a snippet contains resource definitions
and these definitions are also present in the document to which it is copied, the snippet uses the resource definitions
in the document.
❖ Do one of the following:
• Using a selection tool, select one or more objects, and then choose File > Export. From the Save As Type
(Windows) or Format (Mac OS) menu, choose InDesign Snippet. Type a name for the file and click Save.
• Using a selection tool, select one or more objects, and then drag the selection to your desktop. A snippet file is
created. Rename the file.
• Drag an item from Structure View to your desktop.