Are you TIRED of doing the same BORING tasks over and over again ?
Do you have HUNDRESDS of files to process ?
Are you FED UP with checking errors ?
Are you looking for a way to BOOST your productivity ?
Do you want to save time and MAKE MORE MONEY ?
If YES …
… then please keep reading …
… you won’t regret it … (if you can’t find a solution to your problem – just get in touch)
Overview
In short, ID-Tasker lets you save all the steps you do manually – either by mouse clicks or keyboard shortcuts – as Tasks and execute them when you need.
No more repeating same operations 100s of times – one click and it’s done – it will work for you when you are home, playing with kids or during the night and it will be ready for you the next morning.
And even if not everything could be fully “described” as a Task – you can always use Wait rule to stop the Task and do something manually directly in the InDesign – and then continue the Task.
User Interface
Example screenshot:
Top:
Reload Styles info of the currently Active Document – need to be used every time you switch documents.
Load saved Task(s).
Changes display proportions – Horizontal: 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, Vertical: 75:25, 50:50, 25:75.
Middle – List of Tasks and Rules:
Bottom – example of the list of Objects in Document(s):
Displays progress when loading structure of the Document(s)
Executes selected Task on all Selected objects – Batch Mode
Switches between loaded elements of the Document(s)
Extra options for the currently selected list of elements
Example of Text elements:
Example of Tables info:
If you DoubleClick on any cell in the Type column – ID-Tasker will automatically select and center over this element in the InDesign – you can do this on any list so you can quickly locate object, text or cell. Of course you can also DoubleClick on a Page – anything in the Type column will get you there – including switching between documents.
Operating modes
There will be FIVE ways that you can interact with ID-Tasker:
Manual
In this mode you can execute single Task on the currently selected object(s) / text / table in the InDesign – or even process whole document.
It’s like applying different Paragraph Styles to a different parts of a text – or Object Styles to a different object(s) – but you can do more than one thing at a time.
Interactive – using shortcuts initiated directlly from InDesign
In this mode, ID-Tasker will be monitoring keyboard shortcuts – in the background – and reacting to them so you won’t need to leave InDesign to execute specified Task(s) – it would be like executing functionality that is part of the InDesign.
Let’s say you are editing text and want to convert parts of the text individually – and there is no way for you to process it automatically as there are no Char/Para styles applied or Tags – and you need to manually select part of the text and process it. But instead of constantly switching between InDesign and ID-Tasker – you can create a Task that will apply 3x different Paragraph Styles to currently selected block of text – converting a “list” to:
- List First Paragraph
- List Middle Paragraph
- List Middle Paragraph
- …
- List Last Paragraph
AND course you won’t have to create separate Tasks for each Paragraph Style – Task can read the name of currently applied ParaStyle and use this part to determine finall ParaStyles that needs to be applied – including their creation if they don’t exist.
Or when you need to convert some text into an anchored object – a side note or a highlighted block. You will be able to select some text and use a shortcut – and Tasker will:
- automatically cut the selected text,
- create TextFrame,
- anchor it in specified place – it doesn’t have to be original place but next or previous paragraph and even after first or before last character in those prev/next paragraphs,
- it can also simultaneously re-style this block of text – Header + SubHeader + Body Text.,
- AND – if you have file name there – either with a predefined tag or just e.g. as a last paragraph – it can automatically import it as either image or part of the text.
And all of this can be executed “from sratch” – or you can use predefined object / group – and fill it with the selected information.
Or when you select two objects – Rectangle and TextFrame – and:
- resize Rectangle – to either specified width & height or only width or only height,
- fit or fill image – then crop it either by specified value or %,
- or set same width / height to both elements – either Rectangle or TextFrame can define the finall width / height,
- move TextFrame below / above / either side of the Rectangle with a specified gap,
- apply specified Paragraph style(s) to the contents of the TextFrame – in a predefined sequence,
- then group them and Cut – so you can Anchor in the text.
- or simply use the information – text and Image – and populate a template object.
Most of the above examples can be also executed in the Scrolling mode.
Batch processing
In this mode you can execute same task on all Selected AND visible – not just visible – elements in the active list.
And thanks to filtering Rules – Misc type – you can automatically filter objects you want to process.
Of course rules in the Task can interact with other lists – when you want to process multiple Documents, you can load objects / texts / tables and then process those individually.
Let’s say you need to modify a logo:
- located on page 5,
- on a specified layer – multilanguage document,
- move it 5mm down,
- 10mm left,
- OR move it to a specified location,
- make it bigger / smaller,
- and relink with a new version,
- etc.
and you need to do it in 20 files in 15 subfolders – 300 files … AND … as those are multilanguage documents – you also need to export updated PDFs for each language … with a specified profile … AND / OR export only specified page(s) as JPEGs …
So with 15 subfolders and each with 20 files and each file with 10 languages – 300 files to process and 3.000 PDFs to generate … and then you can run it overnight so it will be ready for you in the morning … it’s like having an extra free employee …
Watched Folders
In this mode you are able to select folder(s) to be monitored and assign Tasks to be executed when new file(s) is(are) copied there, e.g.:
- TXT file with predefined structure / tagged – convert to Article and saved as INDD/IDML into specified output folder.
- Bunch of images – place each one in a predefined Template and export as PDF with specified profile to a specified folder on a server – contact sheet.
- TXT file with records – execute DataMerge = 100x of business cards, 10x per A4, doublesided. Or hundreds of leaflets.
Scrolling through the list [to be implemented]
In this mode you can use Tasker as an “overlay” for InDesign and use Tasker to navigate your INDD Document(s) – scroll through the list of Objects and execute Tasks by pressing predefinded shortcut – you won’t have to switch to InDesign as Tasker will automatically highlight object from the list in the InDesign.
So you can scroll through the list of Tables and style each one differently – again – without the need to switch to InDesign to select it.
Or, scroll through the Texts and quickly modify – by applying Paragraph Style – or, as Task can execute more than one Rule – you can perform more advanced things – convert text to Anchored TextFrame (mentioned in the Interactive Mode) – or automatically re-style current and next specified number of paragraphs – with much greater potential / flexibility than built-in NextStyle of the Paragraph Style definition:
- H1,
- H2,
- H3,
- Body
- H3,
- H2,
Lists
You can sort / filter each list directly or use Rules to do it automatically – either if you have to do the same job every now and then and just need to prepare your “environment” – or in Batch Mode when you need to process only specified types of objects or in specified condition – size, location, etc.
Documents
List of Documents – either loaded manually or through a Rule.
Objects / Links
List of Graphic Objects – including info about TextFrames and InLine/Anchored objects – but not the text content.
For each listed object you have info about its size (Width / Height), position (X, Y), location – Document, Page, Layer, type, color space, layers – for PDFs / PSD files, etc.
Text
List of Stories with their Text contents – you can load only Paragraph level info – or full structure of the text, including all Anchored objects and TextStyleRanges.
If you use rules to perform Text / GREP Search – the result will be shown in the text structure – useful when working with Index entries or Cross-References – or if you need to decide which found instance of the text should be processed or not.
Tables
List of all Tables – either basic info about the table being there or full list of Rows and Cells.
Styles
Structure of the Styles available in the InDesign – Paragraph, Character, Object, Table, Cell, etc. – with a quick view by BasedOn property.
Types of Rules
Rules are grouped either by what they do or what they modify – or where you can find corresponding operations in the InDesign – so it should be more natural to find what you are looking for.
Document (updated on 2023.04.19)
Get List of INDD Documents
Loads list of importable documents from selected Folder (required, doubleclick to edit), SubFolders. Clear List – if checked – will remove old list of files.
Open Document
Requires Folder and File Name (doubleclick to edit) – can load document as invisible to speed up processing – if you know what you are doing 😉
Close Active Document
Document can be closed without saving – all changes will be discarded.
Save Active Document
Export Active Document as IDML
Folder and destination IDML Name (doubleclick to edit) – now are optional – if not specified will be extracted from the INDD Document.
Package Options
Needs to be used before next rule.
Package Active Document
Executes Package – requires destination Folder (doubleclick to edit)
Export PDF
You need to specify PDF Export Profile, destination Folder and File Name (doubleclick to edit), Page or range(s) of pages or “ALL” – same as directly in the InDesign.
Destination Folder and File Name now are optional – if not specified will be extracted from the INDD Document.
Export JPEG – Document Options
Export JPEG – Image Options
Export Document as JPEG
Requires destination Folder and JPEG Name (doubleclick to edit) – now are optional – if not specified will be extracted from the INDD Document.
Export Current Selection as JPEG
Requires destination Folder and JPEG Name (doubleclick to edit) – now are optional – if not specified will be extracted from the INDD Document.
Right now, it directlly uses InDesign’s built-in function – if current selection is more than one object – will export all of them one-by-one overwriting them so only one, “last” will be saved.
Will be expanded to make a temporary group before exporting – won’t affect original objects.
Remember Current Page
Lets you make a reference to the current page, so you can go back to this specific page – even if you add / remove pages before it or end up on a different page during execution of the current Task.
Go to Specified Page in the Active Document
Lets you navigate through the document.
Wait for User Interaction
You can stop processing of the Task in case you need to perform some extra action(s) directly in the InDesign.
For example, you know that you will need to place some image – but you can’t or don’t want to specify it upfront.
You can set your own message in the “Description”.
Load Objects
Loads objects from Active Document / All open Documents – same as clicking Load Objects button – for use in Manual or Batch mode.
Text (updated on 2023.04.09)
Select Paragraph(s) (2023.04.09)
Let you select range of Paragraphs – either in the current Story or in the Selected Text – you can also include or exclude last Enter.
Start / End can be positive – counted from the beginning of the Story / Selection – or negative – counted from the end of the Story / Selection.
Load Text Selection
Lets you load – into bottom Text list – all info about currently selected text – same as clicking Load Text button – for use either in Manual or Batch mode.
Find Tag
Clear Tag
Removes from the list FIRST occurence of the specified Tag.
Delete Cleared Tags
Deletes – in the InDesign – ALL tags that has been cleared using Clear Tag on the list. Deletes only text representation of the tag, so if the tag was alone in the Paragraph – you’ll get empty Paragraph in the InDesign.
Select Between Tags
Lets you select text – in the InDesign – based on the Open/Close Tags on the Text List.
Select Whole Story
Selects whole Story based on the current text selection – after that you can use Load Text Selection to get all Text structure of the Story – for use in Manual or Batch mode.
Select Paragraph
Selects parent Paragraph of the Text selected in the InDesign. If current selection is more than one Paragraph – will select only first Paragraph.
Copy Selected Text
Copies into Clipboard Text selected in the InDesign – same as Ctrl+C in the InDesign.
Delete Selected Text
Deletes text selected in the InDesign.
Select Text after Tag
Selects text in the InDesgn – after the specified tag – always starts from the top of the list so you need to use Clear Tag after processing tag to remove it from the list so it won’t interfere with your next rules in the Task.
Apply selected Paragraph Style to Selected Text
Apply Paragraph Style to specified Paragraphs in current selection
Lets you apply specified Paragraph Style to sub-range of Paragraphs in the currently selected text in the InDesign.
Scenario – you have a block of text – List – and you wat to style first paragraph as “List First”, then last paragraph as “List Last” and all paragraphs in-between as “List Middle”.
So you would need to use this rule three times – with parameters:
- List First, 1, 1, v
- List Middle, 2, -2, v
- List Last, -1, -1, v
Search Text
Clear Text List
Clears list of text elements from the Text list below.
Clear ALL Text/GREP/Glyph Find/Change Preferences
Load Text Search
Lets you load all search results for the specified Search Phrase for the specified Where. Results will be combined with current text structure – if Load Text Selection been used before – or if Load Text button been used. Otherwise you’ll have only those search results.
For use when creating Index or custom list, etc.
Load Saved Text Search query
In InDesign you can save your Search queries on your drive – this rule lets you load them without the need to specify all the options here – most of the time you just need to change text you are looking for – not it’s formatting.
Names of the Queries are loaded from:
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version ##.0\en_GB\Find-Change Queries\Text\ – where ## right now is “18”.
Load GREP Search
Lets you load all search results for the specified Search Phrase for the specified Where. Results will be combined with current text structure – if Load Text Selection been used before – or if Load Text button been used. Otherwise you’ll have only those search results.
For use when creating Index or custom list, etc.
Load Saved GREP Search query
In InDesign you can save your Search queries on your drive – this rule lets you load them without the need to specify all the options here – most of the time you just need to change text you are looking for – not it’s formatting.
Names of the Queries are loaded from:
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version ##.0\en_GB\Find-Change Queries\GREP\ – where ## right now is “18”.
Table
Style Table – with selected Table Style
Clear Table Overrides
Clear Cell Overrides
Merge all cells in Row “A”
Merge all cells in Column “A”
Process Table if number of columns = “A”
Process Table if applied Table Style
Process Table if Cell Style is applied to a cell (x,y)
Process Table if Paragraph Style is applied to a cell (x,y)
Process Table if specified Label is applied to a cell (x,y)
Process Table if specified Label is applied to it
Convert specified number of rows into Header rows
Convert specified number of rows into Footer rows
Add Column
Add Row
Set Width of the specified Column
Set Width for Columns range
Set Height fo the Row
Set Height for Rows range
Style specified Column
Style range of Columns
Style range of Cells in specified Column
Style range of Cells in specified Row
Style specified Row
Style range of Rows
Style specified Cell
Style specified range of Cells
Style every cell in the Table – if that Cell starts with the speciified Text
Style every cell in the Column – if that Cell starts with the specified Text
Style every cell in the range of Columns – if that Cell starts with the specified Text
Style every cell in the Row – if that Cell starts with the specified Text
Style every cell in the range of Rows – if that Cell starts with the specified Text
Style every cell in the Table – if that Cell’s value is between Min and Max
Style every cell in the specified Column – if that Cell’s value is between Min and Max
Style every cell in the range of Columns – if that Cell’s value is between Min and Max
Style every cell in the specified Row – if Cell’s value is between Min and Max
Style every cell in the range of Rows – if Cell’s value is between Min and Max
Select Nth Table in current Story
Select specified Cell in current Table
Get numeric Value from the specified Cell
Object
Selects in the InDesign all objects that has been marked in the Tasker as Selected on the list of Objects.
Group currently selected objects in the InDesign
Apply Object Style to specified object
Find object with specified Label applied
Especialy useful when you have “templates” – groups of objects – that you need to fill with new data.
Or when you need to place predefined object – e.g. icon.
When object with specified label has been found – it becomes current selection – this way you can use this just found object again – Where->Selection – to find another object in this group.
Scenario – you have a blank template of a Graph for a yearly report – you can find template of this Graph, use Duplicate Selected Object to make a copy and then fill it with data from the currently active Table:
Duplicate Selected Object
Creates a duplicate of the currently selected object.
E.g. after using Find object with specified Label – duplicate of the found object can be created to be filled with new data or modified.
Or you can just select any object in the InDesign manually and then execute some Task to modify it – change its size, make a rosette or a grid or apply ObjectStyle, etc.
Duplicated object will have its Label removed so it won’t be found if you need to search for the same original object again – e.g. another Graph to populate in the same document.
Move selected Object to last save Page
Works with Remember Current Page from the Document rules.
Copy selected Object(s)
Same as Ctrl+C shortcut in the InDesign.
Cut selected Object(s)
Same as Ctrl+X shortcut in the InDesign.
Paste Clipboard’s contents
Same as Ctrl+V shortcut in the InDesign.
Remember currently selected Object
For use in other Rules – creates reference to currently selected Object – will be valid during current Task’s execution and as long as object exists.
Select Last Saved Object
Selects Object that has been saved using Remember currently selected Object.
Useful when you need to create many copies of the same object – and just change its formatting or contents or place the same object in many different places.
Select Last Created Object
Selects last created Graphic Line point-to-point, Graphic Line vector-from-point, Rectangle, TextFrame, Oval or Polygon.
Paste inside selected Object
If current selection in the InDesign is a TextFrame – will replace its contents.
In other cases – performs Paste Into.
Place Image using Clipboard’s contents as a FileName
Uses Clipboard’s contents as a name of the file to place – uses Document’s path as a location for the file.
Create Graphic Line and apply selected Object Style – point to point
Create Graphic Line and apply selected Object Style – vector from point
Create Rectangle and apply selected Object Style – point + size
Create TextFrame and apply selected Object Style – point + size
Create Oval and apply selected Object Style – point + size
Create Polygon and apply selected Object Style – point + size + sides + inset
Move specified Object – absolute or vector
Moves specified object either to a fixed location – or by vector from the current location.
Bring / Send specified Object Front / Back
Rotate specified Object to an Angle around Reference Point
Rotate specified Object by a Degree around Reference Point
Set Fill Tint % to specified Object
Change Fill Tint % by X
Resize specified Object
Resize specified Object by moving PathPoints – like Direct Selection Tool
Used in the example video of the Find object with specified Label rule.
Link (updated on 2023.05.23)
Relink Selected / All links in the Document
Dest Folder – doubleclick will let you select new Destination folder – all Links from the document should be in this new folder – if not not, then Link won’t be relinked. It’s like Packaging – where InDesign is copying all Links to a new destination – but without copying / movig files.
Find – text you want to find in the Link’s name.
Replace – new text to be used as a replacement.
If you DO NOT specify Dest Folder you can use Find & Replace to change any info in the path structure of the links.
For example, if you have your links in the structure like this:
c:\Projects\2022-05\Magazine_1\Images\Flowers\
c:\Projects\2022-05\Magazine_1\Images\Animals\
c:\Projects\2022-05\Magazine_1\Logos\
c:\Projects\2022-05\Magazine_1\ScreenShots\
you can use Find & Replace to change \Magazine_1\ to \Folder_2\ – without affecting the rest of the structure:
c:\Projects\2022-05\Folder_2\Images\Flowers\
c:\Projects\2022-05\Folder_2\Images\Animals\
c:\Projects\2022-05\Folder_2\Logos\
c:\Projects\2022-05\Folder_2\ScreenShots\
or if you need to move your whole repository to a different drive / folder – you can change c:\Projects\2022- to d:\Backup_2022\:
d:\Backup_2022\05\Magazine_1\Images\Flowers\
d:\Backup_2022\05\Magazine_1\Images\Animals\
d:\Backup_2022\05\Magazine_1\Logos\
d:\Projects_2022\05\Magazine_1\ScreenShots\
If you only want to relink to a new type of file – change extension – then you should leave Dest Folder empty and only use Find & Replace to change the extension – for example .jpg to .psd – all new PSD files should be in the same location as the original JPG files.
Embed Selected / All Links in the Document
Will Embed Selected object or all linked files into documents.
UnEmbed Selected / All Links in the Document
Will UnEmbed Selected object or All Links – if DestFolder is specified then linked file will be extracted from the document and saved into the folder – otherwise original file will be relinked – if exists.
Update Selected / All Links in the Document
Will Update Selected object or all Linkes in the Document – or only changed / outdated.
Photoshop
Illustrator
Data Merge
Reporting (updated on 2023.04.19)
Save Report of Links in the INDD Document
Generates report with all informations about all Links in the Document – report will be saved in the specified location.
Folder and File Name are optional – if not specified Report will be saved in the same folder as the INDD document with the same name.
Columns in the report:
indd_file_name | date_time_of_the_linked_file | path_to_linked_file | name_of_the_linked_file | page | layer | type | size | status | EditingState | LinkResourceURI | RenditionData | VersionState
Can be run in Batch Mode – executed on multiple documents and result can be saved into single log file.
Misc
Mark as Selected all visible lines
Filter Documents
Lets you filter Documents you want to process in Batch mode.
Filter Objects
Lets you filter objects you want to process in Batch mode.
Filter Links
Lets you filter links you want to process in Batch mode.
Filter Texts
Lets you filter text elemments you want to process in Batch mode.
Filter Tables
Lets you filter tables you want to process in Batch mode.
Condition – renamed from Interactive (updated on 2023.04.19)
Rules mentioned below should be used – mainly – when ID-Tasker is in the Interactive Mode.
It’s just a small example of the way you can control execution of the Tasks.
Continue if N Objects Selected
Will continue execution of the current Task if specified number of objects is selected.
Continue if Nth Selected Object Is…
Will continue execution of the current Task if Nth selected Object is of selected type.
Continue if Nth Selected Object have specified Object Stye applied
Will continue execution of the current Task if Nth selected Object have specified Object Style applied.
Continue if Width of the Nth Selected Object is…
Will continue execution of the current Task if Width of the Nth selected Object is …
Continue if Height of the Nth Selected Object is…
Will continue execution of the current Task if Width of the Nth selected Object is …
Continue if N Paragraphs Selected
Will continue execution of the current Task if Text is selected and N Paragraphs has been selected.
Continue if Nth Paragraph of the selection have specified ParaStyle applied
Will continue execution of the current Task if Nth Paragraph of the selection have specified ParaStyle applied.
Continue if Selected Text’s Length is…
Will continue execution of the current Task if total length of the selected text is N characters long.
Continue if the length of the Nth Paragraph of the Selected Text is…
Will continue execution of the current Task if number of characters in the Nth selected Paragraph is …
Watched Folders (updated on 2023.04.19)
It’s just the beginning …
Continue if there are N files in Folder
Will continue execution of the current Task if N files is in the specified Folder – in case current Task requires specified number of files to proceed – e.g. you need 10 separate PDFs to create contact sheet with business cards. Or you need two files – INDD template and TXT file (database) to fill the template.
Purchase
There won’t be a fully functional time limited demo – and there is no point in publishing a version with limited functionality – so if after checking list of rules you think this tool would be good for you – please get in touch to receive fully funtional 10-days version.
To help you plan your budget and to let you save money – you will be able to buy two kinds of “tokens” – monthly and weekly – and activation key will be only generated when you ask for it – so you can buy more tokens at once and save (bulk purchase) and use them when needed.
There will be an option to convert monthly tokens to weekly ones – 1x monthly token = 4x weekly tokens. All unused monthly tokens and non-converted weekly ones will be refunded in full.
