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Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign

Overview

What is Adobe InDesign?

Adobe InDesign supports creating digital and print documents such as flyers, stationary, posters, and other types of media, with rich graphics, images, and more. Adobe InDesign is available standalone or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite collection of media…

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Recent Reviews

The industry standard

9 out of 10
November 25, 2021
Incentivized
InDesign is the gold standard as far as desktop composition software goes for publishers. We (and our vendors) use the product to create …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Monthly Plan

$31.49

On Premise
per month

Annual Plan, Prepaid

$239.88 ($19.99)

On Premise
per year (per month)

Annual Plan, Paid Monthly

$251.88 ($20.99)

On Premise
per year (per month)

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Details

What is Adobe InDesign?

Adobe InDesign Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Adobe InDesign supports creating digital and print documents such as flyers, stationary, posters, and other types of media, with rich graphics, images, and more. Adobe InDesign is available standalone or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite collection of media management and creation products.

Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Adobe InDesign are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(702)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 95)
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Janeil Harricharan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Adobe InDesign is very well suited to image-heavy publications, such as children's books, cookbooks and coffee table books. It gives you almost complete control how to arrange these elements, and to be able to tweak them with precision.

The software is an absolute necessity if one is developing interactive eBooks, especially for the Apple iTunes store. Unless coded by hand, I am not aware of any other tools to handle this.

It is a powerful toolset, and can take on most anything publishing related that you throw at it. I personally have found that it doesn't do too well with reflowable eBooks (like for Kindle Amazon), but it retains that capability.
Allie (Allison) Egerer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Adobe InDesign would be well suited for scenarios such as created very intricate documents, such as ones that are utilizing many different views or layers. It would also be well suited for creating very large documents such as creating manuals or books for print. A scenario where Adobe InDesign would be less appropriate would be for creating a logo or a graphic. It also might be less appropriate for something such as a simple company document like an offer letter, or a fax, not that it couldn't be used but it would be similar to using a scientific calculator to add 2+2, it's just too complex of a tool to be used for something as simple as that.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We always use Adobe InDesign for creating brochures, as you can control very specific details of your design which other platforms can't. It has some really useful tools to help save time with duplication, numbering, master pages etc.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Adobe InDesign is critical for any marketing department looking to make cutting edge professional documents showcasing your companies offerings or abilities. Unlike Photoshop which is mainly for image creation and editing, InDesign works to publish the final document which can be sent or shared electronically. The endless customization with InDesign makes any idea a reality given the knowledge of the program.
Ruchika Save | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
While working on print materials like eBooks, Magazines, etc. I found the software compatible. It is not good for creating standalone graphics, and often a bit cumbersome if you are just looking to do a single page layout. Also, not suited for retouching or editing a photo.
Linda Galota | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Adobe InDesign is perfectly suited to organise, visualise and prepare well-polished visual content produced with balance, good layout, and structure. Yet, it can sometimes be a little too complicated to prepare scratches or for simply "getting the idea" of something because it can take a little bit more time to have everything well fixed.
Trish Lofton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
InDesign is perfect for print and digital publications! You can set up master pages with just a few clicks of the mouse. The new font search is extremely helpful if you have long list of typefaces. It is no longer necessary to scroll through the list. The updated version features several new HTML enhancements.
Maria Clara Daly | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
InDesign is not great for creating standalone graphics, and often a bit cumbersome if you're just looking to do a single page layout, but absolutely critical for anything that's being laid out for 2 pages or more. Can handle spot colors, pantone, RGB and CMYK swatches making it perfect for most any project being printed in any number of ways, or even simply something to be exported to a digital and interactive PDF as the hyperlink embed ability makes some really robust digital output.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Adobe InDesign is ideal for page layout and graphic design. It is not an ideal tool for retouching or editing a photo. For that, I would recommend Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom. You can create some vector shapes and graphics within Adobe InDesign. However, Adobe Illustrator is really the go-to tool for creating vector graphics.
November 25, 2021

The industry standard

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
InDesign may not be the best choice for a small publisher or an organization with very simple needs for creating published print materials, but we use it for everything from marketing flyers (before 2020, of course), and about 90% of new book projects. It may not maximally be useful for teams with a low volume of products or who are not creating full books, magazines, newspapers, etc., as it might not be a good value for the price.
November 24, 2021

The best we found!

Kelsie Hamilton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is well suited when you have a staff member that can be dedicated to learning the process. It's not necessarily the easiest to just "pick up" and run with it. My team member was able to really dig in and learn how to use it, and then train myself afterward.
November 23, 2021

Love my InDesign

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
When working on booklets, multiple-page files, I highly recommend using InDesign. Illustrator is capable but there are limitations that InDesign makes it much easier to use. Especially when having to layout and export in a spreadsheet style. Overall file handling is very easy with InDesign when handing files over. The interface is clean and you can even block off all objects off the canvas so it doesn't clutter the overall space
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I really love the way [Adobe] InDesign allows us the apply and change the template briefly. When we are doing catalogs, it saves us a lot of time to play with the layout. Also, the character style and paragraph style help a lot, instead of changing the font type and size all the time, we just need to click on the style name.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Any scenario where a high-level, high-quality production is required. Being able to integrate multiple images/image formats and clean text and text elements. We handled most projects with the same professional finishes and standards, but when a big deal comes through, it's comforting to know that we can take it up a couple notches with [Adobe] InDesign.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[Adobe] InDesign is excellent for complex, long-length documents that must appear professional and incorporate various aspects of publishing. It can easily handle complex typography, gridded content, templates, accessibility concerns, and more. However, it is a complicated program to master and best used by designers, so content that needs to be edited frequently by non-designers would not be suggested for this program.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I think InDesign is very suitable for creating reports while the design work is still being done. This means that everytime a design or picture is updated, you can see it updated real-time in InDesign. This allows multiple teams to work in parallel towards the deadline. The graphic design team/person will work to create a comprehensive layout. The design/report data team create the content. However, I think that depending on the situation, InDesign is not suitable for presentations that will be projected. There are other software out there that do this job faster (offline software such as Powerpoint, or online tools such as canva)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
If you need this tool, there simply isn't any other program to recommend. And if you don't need it, it is a waste of time and money to invest in it. For this reason I don't know that I would recommend it to anybody. If somebody would need this tool to do their work, they would already have it.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Designing printed brochures, flyers and information booklets is where Adobe InDesign shines. It's not a tool to edit images, although you have some options that help you avoid having to open up Photoshop. The two applications work hand-in-hand, and I can't use InDesign without going to Photoshop every once in a while.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Well Suited:
  • Presentations
  • Floor plans - color coding etc
  • Furniture Boards
  • Mood/Inspiration Boards
  • Brand Presentations
Less Appropriate:
  • Shared collaboration work - when multiple people need to access a file and work on it at the same time
  • Documents with a lot of text - better for images only
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Great option for creating books, multiple page documents, and things like calendars. Very easy to use most of the basic tools. Once you become more of an experienced user, many of the advanced tools make your life much more easy. Not very useful for one page documents - Adobe Illustrator is much more suited for these situations.
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