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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
  • Page overview and layout
  • Media implementation to eBooks
  • In-depth control of elements in layout
  • Preflight review feature to spot errors
  • Not naturally a WYSIWYG display (this is an option, and doesn't always work as intended)
  • Moving images and photos around while holding an additional key
  • Layers or objects are not easily clickable behind other objects.
  • Adobe InDesign does require some fair system resources to work smoothly
Allie (Allison) Egerer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Layering - When comparing to products like Microsoft Word, the layering becomes a big plus for Adobe InDesign. Layering allows you to turn "on" and "off" certain aspects of your document, such as if you wanted to show what a direct mail piece looks like with just the art work showing and then again with sample data showing by just the click of a button.
  • Master Pages - Again, when comparing to Microsoft Word, master pages in Adobe InDesign takes "styling" just a little bit further. It makes it much easier to create certain multiple styles that you can easily apply (or not apply) to various pages. Such as if you wanted the page number and company to show on certain pages, and not on others.
  • Cloud Libraries - This is a GREAT feature for companies who have multiple employees working in the software. When one employee adds an element to a Cloud Library, every other employee has access to it as well. This doesn't just pertain to images, like you would think - you can add things like styles, whole paragraphs (such as boiler plates), fonts, brand colors, and more. The great part is, you also don't have to be working in an online browser in order to access them.
  • Crashes - It is almost understandable because of how large the software is, but we have had issues with the product crashing randomly, more so than others software we use.
  • Incompatible Versions - Recently we have had some issues with opening files from other organizations and getting a message stating that their document was made with a "newer version" than ours and that it's incompatible - even though we don't have any pending updates to our software. It can be confusing because now that the Creative Cloud version exists, it seems like there should no longer be error issues for "newer" versions (such as InDesign 5.1, or InDesign 6.1, like there used to be - now it's just InDesign CC going forward with no newer versions.) So this error message, in theory, shouldn't be happening.
  • Complicated - Again, it is understandable because of how complex of a tool this is, but this is not a tool you are going to be fully able to train a coworker on in a week. In fact most people who have used it for years still probably only use about 10-20% of the tools features. This type of software, unlike Microsoft Word, is usually only used by people who work in field of design/creative, so you wouldn't expect every employee to be able to use it.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Able to design down to minute details
  • Cross platform use with other Adobe products is great
  • Adobe support centre and online communities are great for if/when you get stuck
  • I have found a few bugs in recent years
  • Broken image links are the bane of my life when working on other people's files
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Hyperlinking text/images when exporting to PDF
  • Ultra precise object placement and control
  • Digital Publishing of documents to the Adobe cloud
  • Ability to copy multiple items in a clipboard and view and paste individual items repetitively
  • Object selection and object transformation could be easily switched between
  • Helpful tooltips when first beginning could save lots of time
Ruchika Save | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Creates perfectly balanced layout
  • Precise image placement and manipulation
  • Software provides collaboration tools to streamline content creation while working with team
  • Great for creating eBooks, magazines, and other print material
  • It would be great to have a few wizards to help beginners set up a document properly
  • For beginners, it can take a considerable amount of time to understand the layout concept
  • The software is expensive
  • There can be glitches at times
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Page Layout - everything from single brochures to multi-page books
  • Integrate seamlessly with the rest of the Adobe Creative Suite
  • Intuitive, user-friendly modules and workflow
  • Adobe continues to have an issue with not making controls apple to apples across all of its primary products (InDesign - Photoshop - Illustrator). Would be great if someday all actions within each software could be found in the same place.
Trish Lofton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • InDesign is great for creating projects like eBooks, digital magazines, and other online documents. You can add in features like audio, video, slideshows, and animations.
  • If you are working with a team, the software provides several collaboration tools to streamline content creation.
  • If a project calls for image descriptions, the alternative texts are an easy way to meet the needs of visually impaired readers.
  • If you are a new user, it can take a considerable amount of time to understand the layout concepts and terminology. This is especially true if you are just beginning to learn how to design any type of document.
  • For functionality, it would be great to have a few wizards to help beginners set up a document properly. This could be based on they type of project (print media, online, eBooks, etc.).
Maria Clara Daly | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Merges seamlessly with other Adobe products.
  • Robust and versatile in ability to create character and paragraph styles which helps with overall document changes if needed.
  • Great ability to render images at high or lower resolution while working on projects which helps dramatically with load speeds for larger publications.
  • Font activation and preview can sometimes be a bit fussy depending what you're using for font management.
  • So many new features are regularly rolled out (not a negative) that I find myself often having to ask Google where to find one of my libraries or settings when a new iteration is rolled out. Consider this a semi-negative.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Customization - With Adobe InDesign, as well as many other applications in the Adobe Creative Suite, I can fully customize my workspaces and save different workspaces. This makes it easy to navigate through my project and have the panels and tools I need easily accessible and configured based on my project needs.
  • Styles - Adobe InDesign has character styles, object styles, and tables styles. This speeds up my workflows and allows me to easily apply the same format across multiple elements. This is super helpful, especially when working with length documents.
  • File compatibility - I can easily export my files into so many different file types.
  • The Book feature - This feature is really helpful when creating books or very long documents with multiple sections.
  • Although, you can export Adobe InDesign documents into many file formats like pdf or jpeg. I do wish I could export Adobe InDesign files to PowerPoint or video. Adobe InDesign now has a lot of interactive elements. It would be nice to create an interactive or dynamic digital piece in [Adobe] InDesign and then export it to video. Adobe InDesign really has great master page options, it would be great to design presentations or templates using Adobe InDesign and export [them] to google slides, keynote, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
  • Price - Adobe InDesign is expensive. They do offer subscription-based plans through the Adobe Creative Cloud, but you also get a cancellation fee, if you cancel your plan before the 12-month term is up.
  • The trial period - Adobe used to offer a 30 day trial period. Now there is only a 7-day trial. That is really not a long enough time to evaluate a robust and feature-dense application like Adobe InDesign.
John La Belle | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Powerful tools for handling large amounts of text, with full control over white space, kerning, justification, leading and all other aspects of typesetting.
  • Combining text with graphics from other applications such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDRAW! and other graphic programs.
  • Powerful Prepress controls for pre-flighting your print publication, handling overprints and trapping, and doing both Pantone spot color as well as 4 color process separations.
  • The only thing I don't like about InDesign is the CS Live Adobe Community Help interface. It's highly buggy and difficult to search. It's usually much easier to just do a Google search for a solution or feature you cant find, rather than try to use the Community interface.
November 23, 2021

Love my InDesign

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Layout
  • Spread
  • Fast
  • Easy to setup
  • There are times when fonts and linked images go missing or need to be relinked even if root files were not moved.
  • There can be glitches at times.
  • Speed over quality. Would love the software to work faster with multiple files open.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • master pages helps apply the same layout
  • character style
  • paragraph style
  • the linked text frame sometimes bugs me
  • maybe [Adobe] InDesign can automatically read a folder called "links" as AI does
  • besides, all good
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Professional-level document design
  • WCAG compliance, particularly for screen readers
  • Branding and asset organization
  • Complex data must be handled in a different program
  • Table design & remediation is too complicated
  • Program competency is easy, but mastery is difficult
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Creating a layout for projects, reports, research publications, portfolios..
  • Numbering pages and creating a streamlined/consistent look for pages (intermediate to advanced)
  • Filling out a template prepared by an expert, even as a beginner
  • Ordering the pages with dragging is a bit counter-intuitive
  • The "Links" section needs improvement - it might be very beneficial to have the links displayed (and saved) in the "links" sections for dragging and reusing without having to re-insert
  • I think the relinking option works well - Would it be possible to the automatic relink to work even if file was renamed? A prompt will be [shown] to the user to help them approve or disapprove of this action.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Character and object styles are essential. With these two features you can save hours of work going through multi-page documents and manually reformatting individual elements.
  • Powerful PDF generation. Not only can you generate consistently well laid out documents, but you can incorporate specific PDF features. For instance, you can create a table of contents with text links that go right to the page in the PDF.
  • The ability to pre-flight and package projects for print is such a relief. You don't need to manually hunt down fonts and resources to send to your printer, it can all be buttoned up and print ready.
  • There is a lot of overlap in the Adobe content creation apps. You can make a block of text in Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign. And while tools are generally similar, things can be a bit jarring when going from one package to another. It is understandable that they are different tools attacking different problems, but any steps that can be take to smooth the functionality would be appreciated.
  • Cost. With so much of the software world going open source, it can feel weird shelling out for a program. That being said, if your need is an InDesign problem, there is NO alternative and it is worth every penny
  • Learning curve. There is a tremendous amount of documentation and user guides out there. But the fact is, this program is a monster. If it is not your job to create professional documents, you will not have the time or motivation to master Adobe InDesign.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Creating multi-page printed documents, like brochures
  • Creating print-ready PDF of EPS files in the format that the printer requires
  • The InDesign files of newer versions are rarely compatible with older versions, which makes sharing work difficult. There is an option to export to a universal file, but this is an avoidable hassle.
  • Menu items and workspace layouts are sometimes changed with newer versions, which causes confusion and requires a learning period before you can work at full speed again.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Creating templates - so all pages read the same, and have the same margins, titles, etc.
  • Guides - ability to snap items to guides so that images and texts are laid out with equal spacing and setup as a beautiful presentation.
  • Packaging - pulling full presentations into a "package" so that all of your image links, fonts, settings are saved, and can easily share among team members.
  • Collaboration - it would be great if there was a way to have live collaboration between team members (similar to how microsoft word or google presentations can allow multiple users to modify a document in real time).
  • File sizes - sometimes file sizes are too large and it holds up the computer and takes a lot of time to save and share.
  • None - I think this is a great tool and use it daily.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Book Creation/editing - you can create templates and follow these so every page appears just how you want it to, without concern of text not matching ideas
  • Cover design and editing - you can keep all your ideas cohesive along with your contents of your books.
  • DC version of InDesign keeps you up to date - easy to find tutorials for tools within system.
  • Cost is high, but for that cost, you get a great product
  • Some tools are difficult to use correctly without researching proper way to use them (not very intuitive sometimes)
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