I would like to see Notes move seamlessly between Adobe products:
There are two plugins that address the issue of Notes in InDesign.
- PDF Stickies and TomaxxiAnnotations let me export InDesign Notes to PDF.
- DTP Tools Annotations lets me import and apply PDF annotations back into InDesign.
The missing link is a solution that will let me export all sorts of annotations to Acrobat in one fell swoop. The reason is because I create technical documents and I often need to get clarification about certain bits of text in a long threaded text frame. I would like a way to tag that text right in InDesign and have that tag appear as a PDF annotation.
I’d like a way to repurpose the XML tagging capabilities of InDesign to allow me to create PDF annotations. Here is how I envision the annotated text to look in the Story Editor.
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| Story Editor display, with annotated text markup displayed |
Here is what I envision the capabilities of the new and improved Notes panel:
- Blocks of text can be marked for PDF annotation, right in InDesign
- We should be able to choose annotation type, icon, and color in the InDesign Notes panel (preferably without having to open a second dialog box to do so.
- A note navigator that lists all the notes at the bottom of the Notes Panel, under a new twirl down.
- These annotations would be capable of appearing in both Print and Interactive PDFs
Here is an illustration demonstrating what I would like to see the UI look like. The Notes panel will have three new drop downs on the top right: Annotation Type, Icon, and Color. At the bottom of the panel will be a twirl down listing all the notes in the document.
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| New and Improved Notes Panel |
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| New Drop Downs in the Notes Panel |
If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about how notes can make your publishing workflow more efficient, join me at PePcon 2014, where I will be speaking on PDF Annotations.
Like this article? You may also be interested in: My Wish List for Notes - Across the Suite.
