Indesign Print QC Script

Question

# [Free Script] QC Master Dashboard v1.9 – Automated Prepress Audit & 1-Click Fixing Tool for Adobe InDesign

### Why Native Preflight Isn't Enough
Adobe InDesign’s built-in Live Preflight is great for catching missing links and overset text, but in high-volume commercial printing and packaging, native preflight has two major limitations:
1. It only flags errors—it cannot automatically fix them. Operators still have to find and resolve issues manually.
2. It cannot audit custom shop SOPs, such as accidental 4-color rich blacks, unapproved black tints, unwanted font ligatures, background fills behind placed graphics, or regional URL restrictions.

To solve this, I developed QC Master Dashboard (v1.9)—a fast, lightweight, dual-column interactive audit and one-click fixing tool designed for commercial prepress operators and production artists.

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### Key Features & What It Audits

#### 1. Strict Black Color Audit & Fix (No Rich Black / 100% Solid & 80% Tint Only)
* The Rule: Accidental 4-color Rich Black (C+M+Y+K) causes registration ghosting on small text, while random black tints create color inconsistency. This tool strictly disallows Rich Black and flags any tint other than 100% Solid Black or 80% Black Tint.
* Actions:
* `[Scan]`: Checks all text and page items.
* `[Rev]`: Jumps directly to the affected page, centers the frame, and selects the issue.
* `[Fix]`: Fixes the current reviewed black issue to the approved value.
* `[All]`: Batch-converts all unapproved blacks and rich blacks across the entire publication into approved 100% Solid or 80% Black in one click.

#### 2. Smart Unused Swatches & Auto-Add Unnamed Colors
* Automatically scans the artwork for raw CMYK/RGB values applied to text or shapes and registers them into the Swatches panel before auditing.
* Purges true unused swatches with `[Remove All]` while ignoring InDesign internal "ghost" swatches.

#### 3. Smart Widow Finder (Excludes Bullets & Short Labels)
* Detects multi-line paragraph widows across all stories.
* Intelligently ignores single-word bullet points, numbers, and short icon callouts (< 6 words) to eliminate false positives.
* Includes a 1-click `[Fix]` that inserts a non-breaking space (`~S`) between the last two words.

#### 4. Double Space Cleaner
* Uses native C++ GREP for rapid scanning of consecutive spaces.
* Inspect individual occurrences with `[Scan]` / `[Rev]` / `[Fix]`, or clean the entire document instantly with `[All]`.

#### 5. Disallowed Regional URLs
* Flags restricted regional and top-level domain URLs (e.g., `.in`, `.co.in`, `com/in`, `/en-in`, `/in`) embedded in hyperlinks or raw text frames.

#### 6. Placed Graphic Frames with Background Fill
* Detects placed graphic frames that have an accidental background fill color behind the image (strokes and borders are permitted).
* One-click `[Clear]` resets the frame fill to `[None]`.

#### 7. Hyphenation Auditor & 1-Click Disabler
* Identifies words split across lines and paragraphs with hyphenation enabled.
* `[Uncheck]` button disables hyphenation across all stories in the document in one click.

#### 8. Ligatures Auditor & 1-Click Disabler
* Scans for active ligatures (`fi`, `fl`, `ff`, `ffi`, `ffl`).
* One-click `[All]` disables ligatures across the entire publication to prevent RIP font substitution errors.

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### Engineered for Speed on Large Documents (50+ Pages)
* Screen Redraw Suppression: During batch scans and fixes, `enableRedraw = false` is enforced so InDesign doesn't waste CPU/GPU cycles repainting the canvas. A full 50-page document scans in under 5 seconds.
* Reverse-Chronological Audit Log: Real-time logging displays the newest events at the very top.
* Exportable Report: Save your complete audit history as a `.txt` log file for job ticketing and prepress sign-off.
* Compact UI: Optimized dual-column layout (~385px height) designed to fit comfortably on laptop screens without blocking your artboard.

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### Compatibility
* Adobe InDesign: CC 2022 (v17.0) through CC 2025+
* Operating System: Windows & macOS
* Engine: Modeless floating palette (`#targetengine`)

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### Installation
1. Download `QC_Master_Dashboard.jsx`.
2. In InDesign, open the Scripts Panel (`Window` → `Utilities` → `Scripts`).
3. Right-click the User folder and select Reveal in Explorer (Windows) or Reveal in Finder (macOS).
4. Place `QC_Master_Dashboard.jsx` into the Scripts Panel folder.
5. In InDesign, double-click the script to launch the palette.

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Find the code in my comment in my Comment

Regards
Nousheeth

Eugene Tyson · Answer

Fair play on developing this. There's clearly a lot of work gone into it, and I can definitely see the value in having additional checks and the ability to jump directly to potential problems.

I'd disagree a little with the premise that native Preflight isn't enough because it doesn't automatically fix things, though.

Preflight is fundamentally a checking tool. Its job is to identify potential problems, not necessarily decide how they should be corrected. And InDesign's Preflight already does considerably more than checking missing links and overset text. You can create custom profiles for minimum type sizes, colour spaces, spot colours, overprinting, image resolution, stroke weights, bleed requirements and plenty more.

My concern would be some of the automatic fixes, particularly the document-wide ones.

I work with packaging artwork, where text and artwork are regulated. You can't simply remove double spaces, introduce non-breaking spaces or change hyphenation without considering the consequences. Even a seemingly innocent change could alter text flow, introduce overset text or affect an approved layout.

Take your widow fixer, for example. Inserting a non-breaking space might solve one problem but introduce another elsewhere. Likewise, disabling all ligatures or hyphenation might not be desirable at all.

The black conversion is another example. Rich black isn't necessarily wrong. It's commonly used for large solid areas, whereas smaller text would generally be better in 100% K. Some RIPs and trapping workflows can also manage particular black-related issues. It really depends on the printing process and what's required. I wouldn't want a script automatically changing every instance without reviewing it first.

Even something like clearing the background fill of a placed graphic could remove something that was deliberately applied.

And that's really my point. A lot of these checks are specific to your workflow rather than necessarily being errors in every print environment.

I do wish Adobe would expand InDesign's Preflight, though. For example, checking approved spot colour names and builds, specific font requirements, or having more intelligent minimum type-size checks that can distinguish between genuinely undersized text and legitimate superscripts or subscripts. There's also plenty of scope for packaging-specific checks.

I'd also love an optional auto-fix system built into InDesign, similar in principle to the fixups available in Acrobat Pro, but with the ability to review and approve individual changes.

For me, that's where your script has real value. The scan and review functionality is probably more useful than the blanket fixes. Having configurable rules and the option to fix individual issues would make it much more adaptable to different production environments.

It's great to see people developing tools like this, though. Anything that helps catch production errors and makes checks more efficient is worth exploring. I just think the distinction between detecting an issue and automatically correcting it is an important one.

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