Inspiring

Answered

Newbie to InDesign Scripting question

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
July 8, 2025
3 replies
1801 views

Hi all,

I've done programming for some time. PHP, VB, VBA etc. SOME JS but not extensive. I decided I wanted to try to do some InDesign Scripts for things I do repeatedly. I went to the getting started guide at https://developer.adobe.com/indesign/1688653963277/guides/getting-started/ . Just to try it, I copied the code for the "Hello World" and saved it in my Scripts folder. TaDA it showed up. BUT when I attempt to run it I get this error:

I've gone down all kinds of rabbit holes doing research but can't figurre out what is happening wrong. It is the var myDocument = app.documents.add(); line that is causing the issue. I attempted to try to figure it out BUT the only thing I've found is the UXP Plugin that Adobe has. Did that replace scripts? All of the links from the scripting page get 404 errors.

Thanks for your help.

Correct answer Jakob Frey

Good luck getting started with InDesign scripting. Documentation is a mess and not so helpful most of the times.

For your problem:

Adobe changed the way you can access InDesign apis in version 18.4:

https://developer.adobe.com/indesign/uxp/changelog/#indesign-v184

You now need to require it first:

const { app } = require("indesign");

https://github.com/AdobeDocs/uxp-indesign-samples/blob/0536fb87cc743959211f2c4158653448b499bb5b/plugins/plugin-starter/index.js#L2

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Why not work for now with jsx javascript? It is more stable than the unfinished uxp.

I have preserved some scant documentation on my website:

https://trainingonsite.com/useful-resources/adobe-indesign/207-indesign-2025-learning-resources.html

Look for "InDesign CS6 JavaScripting Guide CS6 2012"

Mike Witherell

WinginsueAuthor

Inspiring

Page won't load,

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Really? It loads instantly for me.

Mike Witherell

J

Jakob FreyCorrect answer

Inspiring

Good luck getting started with InDesign scripting. Documentation is a mess and not so helpful most of the times.

For your problem:

Adobe changed the way you can access InDesign apis in version 18.4:

https://developer.adobe.com/indesign/uxp/changelog/#indesign-v184

You now need to require it first:

const { app } = require("indesign");

https://github.com/AdobeDocs/uxp-indesign-samples/blob/0536fb87cc743959211f2c4158653448b499bb5b/plugins/plugin-starter/index.js#L2

WinginsueAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks I'll check out your links and see if I can glean something from that. You are correct, the documentation sucks.

m1b

Community Expert

Hmm, I'm no expert on UXP scripting, but it appears that the code on that tutorial is the old ExtendScript. For UXP you would start with something like this:

let myInDesign = require("indesign");
let app = myInDesign.app;

I have lodged an issue with the github repo for that tutorial page.

You could make a start by opening other .idjs scripts from within the Indesign app folder, for example I can see:

BreakFrame.idjs
Neon.idjs
PathEffects.idjs
AdjustPageItems.idjs
SplitStory.idjs
AnimationEncyclopedia.idjs
TabUtilities.idjs
CreateCharacterStyle.idjs
AddPoints.idjs
AlignToPage.idjs
MakeGrid.idjs
AddQRCode.idjs
CornerEffects.idjs
SortParagraphs.idjs
SelectObjects.idjs
ImageCatalog.idjs
AddGuides.idjs
ExportAllStories.idjs
CropMarks.idjs

- Mark

P.S. for the DOM structure you can look up this invaluable resource. It was written for ExtendScript, but I believe it is very similar for UXP and many will work. Perhaps there are better resources for UXP, but it's not my area of expertise.

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