Brushes for Strokes

[shannonwbrown]

I am under the impression that I cannot create/add custom brushes in InDesign for strokes.

I am creating a number of sidebar text boxes that I would like to apply a custom brush (eg. charcoal line) around. This seems to be like it would be a very basic feature similar to Illustrator.

Am I missing something?

[rohit_ID · Accepted solution]

Indesign has only limited option for strokes which you can access from the strokes panel (Window - Strokes) and you can only apply a specific pattern of Custom strokes which fall under three categories - Stripe , dotted , dash. If you really want to add a custom border around a text frame, then one workaround would be to use Type on a path tool and place a bordered Glyph or similar things around. This is what you can try https://indesignsecrets.com/making-custom-borders-type-path.php .

[happie_97]

Great link Rihit_ID. I love these tips. I just finished a brochure using custum brush strokes inside of InDesign.

[shannonwbrown]

Yeah, I'm familiar with these "jimmy-rig" techniques, but they are limited and wonky. I must admit it's almost laughable that I can do paw print strokes but I can't create custom strokes using brushes. I'm not designing amateur newsletters for the local dog shelter. I also know this is not the right place to voice complaints and you are just offering the only help that's available.

[Steve Werner]

Not everything can be done in InDesign. Sometimes you have to use one of the "InDesign plug-ins"—Illustrator or Photoshop.

In this case, Illustrator would be the tool for creating and applying brushes.

[shannonwbrown]

Steve, in this one book project I have about 30 different sidebar boxes. All different sizes. Wouldn't it be nice to add a stroke and then choose a brush that gives it a thin inkpen stroke for example? The manual work back and forth between Illustrator and Indesign is highly inefficient.

Same thing with Rules, Lines above footnotes, etc. 

It's a feature request for sure, but I would think designers would be clamoring for this.

[Steve Werner]

You can't use something that's not there.

It's a pretty rare request as far as I remember, but you should make a good case for it in Feature Requests.

Feature Requests/Bug Reports

[Nicholas_Avallone]

+1 for this request.

I'm surprised it's not something that more designers are clamoring for.  I mean, a dozen-and-a-half stroke options is not a lot to choose from. The pre-packaged strokes are lurking somewhere deep in the bowels of InDesign's code. Seems like adding a few more shouldn't be too difficult, especially since you can do precisely that in Illustrator.

[illustrata]

The feature/bug report link is no good.

[IRLangton]

I would love this as a feature - it would make life so much easier

[Labradoras]

Im with you, Shannon!

[bobbyw29955894]

Have you tried to use CC plugins browser? One of the worst UIs out there.

[louisab59876707]

+2 for this request.

I am designing a menu on InDesign which will be used as a template and updated by other people (and I have no control over their level of design experience). As the menu items in the restaurant change, the rules and boxes I am designing now may be resized (or new ones may be added). It is unreasonable in this company's workflow to ask them to go re-draw boxes and lines with the correct brush on an illustrator file every time they need to make these changes. If InDesign can apply a footprint texture to a stroke, surely it can do more with strokes than it currently does. It would be very helpful to be able to create (or import) other textures for InDesign strokes.

The link for the feature request form posted in this thread no longer works, but I am adding my voice to this request here.

[lauralf17525129]

I would like to be able to use a brushstroke in InDesign I would use it alot and so would many other people!