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par1sons
Participating Frequently
February 8, 2011
Question

changing images to 300dpi within indesign

  • February 8, 2011
  • 1 reply
  • 60490 views

Hi again only me, lol

Within Illustrator have an action set up so i can automatically change the resolution of an image to 300dpi with one click.

I know Indesign doesnt use actions but is there away of simply setting a script to action this very time saving exercise?

Andy

    1 reply

    E
    Community Expert
    Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 8, 2011

    You don't need to do this.

    Make a PDF

    Go to File>Export and in the Compression section of the dialog box there is the option to Downsample All Images to 300 ppi that are above 450.

    However:

    There are scripts to resize images to do this http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1833529

    (Window>Automation> Scripts) CS5 it's Under (Window>Utilities>Scripts)

    Installing scripts

    http://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-install-scripts-in-indesign.php

    Why do you want to change all the images to 300 ppi ? There's no need.

    There are two things to look for in the Window>Info Panel

    When you place an image check teh Info Panel

    It will have actual and effective PPI

    Actual will show you the ppi that is resident in the file.

    Effective will show you the PPI in relation to how it was scaled within InDesign

    As long as Effective PPI is 300 ppi or higher then all is fine.

    Generally there is no need to go to open all your images and save them as 300 ppi

    Just use them as they are - even if they are "effectively" over 300 ppi it won't matter.

    When you make the PDF for print you can downsample the images there - reducing the size of the PDF.

      P
      par1sonsAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      February 8, 2011

      great response thank you

      My images need to be 300dpi no less or larger for pagination reasons thats all. The pagination software i use which is old but does the job requires 300dpi.  Not only that it helps keep the file sizes down.

      I will take a look at that scripting, cheers

      Andy

      E
      Community Expert
      Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 8, 2011

      Does the Pagination Software use PDFs?

      If so - take a look at what I said about creating PDFs and downsampling the PDFs there.

      Much quicker than resizing all your images.

      I used to resize all my images when I used Quark. I had an action setup in Photoshop to convert to CMYK and change PPI to 300 - And converting 1000 images for a school journal took most of my morning and where I picked up my caffine addiciton and got really good at crosswords.

      RGB images can be converted to CMYK on output. And images above 300 ppi can be downsampled to 300 ppi on export. Takes no time at all - saves you trip to photohsop (effectively cutting out two steps in the process).

      Time is money

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