Formulas Needed for InDesign Tables

[gplumblee]

I've been paying for a thrid-party plugin to add up hours and calculate invoices totals, but I'm tired of spending the monthly fee for this simple feature. I thought Adobe was going to add this to InDesign. Does anyone know that status of this idea? In the meantime, I guess I can stop being lazy and do the calculations myself, but I imagine a lot of people use InDesign for invoices if they're not proficient with Excel.

[Smolds]

Hi, yes that's something I've been wanting. I use the free Mac app 'Pages' which does Excel type formulas

[gplumblee]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

[jane-e]

@gplumblee 

I've moved your post from Creative Cloud Desktop to the InDesign forum for you.

Jane

[Smolds]

https://www.template.net/apple/how-to-make-an-invoice-in-apple-pages/

Its very easy in Pages

[Steve Werner]

If you're making a feature request for InDesign, this is not the best place. You should post them in the InDesign User Voice where they'll be seen by engineers and product managers and users can vote on requests:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601021-adobe-indesign-feature-requests

[gplumblee]

Thanks Steve. I'll post it there. Somehow, I thought I was posting in feature requests, but I admit it was not clear when I did it.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Although this is not accomplishing task within Indesign, my suggestion, export invoice to PDF, and create form and calculations in Acrobat.

[gplumblee]

Thanks Jeffrey! I did try this route, and I can't remember why it didn't work for me. I'll look again.

[jmlevy]

Maybe this script can help you. For info, I am not the author.

https://labdal.net/en/produit/calculs-raynaux-v4-english/

[gplumblee]

Thanks so much! I found this script before, and I opted for Woodwing Smart Styles, which works great.

https://www.woodwing.com/products/woodwing-smart-styles/downloads

They are both an extra subscription, though. I had hoped Adobe would someday add formulas to their tables for those who are more proficient with InDesign.  I'm going to try Jeffrey's advice and check out Acrobat again for this need. I need to find the correct place to post feature requests.

Thanks everyone!!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Using InDesign for invoicing is an overkill... 

[gplumblee]

Hi Robert. What software would you recommend I use?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Depends on how many you need to issue and how many items per invoice - but WORD or Excel should be good enough. You could even do a simple database.

If you have a lot to issue - then you should have some software to manage stock, etc. anyway... Or maybe your bank have an option included in your Business Banking Account...

There are also free online services that let you prepare / manage / print invoices.

Or you could probably use PayPal?

Just checked - you can download preview - no watermarks.

But as I don't know your exact situation - I can only guess...

[gplumblee]

Thanks Robert. I'm an independent contractor working for a couple of music publishers, so it is definitely something I can do easily, with or without formulas in InDesign. My request is really a Wishlist thing, and I thought it would be simple enough to add a few functions to tables in the programming of InDesign. I do appreciate the feedback, though. 🙂