How to shrink all contents in InDesign project on every page at once

[Mae5CAC]

I have a 180-page project in InDesign that is completely finished, but now I realized the contents on all of the pages are too close to the margins. All contents on every single page need to shrink down to have 1/2 inch more of white space around the margins. Is there a way to do this quickly, uniformly, and proportionally? I want the layout and proportions and everything for each page to stay the exact same; I just want to slighlty shrink all contents of the 180 pages. There is text on all pages and they all need to stay the same text size as each other (however, the text size itself doesn't necessarily have to stay at the current size it is at right now). 

[BobLevine]

I'm guessing someone can script this for you but I had this happen once in the past. I found the easiest way to do it was to export a PDF and place that into a new document with a graphic frame on the parent page set to scale it appropriately. Export a new PDF from there.

[Mae5CAC]

Thank you!

[Mae5CAC]

I just tried to do this, but it only imported the first page of the PDF. Am I missing a step?

[Peter Spier]

You can place the native .indd file if you like. The multi-page importer script is ideal for this: Releases · mike-edel/ID-MultiPageImporter · GitHub 

[Mae5CAC]

Thank you! I'm not familiar with using scripts; how exactly do I go about doing this process?

[Peter Spier]

You should be able to access this article without a membership: https://creativepro.com/how-to-install-scripts-in-indesign/

[Mae5CAC]

This is helpful, thank you! I just have a question about how to edit the script. The script is working in InDesign, but it changed the dimensions and margins to totally different units. Where in the script do I edit it so that the document dimensions stay the same, and then the margins increase by .5 inches and the contents shrink? I opened it in a script text editor, but I am just not sure what to edit. Sorry for all the questions!

[Peter Spier]

You shouldn't attempt to edit the script, I think. Instead, calculate the scale you need to acieve your desired margins (and most likely you will have to settle for mathcing only one target margin and let the others be what they will be -- you are changing everything proportionally, not by an absolute dimension. Increasing all margins by half an inch, for example, is not possible in most cases when you specify a percentage change of overall size).

You COULD scale the X and Y values differently, but this will introduce distortion into images and the type, so I wouldn't recommend it. I would suggest you use the Center alignment position, then adjust the offset if you need to move the page up or down. You can also use the offset to adjust the left-right positioninig, but you shouldn't need to do that if the inside and outside margins are equal, and if they are not, doing so will only help for half the pages in a facing pages file, so you'll have some manual work to deal with the other half in any case.

[Peter Spier]

You should run the script from a new one-page blank document of the size you want your book layout to be, and set your units in that file.

[Mae5CAC]

Again, very hepful; I can see that it is working, however, it isn't shrinking the content. It's just making it fit to the new pages in the exact same sizing as it was in the original document. Am I missing something? Is there something you're saying that I'm just completey not getting? Thanks again.

[Peter Spier]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding waht you mean by shrinking the content. If you reduce the scale of the page to 80%, say, and place it into a new file at that size, whcih is waht you can do with that script, is that not shrinking the content?

Perhaps you meant to reduce the page count?

[Steve Werner]

Here's an excellent overview of the subject from Creative Pro Magazine: "Resizing InDesign Layouts" that gives you your options:

https://creativepro.com/resizing-indesign-layouts/

[Mae5CAC]

Unfortunately, I don't have a CreativePro membership, so I can't access that article.

[Peter Spier]

Of course placing scaled pages is going to reduce the size of the type which might affect readability. If you want to just make your frames smaller, make sure they are snapped to the current margins, then make a copy of the file (for safety) and use Layout > Margins and Columns ... and enable Layout Adjustment. You'll need at that point to add additiona pages and fix any overset text.

[Mike Witherell]

Maybe try File > Adjust Layout ... on a copy of the file!

[Peter Spier]

I suggested that as well. Means changing the page count, though.

[Laubender]

Hi @Mae5CAC ,

did you successfully shrink the contents on all pages like you want?

If you still struggle with the MultiPageImporter script just let us know.

It would be helpful if you show some screenshots of a facing pages spread where we see the current contents and the one after you scaled the contents. With guides and also showing frame edges.

Below the GUI of the script:

I think, that there are options enough to get what you want. If not, just let us know…

Just experiment with the script using only a few pages of the exported PDF.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[TᴀW]

I'm a little late to the party here, but my (not free) https://www.id-extras.com/products/quickresize/ does just that, very well.

There's a demo version to play around with to see how it works.