My InDesign 15.1.4 workspace is not available in new documents

[joejakey@comcast.net]

I have many custom paragraph, character, and object styles in my workspace, which is saved as a custom workspace with a unique name. But when I start a new blank document and select that same workspace, none of my custom styles are there. The only way I can carry my custom styles from one document to another is to copy the original, save it with a new name, delete everything in it, and start over.

I'm sure there is a better way.

[Mike Bro]

Hello joejakey@comcast.net,

Sorry I don't have a answer for why your custom workspace isn't working for you, but you can use the script below to import all your styles. Just run the script, select a document that contains all the styles you want to import.

var myDoc = app.documents[0];

var sourceFile = File.openDialog ("Select a source file");

if (sourceFile != null){

myDoc.importStyles(ImportFormat.TEXT_STYLES_FORMAT, sourceFile, GlobalClashResolutionStrategy.LOAD_ALL_WITH_OVERWRITE);
myDoc.importStyles(ImportFormat.OBJECT_STYLES_FORMAT, sourceFile, GlobalClashResolutionStrategy.LOAD_ALL_WITH_OVERWRITE);
myDoc.importStyles(ImportFormat.PARAGRAPH_STYLES_FORMAT, sourceFile, GlobalClashResolutionStrategy.LOAD_ALL_WITH_OVERWRITE);
myDoc.importStyles(ImportFormat.CHARACTER_STYLES_FORMAT, sourceFile, GlobalClashResolutionStrategy.LOAD_ALL_WITH_OVERWRITE);

alert("Done!\rAll Styles successfully imported.");

}

Regards,

Mike

[Peter Spier · Accepted solution]

Text styles are not part of a workspace.

If you want them to appear in all new files you should create the styles with nothing open (you should be able to use the "Load Styles" feature in one of the text style panel menus to copy them from an existing file).

[Peter Spier]

Tee same is true of Object Styles and Stroke Styles...

[joejakey@comcast.net]

I'm not sure what you mean by "create the styles with nothing open." I have to at least create a blank document before I can even see the panel menus. When I do that, I can click on a panel menu and select "Load All Text Styles..." and select a file that contains the styles I want to duplicate. That works, but all it does is load the styles into the blank file I have just created. The next time I want to create a new document, I have to go through the whole process again. Isn't there some way to incorporate those styles into the template that InDesign uses to create the document?

[Peter Spier]

You do not need an open document to access any panel. Setting options with no documents open is how global defaults (affecting all new documents) are set.

For use as a template, you can open a new blank document, set any styles or other features (such as Master/Parent page items, swatches, bleeds, margins, page sizes, etc.) that you will want to be available to new documents of this type, and then do a Save AS and pick Template (.indt). Close the file, then open it and you will see it reopens as an "untitled" copy unless you specifially choose to "open as original" so you can edit the template to affect future clones.

You can convert any existing .indd file to a template by changing the file extension to .indt. The only differnce between the two file types is this default opening. .indt opens an untitled copy and .ijndd opens the original by default.

[BobLevine]

If you're using the default interface choice, you will have to choose a workspace first. You can customize that and then save it.

[Creamer Training]

As Peter mentioned, Paragraph, Character, Object, Stroke, and Color [Swatches] styles are not listed as an option when creating a new workspace. Items created in panels are not menu customizations.