Script for Bin Packing (automatically fitting items onto pages)

Hi everyone, I'd like to share a script.

Some time ago I wrote a script for bin-packing in Illustrator (posted here on the forum) and recently another user asked me if I could make a version for Indesign, which I have now done and I've published to github (the repo has scripts for both Indesign and Illustrator).

To read more about the scripts, including instructions, you can visit the github repo or to jump right in you can directly download the scripts.

What is bin packing?

Bin packing is arranging things so that they fit into "bins". In Illustrator, the bins are artboards, and in Indesign the bins are pages.

This is the sort of thing you can do in Illustrator (packing 35 items into 2 artboards):

And here's an Indesign example, packing 146 items onto 4 pages:

(This animation is using the option "Divide Bins at Guides", which keeps the items clear of the guides by a set margin.)

I hope someone will find the scripts useful. Feel free to leave feedback here or via the github repo.

- Mark