Questions for developers

[tlynch-ual]

I have two questions about long standing issues with InDesign:

The first is why is there a maximum document size, and if this might be lifted in future as it's quite a small document size.

Second is when working on perfect bind documents you need to be able to do the cover as a single PDF that is the back, front and spine in one document. Normally you end up doing this separately but that means that left and right pages are either messed up or you have to have blank pages.

Basically with both of these questions there are hacks to get around the issues, but they seem relatively simple to fix:

First remove the limit or set it to 50 meters rather than 5.4 meters for example.

Second a special page cover page, and custom page sizes per page.

Sorry for posting here but I wasn't sure how else to reach your team.

[Peter Spier]

I can't address maximum document dimensions, but for a perfect bound book the cover almost always would be printed separately, on heavier stock, so the printer will want it in a separate file anyway. If you insist on putting it into the same file, there is no problem with left/right page ordering, or custom sizes.

Left/right positioning is governed by the logical page number assigned to each page, and that is controllable in Numbering and Section Options. Custom page sizes can be built with the Page tool.

[tlynch-ual]

Yeah I know, but it would seem like it would be easy to save out the cover page and inner pages separately, it's not the end of the world but it seems like it would be a useful way to keep everything in one place

[Peter Spier]

I don't know about the printers you use, but the ones I use would have a fit if I submitted the cover in the same file. I keep both in a single folder.

[Derek Cross]

You're not reaching Adobe, this is a user-to-user support forum.

There is a feature request forum: InDesign Feature Requests

[Jongware]

The default maximum PDF page size is 45 inch (1143 mm). Newer versions of Acrobat Reader and the PDF format allow a size up to 15 million inch (... 38,100 km) but then you would not be able to export with any PDF version, or view such a document on any PDF reader.

(Based on Is there a page size limit when exporting a pdf from InDesign? )

I've never seen a book as large as 5.4 meters though. If one exists, its designers probably did the obvious thing and worked to scale.

[Peter Spier]

larger dimensions might be nice for billboard designers, though...

[Jongware]

But billboards are typically viewed from a large distance. The desired effect is not that of seeing, say, a magazine page with a width and height of several meters, but instead to see a magazine page sized object from afar, with text and design to match so it's still readable.

[Peter Spier]

Quite true, but it would mean you could work at 100% scale.

[tlynch-ual]

Exactly, it's not that there aren't ways around, but that this is a ridiculous limit, and if PDF has a output limit then InDesign should scale it when exporting, but the same is true in Illustrator and again it is a frustration that need not be there.