Free Layout Zone Add-On for Adobe InDesign CS3

Download Layout Zones Add-On (48 KB ZIP Archive)

Installation

After you download it, unzip it, and put the LayoutZone folder loose in the Scripts folder (inside the InDesign application folder). Next time you relaunch InDesign, you’ll find the Layout Zone features in the Edit menu.

Requirements

This script requires InDesign CS3 in order to work. It will not work in earlier versions.

Using the Layout Zones Script in collaborative environments

Multiple InDesign users can work on different sections of the same page simultaneously. If you work in a team, this script could make your life a whole lot easier!

Select InDesign page elements and convert them to a placed InDesign file automatically.

In addition, the script also enables the user to convert the placed InDesign file back to native objects...in other words, it enables you to "round trip" the page elements into a placed InDesign file and back to native elements again.

When you install the script, it creates a new Layout Zone submenu in InDesign's Edit menu, which means you don't have to open your Scripts panel to use it.

InDesign CS3 enables a user to import or place another InDesign document onto a page, and this script takes that feature one step further by enabling the user to define a geometry within an InDesign document, and then essentially export that geometry as a new, linked InDesign document that someone else can edit. This is great for defining the frame size for an ad within InDesign, and then exporting that frame for someone else to build the actual ad that will be placed into that frame. The same thing goes for a story or article on a spread that requires another user to do the layout. Just create some place-holder frames for the article and then run the script to convert it into a placed InDesign file that another user will open and edit.

Imagine that you’re working on a layout… you have some text and graphics, but you want someone else to design them nicely. Now you can select those objects, choose "Edit > Layout Zone > Objects to InDesign Document" to convert them into an INDD file which replaces the original objects. Give the INDD file to the designer to make pretty.

When they’re done, you can just click Update in the Links panel (to update the InDesign document). Or you can choose "Edit > Layout Zone > Linked InDesign Page to Objects", to convert that person’s design back into editable pieces in InDesign.

What others are saying

Free Layout Zones Add-On is Incredible Productivity Tool (David Blatner, InDesignSECRETS.com)

Cool (free!) Layout Zones Script (Tim Cole, Adobe InDesign blog)