InDesign 2023 Tutorial - Creating and Formatting Tables and Creating Interactive Forms

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi all! It makes me SO HAPPY that so many of you found the video helpful! There are more videos to come, so if you haven't subscribed yet, please feel free to do so!

[@danielrabello4837]

I love it! Thanks

[@JessicaGarrity]

Glad you loved it! Thanks for watching!

[@samantharivera1224]

Thank you so much! this is by far the best video on working with tables in indesign

[@JessicaGarrity]

Wow, what a huge compliment! Thank you so much for the kind words, Samantha! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :D

[@tamarakramar293]

Thank you Jessica! You saved me from hours of typesetting the tables on 10 pages. Awesome video!

[@JessicaGarrity]

haha, I'm so glad to hear that Tamara! Have an awesome day! :D

[@argeliasaraiperez6416]

Thank you for the tutorial :)

[@JessicaGarrity]

Thank YOU for watching, Argelia! :) Have an awesome day!

[@oakleaman]

An excellent tutorial, Jessica. Succinct and informative. Helped answer all my questions.

[@JessicaGarrity]

I'm so glad you liked it, Ansel! Thank you so much!

[@Chromedbustop]

Super helpful video!

[@JessicaGarrity]

Thank you so much, Ryan! Glad you found it useful!

[@marta7044]

Your videos are amazing and your voice!!!!

[@JessicaGarrity]

That is so kind of you to say! Thank you so much, marta :)

[@temporarychannel6315]

many thanks dear

[@JessicaGarrity]

You're very welcome! Have a great day

[@charltonarts3023]

Thanks Jessica this video came in handy

[@JessicaGarrity]

So glad you liked it! Thank you!

[@priscilagonzaga]

Amazing :) I'm wondering now how to extract and gather data from these pdfs..

[@jonathanroll6069]

Thank you for the helpful video. How do I make my mouse pointer a magnifying glass like the pointer in your video?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi Jonathan! Thanks for the comment! I used camtasia for the mouse pointer!

[@beststuffvideos5433]

Thank You Jessica ❤🤩

[@JessicaGarrity]

Thank YOU for taking the time to comment! Love the pikachu

[@ahmadparhizgar8290]

i like your energy, goodluck

[@JessicaGarrity]

Ahmad Parhizgar thank you so much!

[@marianaecheverrialvarez6237]

Hi Jessica, thanks for the vide, very well done! I have a question for you: if I have a word document with the table already set up and it's 28 pages long how can I convert that to a table? What I mean is: how can I place the text in a way that is going to organize everything and show all the pages? Thanks!

[@jennifermelear222]

Hi Jessica! I hope you're doing well! I was so glad to find your video. I've been trying to learn more about capabilities within InDesign to help with improving the layout and design of some of our documents at work. This was super helpful and easy to follow-thank you! Can you explain how to easily select specific (or multiple cells) at once? Also, how are you selecting the two vertical lines between columns together? I just finished the interactive portion and did the sum totals and for some reason, it's not working right. The points in the top field are changing to the same number as what's in the total. What do you think I need to do to fix that? Unless I'm crazy, my fields are all named differently. Thanks so much for your help!

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi Jennifer, I am so sorry I missed this comment earlier! These are great questions, I will definitely add this in my next video! For the interactive issue - It sounds like your fields have the same name! It's important that each has a different name, otherwise, acrobat will consider them the same fields, with the same values. Hope this helps!

[@IAcePTI]

Hi Jessica. Can we do something like creat a Table and by the press of a button recive one random entrie from that table? For example, i make a list of movies i intend to watch and put it on one table. By clicking on one button i get one random movie entrie from that table. Is that possible?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi, thanks for your question! Unfortunately, I don't believe there is a built-in way to automatically randomize a text output based on text inputs within Acrobat or InDesign. However, there are a lot of Actions and Scripts that can be applied, and there is probably one out there! I'd need to do more research on this. I apologize that I don't have more information on this yet

[@IAcePTI]

@@JessicaGarrity thanks for the awanser and you are correct. I did found one script for that.

[@JessicaGarrity]

@@IAcePTI Yay, that's great news!

[@momentorabyasma7315]

Very helpful! I am trying to make a table fillable in indesign so users can add their own text on the pdf version. Is it best to use a table or frames for that purpose?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Glad you found it helpful! Either a table or frames could work, it just depends on the amount of content you have. When it's a lot of content that multiple rows/columns would help organize, a table is the way to go. If it's more organic blocks of information, frames work well. :)

[@hillarymcmahan531]

I created a table, but I can't get it to export! I selected the table with the type tool and followed the other steps to export, but instead of getting a cute little PDF of my table I'm getting a PDF of the last unrelated page that I happened to export. What am I doing wrong?

[@ABDTalk1]

u r. a woman

[@understandinc]

i'm finding that if a recipient opens a PDF in Apple's "Preview" all the tab fields are gone (from the tab list) when the document is opened again in Acrobat. Have you experienced this? for my uses, creating the PDFs is no problem. but once they go out to and used by clients, all kinds of nonsense follows...

[@JessicaGarrity]

That is so strange, I'll have to research this more! Something you could do is upload the pdf through an FTP or in Dropbox or Google Drive, then share the link with them. This should open it in their browser with Acrobat reader, instead of them using Apple Preview as their default.

[@dreadloresystem]

How do you make those Row Fills transparent so that a Layer below becomes visible? I *know* there's a way to do this without (silly) work-arounds, as the previous designer working on my project was able to do it with one of the Tables. Any help is appreciated!

[@dreadloresystem]

Oooh, so I figured it out. Select the Table, go to Effects (with a Right-click or through Window > Effects) > Transparency > Basic Blending Mode: Multiply. Awesome-sauce.

[@dimitrisroumeliotis4750]

Hi i am trying to convert text to table, but i would like to use the "other" option which is greyed out. I searched alot, but i did not find how it gets available for use. That should be very usefull. Do you know something about it? Thank you!

[@JessicaGarrity]

Sorry for the delay in response! It's tough for me to troubleshoot why it's greyed out without a visual. I'd need to do some digging here

[@TheDaca83]

Thanks! How would you have the fillable sections follow the row if you were to add in extra rows to make this a multiple page document?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi David Chang! You can have fillable sections across multiple pages. So you'd follow the same steps in this demo, except you'd start out with a multipage indesign document instead that has the extra rows on the second page

[@misshedonism27]

Great lesson, thank you! But one thing still looks strange. I mean the blue color of the fields. I know that it can be adjusting in preferences, but anyway.

[@LauraMelle1995]

I have another question, sorry. I've got several tables across different pages. I want to have their column widths to match so it looks neat. Is there a way to do that?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi LauraMelle, I might need to do a second video on this! But you can change it through Object > Text Frame Options, and you can also create a table style to apply it to all

[@LauraMelle1995]

@@JessicaGarrity thanks for this! I'll try that :D can't thank you enough for this video, it's a lifesaver!

[@taniaadro5639]

Thank you, very helpful! Is there any way to filter data (like excel does)? For example, if I wanted the column B to show me just the results with 5 points, it would be possible?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Thank you! Unfortunately it's not :/ I have seen that there are additional flash-based widgets though that can be purchased to add that capability in Acrobat

[@taniaadro5639]

@@JessicaGarrity Thank you!

[@joshuakirby6952]

Would this be possible if we are creating an EPUB for iPads?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Yes, this can definitely be applied to EPubs! Both types of digital publishing (Epub or PDF) are available through InDesign and work with a range of different readers. For example, Adobe Fill & Sign is on the App store and makes it really easy to use these interactive forms in digital publications.

[@joeykhor743]

Hey Jessica, the video is not clear enough

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi Joey! Thanks for the feedback. Please be specific with what parts need more clarification, and I can try to make a follow up video if I have time

[@LauraMelle1995]

Hello, thank you so much for your very helpful tutorial! I have a question about the alternating fills. Is there a way I can fill them with a different colour than the ones that appear on the list? Say if I'm trying to have them in purple, is that something I can do? Thank you :)

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi! Sorry I must have missed this comment earlier. Yes, you can do this under table > table options > alternating fills. Then instead of black, you can choose a different fill color :)

[@Subtle_Dagger]

Hi! I was wondering, can we create either on InDesign or Acrobat, moon charts (like the ones you toggle on PPT to change from half, quarter, etc)? And if so, how?

[@JessicaGarrity]

It's not built in to Adobe, but I believe I recall seeing an InDesign plug-in for this!

[@sanitarydome3584]

Can this not be done strictly within InDesign?

[@JessicaGarrity]

Hi! You can add basic fields directly in InDesign with the "buttons and forms" panel. Acrobat offers more advanced form workflows though

[@sanitarydome3584]

@@JessicaGarrity Thanks for the prompt reply, Jessica! One other question; I am trying to create a PDF line sheet that retailers/wholesalers can download from our site and fill out on their own but I would like the totals and subtotals to auto-calculate as they go. Any ideas? Also, if you want to email me I can send you the exact document I am working on. [e-mail]. Thanks!

[@JessicaGarrity]

@@sanitarydome3584 For something like this, you might want to consider a web form. Adobe XD may be a better alternative! Otherwise if you use the "calculate" function in Acrobat, you can use this to auto-calculate as they go along

[@sanitarydome3584]

@@JessicaGarrity Thanks again for getting back to me. I have decided to outsource the job to someone on fiverr lol I don't suppose you are also a shopify expert? :D

[@JessicaGarrity]

@@sanitarydome3584 lol! Unfortunately I don't know much about Shopify! I hope everything goes well with your project though :)

[@bhagat_Sih]

Jessi jesi koi nahi...

[@JessicaGarrity]

yes that's me!

[@bhagat_Sih]

@@JessicaGarrity translate in English:- No one like Jessi.....

[@JessicaGarrity]

@@bhagat_Sih yes, I am Jessi jesi koi nahi!

[@carabidus]

You should have an ASMR channel...

[@JessicaGarrity]

Lol! Thank you XD

[@rckrckrckrck]

InDesign is so damn clunky. Adobe really needs to rethink this software.