Adobe Indesign CS3 [OLD VERSION]

by Adobe

Product Features

• The ideal solution for designing professional page layouts using rich creative options
• Boost efficiency through productivity enhancements and tight integration
• Automate workflows and processes, including long-document publishing
• Flexible XML import and export controls and robust scripting support
• Design compelling page layouts that include transparency, creative effects, and gradient feathers

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000NDIC5E
• Item model number: 27510927
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 27, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,110 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #67 in Software > Graphics > Illustration

Product Description

Amazon.com

Explore more creative possibilities and experience new levels of productivity using Adobe InDesign CS3 page layout software. Built for demanding workflows, InDesign integrates smoothly with the Adobe tools you use every day, streamlines repetitive tasks, reliably outputs pages, and offers powerful features for creating richer, more complex documents.

Design and produce professional page layouts.

Import and place several files at the same time with the new Multi-file Place feature.

Explore new creative possibilities
Discover a world of design possibilities with InDesign CS3. Expanded creative tools and options allow you to experiment quickly and flexibly and create sophisticated effects for text, images, and objects from within your page layout application. Apply effects such as inner glows and bevels without having to update linked files. Finer transparency control allows you to apply transparency independently on an object’s stroke, fill, or content. Fade objects into the background using gradient feathers. And set beautiful typography using professional tools.

Be more productive Boost your efficiency through new and enhanced productivity tools that make it faster and easier to lay out, export, and print graphically rich pages. Support for styled tables and table cells as well as a host of powerful layout features, including an expanded Find/Change feature, allow you to easily apply global formatting and consistently edit text and objects. And work efficiently thanks to tight integration with other Adobe tools and technologies; native file format support; and consistent, reliable Adobe PDF output.

Automate routine tasks Save time and money by automating production workflows using InDesign CS3. From robust long-document support to flexible XML import, InDesign offers powerful features that minimize repetitive tasks. Streamline the creation of long documents with features such as advanced bullets and numbering, as well as running headers and footers. Accelerate routine tasks by writing scripts, and generate layouts from XML content with flexible and robust script-based rules.

Audience benefit

Graphic designers
Discover new levels of creative freedom and productivity with Adobe InDesign CS3 software. Tightly integrated with the Adobe applications you use most, InDesign CS3 delivers efficient production workflows and a more fluid creative environment for designing professional layouts with sophisticated graphics and typography.

Adobe PageMaker users
There’s never been a better time for PageMaker users to switch to Adobe InDesign CS3 software. With its built-in support for familiar PageMaker features, such as multiple undo, robust style support, flexible gradients, easy table creation, and more, InDesign CS3 brings you a new level of creative freedom and productivity. It’s also packed with features to help smooth your transition, including support for converting PageMaker 6.0–7.x files, a set of PageMaker compatible keyboard shortcuts, and popular PageMaker features such as Data Merge and Print Booklet for imposition. With an exclusive upgrade price for licensed PageMaker users, InDesign CS3 delivers superb functionality at a compelling value.

Print service providers
Adobe InDesign CS3 software addresses the needs of print professionals worldwide for reliable, consistent output controls. Encourage your customers to preflight and package their InDesign projects to help ensure smoother handoffs. Prevent costly errors on press by evaluating and adjusting separations, overprint, and transparency flattener settings onscreen. Then use print presets to output files more efficiently. Easily set up high-end Adobe PDF-based print production workflows, automate processes using JDF, and provide Adobe PDF export presets to customers to get the best results. With InDesign CS3, you can exercise exacting control over your print production workflow.

IT professionals and developers
Invest in Adobe InDesign CS3 software for professional page layout to help streamline production, reduce costs, and increase quality in your publishing workflows. Tight integration with other Adobe applications and built-in support for native Adobe file formats helps shorten production cycles while better supporting all-digital workflows. InDesign snippets, style sets, custom workspaces, and other resources allow teams to work more efficiently and consistently. Flexible XML import and export controls, plus robust scripting support, lay a strong foundation for automating workflows and efficiently publishing to multiple media. Join leading publishers and design organizations worldwide in achieving higher productivity with better quality and lower costs using InDesign CS3.

Add gradient stops to create a feather effect.

Top Ten New Features

Creative effects and controls
Design compelling page layouts that include transparency, creative effects, and gradient feathers. Since effects are live and nondestructive, you can experiment with ease. Apply effects independently to an object’s stroke, fill, or content.

Productivity enhancements
Perform a variety of tasks more efficiently using new and enhanced productivity features, including Multi-file Place, Quick Apply, faster frame fitting, and the visual Pages panel.

Table and cell styles
Quickly and consistently format tables using table and cell styles. Even use regional cell styles to apply unique formatting to specific areas of a table, such as its header, footer, and body.

Robust long-document support
Maintain consistency and streamline the production of long documents using advanced bullets and numbering, running headers and footers, and synchronized master pages.

Advanced Find/Change on text and objects
Apply changes to text and object attributes across one or more documents. Include master pages, footnotes, and locked or hidden layers in a search; save search settings for easy reuse; and perform grep pattern-based searches on strings of text.

XHTML export
Enable multiformat publishing, including print-to-web workflows, by exporting Adobe InDesign content as XHTML. Edit the exported content in Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 software (available separately) and automatically format it using cascading style sheets.

Intuitive and customizable workspace
Work in an environment that makes it easier to be productive. Keep just the tools, panels, and menus you use most at your fingertips, and dock self-adjusting panels out of the way when not in use to free up your workspace.

Placed InDesign files
Reuse layouts by placing INDD files in another InDesign document. Links remain intact, and InDesign automatically notifies you of updates to the linked INDD file.

Rule-based layouts from XML
Use scripts that apply rules to automatically build page layouts and format text and graphics from XML content.

Automation through scripting
Automate tasks by writing scripts in JavaScript, AppleScript, and VBScript. Attach a JavaScript to a menu command so it runs automatically when the command is chosen, and protect scripts for commercial use through enhanced JavaScript.

Additional Features

Extensive integration
Work smoothly with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InCopy, and Dreamweaver software; enjoy consistency by using shared presets and color settings; work more efficiently with native file format support; and easily publish to multiple media.

Reliable prepress and printing
Have confidence in your output. Get accurate, consistent results every time you print using sophisticated preview capabilities, exporting reliable Adobe PDF files, and sharing custom presets.

Professional typographical controls
Compose beautiful typography using professional controls including the Paragraph Composer, OpenType fonts, drop caps, glyphs, and optical kerning and margin alignment.

Full-featured tables
Create richly formatted tables. Import tab-delimited text files and styled Microsoft Word or Excel tables, or build tables in InDesign. Apply a wide variety of formatting options manually or using table and cell styles.

Smart text handling
Control your text with intelligent text-handling features including the ability to import styled text from Microsoft Word files, apply complex text wraps around objects, and comprehensively replace fonts.

Scripting and extensibility
Accelerate and simplify workflows by automating processes using scripts and extending the capabilities of InDesign using the ExtendScript toolkit.

Creative effects
Apply new visual effects, such as inner glow or bevel and emboss, using an interface that’s consistent with Adobe Photoshop to specify offset, angle, and other options. Apply effects independently to an object’s stroke, fill, and content.

Gradient feathers
Create beautiful effects by applying masks that contain gradients so the objects fade into the background. Customize options such as gradient angles and fade rates, all within Adobe InDesign.

Adobe-standard user interface
Get up to speed quickly with familiar commands, tools, panels, and keyboard shortcuts.

Backward compatibility
Open QuarkXPress 3.3–4.1x files, PageMaker 6.0–7.x files, and files created in earlier versions of Adobe InDesign in InDesign Interchange (INX) format in InDesign CS3 to keep working with legacy files.

Adobe Photoshop and Adobe PDF layer support
Control the visibility of layers in imported Photoshop and PDF files. Experiment with design options or use multiple variations of a file in your layout, all while linking to a single file.

Adobe PDF file export
Use built-in Adobe PDF export presets--or create custom presets--to consistently and reliably create Adobe PDF files for electronic review or final output. Create ISO-standard PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 files for high-resolution CMYK printing, as well as PDF/X-4 (draft) files.

Table and cell styles
Quickly and consistently format tables using table and cell styles. Even use regional cell styles to apply unique formatting to specific areas of a table, such as its header, footer, and body.

Multiple Undo/Redo
Experiment freely and retrace multiple steps using the Undo and Redo commands.

High-resolution graphics preview
Display graphics in high resolution for precision work or to preview the graphics within your layout. Easily switch back to lower resolution view for faster onscreen display.

Enhanced Control panel
See more options in the context-sensitive Control panel, including transparency, text wrap, and rotation. Customize the panel to show the options you use most frequently.

Custom print presets
Define and share custom print presets among service providers and customers for a fast, reliable way to print jobs that require consistent settings for many print options.

JDF integration between Adobe InDesign and Acrobat
Pass JDF job information to Acrobat with Adobe PDF files that you export from InDesign. Print service providers can then streamline prepress and print processes using JDF automation.

Output previews
Prevent mistakes from occurring on press by checking plates, overprinting, and ink limits, and help ensure the best results when printing transparency effects using output preview panels. Use Overprint Preview mode to proof spot-color effects and overprint settings.

Preflight and packaging
Avoid delays and costly production errors by preflighting documents to check for problems. Then package them for print or web handoff or export them as Adobe PDF files.

Consistent color
Synchronize ICC-based color management settings across Adobe applications to achieve consistent color onscreen. Exchange swatches across the components of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design software.

Flexible XML workflows
Use XML rules to dynamically generate documents with formatting and graphics based on imported XML, and apply XSLT style sheets when importing or exporting XML content.

Automation through scripting
Automate tasks by writing scripts in JavaScript, AppleScript, and VBScript. Attach a JavaScript to a menu command so it runs automatically when the command is chosen, and protect scripts for commercial use through enhanced JavaScript.

ExtendScript utility
Use the ExtendScript toolkit to create, edit, and debug JavaScripts in InDesign.

Product Description

Adobe InDesign CS3 Windows. Does NOT include full printed User Guide in the box; Fulfillment will include: 30-50 page Getting Started Guide in the box; A PDF of the unabridged User Guide on the CD/DVD; Generic doc fulfillment card outlining policy and our commitment to the environment in the box 2; Online help (both on web and on the desktop) which includes readily accessible training beyond what manuals include. Full printed User Guides will be available at adobe.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Potential ... but Lethally "Buggy", November 15, 2007

By 

VinnieTheK "Kevin" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adobe Indesign CS3 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

I purchased Adobe InDesign after using Adobe GoLive and being extremely satisfied with the latter's sleek GUI, compatability with Adobe Illustrator and overall ease-of-use. I suspect that Adobe InDesign boasts the same qualities ... if you're actually capable of installing it. I carefully spec'ed the product before buying it to ensure my PC met the requirements and found out that it exceeded the requirements in every way. When I went to install the product, it initialized but would never install ... worse yet, the installer just disappeared and never displayed an error. When I looked on Adobe's website, it stated that "Adobe is aware of the issue and is currently researching the causes." The website proposed some possible fixes; none of which worked in my case.

The folks at Adobe, despite some valiant attempts, could not determine what caused the installation problem and had me attempting to do everything from installing additional RAM (above and beyond the requirements on the packaging specs)to uninstalling and reinstalling Internet Explorer, the whole Adobe suite, and my operating system. After 2 days of back-and-forth support conversations, I finally gave up and returned the product. It seemed incredible that the software did not have a proper installation logging and debugging program. There was a lot of whispering among the tech support representatives that many of the issues were related to Adobe's change in installation procedures with the new installer versions requiring Adobe Flash.

I am a huge Adobe fan ... I have been using Adobe Illustrator and GoLive for several years now and have only positive comments about them. However, if you're going to purchase Adobe InDesign, I recommend you buy the CS2 version until Adobe debugs the CS3 version. Once Adobe straightens out the CS3 version, you could always upgrade ... and the extra cost would certainly be justified by the time savings of trying to debug this quirkly little version.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth upgrading from CS2, March 31, 2008

By 

J. Decelles (North Chelmsford, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Indesign CS3 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

I have been using this program for the last 4 months and I have to say that I cannot find any reason to upgrade from CS2 to CS3.

First there are a few annoying bugs, the one that affects me the most is that when switching between Adobe products and other windows, eventually InDesign CS3 will simply vanish. It will not be in my taskbar, and it will not show up in the Applications tab of the taskmanager. You have to search for the Process Indesign.exe in the processes tab and kill it before you can restart InDesign CS3 to continue using it.

Also the new palette system is much, much worse than what was used in CS2. In CS2 you could dock the palettes to the side of the application, and when you were not using them you could click on the palettes and they would fold into the side of the program, with just tabs with text labels visible, but easy enough to find an open with a click. You could dock palettes to the left and right of the program, which I did since I use a lot of palettes all the time.

In CS3 the palettes can be docked to the sides, but you cannot dock a palette directly beneath the toolbar. The toolbar has its own "drawer" and any palettes docked on the same side as the toolbar push the toolbar out and make a second drawer, which defeats the purpose of of docking things to the side. Also the nice tabs with text labels have been replaced with little icons, which are just a pain to learn. The toolbar has enough icons, I don't need more palettes with little pictures on them when all I want to to adjust the transparecny of an element. Also another annoying thing is that they changed the "Transparency" palette, which adjusts transparency, into the "Effects" palette. For the first 3 days I thought they had simply removed the ability to adjust transparency since I could not find the transparency palette (which is what this similar palette is called in ALL other Adobe programs.. so much for keeping your interfaces uniform..)


All in all this program is not worth the upgrade. It is buggy, has no new features that are worth anything, and the new palettes are a step backwards in terms of useability.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to "Design" a better product, July 21, 2008

By 

Kenneth Burchfiel "III" (McLean, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Indesign CS3 [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

Let's start with a few disclaimers. If you don't have at least 2 Gigabytes of RAM on your computer, 50+ gigabytes of memory and a processor running at 1.5 gHZ or faster, there's a chance that this program will give you some issues. Additionally, as I've just learned from the earlier reviews, this program has the tendency to "bug up" from time to time. I've never had such a problem, but I'm certainly not the only in-design user out there.

Everyone has that set of programs on their computer that they go back to, time after time, either out of necessity or out of love. For me, those programs would be Mozilla Firefox, Google Earth, Microsoft Word and--surprise, surprise--Adobe In-Design 3. Certainly, the last enjoys far less attention than the first three, but that's why I'm writing this review. If I can get the everyday consumer to stop, pause and examine this gem of a program a bit more closely, I'll be doing my job.

Adobe In-Design is, among other things, a layout program. "I already have one of those," you think to yourself, and point to your Frontpage, Pagemaker or Microsoft Word CD. That's what I thought for the better part of my life. I was satisfied with the design capabilities of Word; sure, they weren't what the Post or the Times would use, but I got by. That's when a high school journalism class introduced me to In-Design. The software, complex and intimidating at first, soon became second nature as I mastered all the little quirks of the program.

Let's get one thing straight before we move on: this is not the type of software you want (or need) for Julie's fifth birthday invitation or the bakery's "Help Wanted" ad. In-Design is an expensive program. It also gives you a 747's worth of knobs, switches and settings to play around with. After 3 or 4 years of In-Design experience, I can safely say that I've only mastered 20% of the program. If you're looking for a simple, quick and cheap software, exit out of this page and do not return.

If you're still reading, that means you want to bring your design enterprise to the next level. This is where I explain why I gave this little box five stars. In-Design gives you more control than you can ever imagine. It's tailored to the professional; though I can't bring up any links, I'm pretty sure that some of the world's largest newsletters, newspapers and magazines run on it or a like program. Adobe In-Design doesn't just replace the cursor with a box-and-grid format; it lets you fine-tune your boxes, grids, text boxes, pictures and graphics to an unrivaled extent. ID lets you manage strokes (borders), swatches (color palettes), individual hue options, multiple pages and a plethora of text effects. One of its best features is "Object Styles," which allows you to set up a predetermined design for a box or graphic and replicate it across multiple versions of that box/graphic.

In-Design lets you adjust the font, leading, tracking, kerning, horizontal and vertical scaling, baseline shift and skew FOR A SINGLE LETTER. It goes to the thousandth of a pica in box measurements. (That's a thousandth of a 72nd of an inch.) There's also the good old pen tool, armed with a dizzying array of line and curve options. Forgive me if it sounds like I'm listing features; when it comes to a program like CS3, you tend to lapse into that sort of tone.

Admittedly, I'm not a professional designer. My pitch is better than that, though. In-Design MADE me want to become a professional designer, even if I'd had almost no layout experience beforehand. If you want to see how far Adobe's unmatched design program can take you, I would highly suggest adding this program to the toolbox. Expensive it might be, but InDesign is worth every cent.