How To Use Indesign Templates

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While creating a document in InDesign, instead of beginning with a blank document, you can choose from a wide variety of templates, including templates from Adobe Stock. Templates include assets that you can build on to complete your project. When you open a template in InDesign, you can work with it just as you would work with any other InDesign document.

In addition to templates, you can also create a document by selecting one of the numerous presets available in InDesign.

Templates and presets

Templates

provide rich, inspirational, and reusable content for your documents. You can download templates from Adobe Stock that include quality graphics and illustrations right within InDesign. You can then build on these templates to easily create documents that share common settings and design elements. InDesign also provides blank templates with predefined dimensions and settings for common tasks, such as designing business cards or brochures. Templates open as .indd files in InDesign.

Blank Document Presets

are blank documents with predefined dimensions and settings. Presets make designing for specific device form factors or use cases easier. For example, you can use a preset to quickly start designing for the iPad. Blank document presets have predefined size, pages, column, orientation, positioning, margin, and bleed settings. You can modify these settings before creating a document using the preset.

Templates and presets are categorized into these sets:

Print
Web
Mobile

Access the New Document dialog

Do one of the following:

Select File > New.
Click New or Start New in the Start workspace.
Use the following keyboard shortcut:
- (Mac) Cmd+N
- (Windows) Ctrl+N
Right-click the tab for an open document and choose New Document from the in-context menu.

Overview: New Document dialog

Among other operations, the New Document dialog lets you:

Create documents using selected templates from Adobe Stock across several categories: Print, Web, and Mobile
Search for more templates on Adobe Stock and create documents using them
Quickly access files, templates, and items that you've have recently accessed (Recent tab)
Quickly access templates that you've downloaded from Adobe Stock (Saved tab)
Create documents using Blank Document presets for multiple categories and device form factors. Before opening the presets, you can modify their settings.

Create documents using presets

In the New Document dialog box, click a category tab: Print, Web, or Mobile.

Optionally, change the settings for the selected preset in the Preset Details pane on the right.

Click Create. InDesign opens a new document based on the preset.

Modify presets

Before opening a document using the preset, you can modify its settings in the right pane.

Specify a name for the document

Specify the following options for the selected preset:

Width and Height:

Specify the size of the document.

Units:

Specify the measurement unit for the document.

Orientation:

Specify a page orientation for the document: Landscape or Portrait.

Pages:

Specify the number of pages to create in the document.

Notice that the pointer changes to a small black arrow icon when you hover over a preset element such asWidth orPages. Swipe the arrow horizontally to increase and decrease a preset value.

Facing pages:

Select this option to make left and right pages face each other in a double-page spread.

Start#:

Specify which number the document starts on. If you specify an even number (such as 2) with Facing Pages selected, the first spread in the document begins with a two-page spread.

Primary Text Frame:

Select this option to add a primary text frame on the parent page.

Columns:

Specify the number of columns to add in the document.

Column Gutter:

Specify the amount of whitespace between columns.

Margins:

Specify the margins for each side of the document. To use different values for different sides, delink the dimensions by clicking the chain icon.

Bleed and Slug:

Specify the position of the bleed and slug along each side of the document. To use different values for different sides, delink the dimensions by clicking the chain icon.

Preview:

Select this option to preview the orientation and size of a document before creating a new file.

Click Create to open a document with the preset settings.

Create documents using templates from Stock

InDesign comes with a variety of templates from Adobe Stock, including templates for tablets, mobiles, letterheads, envelopes, business cards, and many more. Templates with font layers use basic fonts or fonts that can be activated from Adobe Fonts.

To create a document using a template, do the following:

In the New Document dialog, click a category tab: Print, Web, Mobile.

Click See Preview to view a preview of the template. A preview is an image representation of a template that you can review and decide if you want to license that template.

InDesign prompts you to license the template from Adobe Stock. See Adobe Stock Help for more information about licensing and related considerations. After the template has been licensed using asset entitlements or credits in your account, you can open it as an InDesign document (.indd) for you to work on.

License Adobe Stock template

After the template has downloaded, click Open. While opening the template, if you are prompted to activate some fonts from Adobe Fonts, click OK.

You can now work with the open document in InDesign just as you would work with any other .indd document.

Downloaded templates are added to a Creative Cloud library called Stock Templates. You can access this library in the CC Libraries panel.

Templates in CC libraries

InDesign templates carry the .indt filename extension. However, when you open a template, an instance of it is opened as a document with the .indd extension. Changes made to that .indd document don't affect the original . indt template.

Search for more templates from Adobe Stock

Aside from the pre-selected templates from Adobe Stock, you can search for and download numerous other such templates directly from within the New Document dialog.

While working in the New Document dialog, enter a search string in the Find More Templates On Adobe Stock box. Alternatively, simply click Go to browse the full selection of available templates.

InDesign opens the Adobe Stock website in a new browser window for you to explore. License and download the one that best meets your project's requirements.

Use the legacy New Document experience

If necessary, you may disable the latest New Document experience and revert to the experience that InDesign provided by default in versions CC 2017 and earlier.

Select Preferences > General.

Select Use Legacy New Document Dialog.

Use legacy new document dialog