The Adobe Creative Suite has a variety of options for switching between screen modes. If you are going to be showing a client a design on your screen, it can be distracting for them to see all of your panels and menus. To hide your panels, press the tab key and they will disappear until you press the tab key again. The following showcases the features of each program’s view settings.
InDesign
You can change the visibility of the document window using the Mode buttons at the bottom of the toolbox or by choosing commands from the View > Screen Mode menu. When the toolbox is displayed in a single column, you can select view modes by clicking the current mode button and selecting a different mode from the menu that appears.
- Normal Mode
– Displays artwork in a standard window with all visible grids and guides showing, non-printing objects showing, and a white pasteboard. - Preview Mode
- Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), and the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences. - Bleed Mode
– Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences, and any printing elements within the document’s bleed area (defined in Document Setup) showing. - Slug Mode
– Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences, and any printing elements within the document’s slug area (defined in Document Setup) showing. - You can also tap the letter “w” on your keyboard to switch between Normal and Preview, Bleed or Slug (depending on what was chosen last.
Acrobat
- Enter Full Screen – Cmd (ctrl) + L
- View menu > Enter Full Screen
Photoshop
You can use the screen mode options to view images on your entire screen. You can show or hide the menu bar, title bar, and scroll bars.
- To display the default mode (menu bar at the top and scroll bars on the side), choose View > Screen Mode > Standard Screen Mode. Or, click the Screen Mode button
in the Application bar, and select Standard Screen Mode from the pop-up menu. - To display a full-screen window with a menu bar and a 50% gray background, but no title bar or scroll bars, choose View > Screen Mode > Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar. Or, click the Screen Mode button in the Application bar, and select Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar from the pop-up menu.
- To display a full-screen window with only a black background (no title bar, menu bar, or scroll bars), choose View > Screen Mode > Full Screen Mode. Or, click the Screen Mode button in the Application bar, and select Full Screen Mode from the pop-up menu.
- You can also tap the letter “f” on your keyboard to switch between these various modes.
Illustrator
You can change the visibility of the illustration window and menu bar using the mode options at the bottom of the Tools panel. To access panels when in Full Screen Mode, position the cursor at the left or right edge of the screen and the panels will pop up. If you’ve moved them from their default locations, you can access them from the Window menu.
- Normal Screen Mode
displays artwork in a standard window, with a menu bar at the top and scroll bars on the sides. - Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar
displays artwork in a full-screen window, with a menu bar at the top and scroll bars. - Full Screen Mode
displays artwork in a full-screen window, with no title bar or menu bar. - You can also tap the letter “f” on your keyboard to switch between these various modes.
Have you ever copied text out of a PDF and noticed that at the end of the every line break there is a hard return? This can be quite annoying when you are trying to copy and paste text out of a PDF and then re-flow it back into a new document. The trick it to create a tagged PDF. In Adobe Acrobat Professional go to the advanced menu and choose accessibility > add tags to document. Now when you copy and paste the text it will re-flow correctly when pasted into a new document.
Have you ever wondered what application made any given PDF? It is very easy to find out. Just open any PDF in Adobe Acrobat Professional and go to File > Properties. This will open up the general properties dialog and halfway down it will tell you application (and version) created your PDF.
Most designers have large monitors (the lucky ones at least), but clients rarely do. A problem that can happen when you send a PDF of your design to a client is that the PDF opens and appears very large on their small screen. They may get upset and call you at 2 in the morning to inform you that you made the layout “too big.” if the client realized they could simply fit the page to fit the screen, they would be able to view the PDF without any issues. Unfortunately, many people do know how or want to know how to do this.
If you ever have to remove sensitive information from a PDF Redaction is the way to go. To use the redaction tools go to Advanced > Redaction > Show Redaction Toolbar. Next click on the button “Mark for Redaction”. Now select the area you want removed from your PDF. It can be the text, or even areas of an image. Finally click the button “Apply Redactions” and after you bypass the series of windows warning you that you can not undo this operation, your PDF is now removed of the sensitive information.
