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Eyedropper tool across documents

December 10, 2003 Leave a Comment Written by Cari Jansen

Digitip 019 – Adobe InDesign CS

Trying to find an easy way to copy across selective colours, text settings, stroke patterns, styles and other features from one document to another? The eyedropper tool comes to the rescue!

Docs compared

French document formatted using eyedropper tool across documents (above).

Eyedropper tool

The eyedropper tool has always been a pretty handy tool, used for copying and repeating settings within a document. But until tonight I’d never realised it could be used between documents (this also works in InDesign 2). — Thank you to David Pigott , for asking the question “can it be done?” —

eyedropper options

The Eyedropper options determine which source object attributes are to be applied to the destination object (either in same document or different document). When “copying” attributes from one document to another start by “soaking” up attribute information from the source document.

collect source information

Then toggle to the destination document (View documents in “tile” mode to see both documents simultaneously).

apply to destination 1

And apply the attributes within the destination document.

apply to destination 2

Colours and styles will carry across to the destination file.

new eyedropper options

Depending on attributes required amend eyedropper options for various object types and settings.

screenshot

Repeat this process for any of the available features in the Eyedropper Options.

Adobe InDesign
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