Jun. 16, 2008
An efficient way to apply effects to objects
People using the effects panel inside Indesign tend to miss one of the best features available when working with effects. The feature I’m talking about gives you the ability to drag and drop effects from an existing object to other objects on your page.
If you have an existing object selected with a Drop Shadow applied to its fill for instance, the effects panel shows you that there is a Drop Shadow applied to the fill via the “fx” icon that appears (see image below).
To transfer the drop shadow from the selected object to another object, simply drag the “fx” icon from the effects panel to the object on the page you’re wanting to replicate the effect on. Once you hover over the desired object, an outline will appear around the object frame, indicating the effect will be applied to that particular object. When you let go, the effect will be applied.
This drag and drop method only lets you take a effect from one level (object, stroke, fill or text) of the object at any given time. So, if you’re wanting to copy the Drop Shadow of a fill and the Bevel and Emboss from the stroke of the object and apply them both to an object at the same time, it would be best to use the eyedropper tool or even an object style. We will cover the powerful eyedropper tool and object styles extensively in future posts.
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