Abode 2020

SVG import

You can now import and place the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format files in InDesign documents. SVG is an XML-based vector image format to provide support for interactivity. In the previous releases, SVGs from CC libraries were imported as PNG files in InDesign, but now they can be imported directly.

For more information, see Import SVG files.

Column rules

If you often design documents that contain multi-columns, the new column rule feature will let you add and control lines between columns in a multi-column text frame. Adding column rules helps you stylize the columns and add design elements. By default, the column rule is drawn from the ascent of the top line to the descent of the bottom line.

For more information, see Set column rules.

Support for South-East Asian languages

InDesign now includes a new text engine to support five new South East Asian languages: Thai, Burmese, Lao, Khmer, and Sinhala. Your documents can now include text composed in these scripts.

For more information, see South-East Asian Scripts.

Variable fonts

InDesign now supports Variable Font, a new Open Type font format supporting custom attributes such as weight, width, slant, optical size, etc. You can change these custom attributes using convenient slider controls available when you click variable font icon in the Control panel, Character panel, Character Styles panel, and Paragraph Styles panel.

Search for variable icon in the font list to look for variable fonts. Alternatively, look for the variable icon next to the font name.

For more information, see Variable fonts.

Reverse spell-check

If you've missed a spelling error while checking spellings manually, then you need not worry. You can now dictate the direction or order in which InDesign scans the text in your document for spelling errors.

Two new options, Backward and Forward are added in the Check spelling dialog. With these options, you can easily go back and correct the misspelled word.

For more information, see Spell-check and language dictionaries.

Enhanced data merge

This release brings the following enhancements in the Data Merge panel:

• A new frame fitting option, Use Existing is added. Select this option to retain the individual frame fitting for image frames when performing data merge operation on them.
• Now, semicolon (;) is also supported as the field delimiter, in addition to tab and comma.

For more information, see Content placement options.

Adobe Asset linking

For more information, see Adobe Assets Link.

Find similar images

You can now directly find graphic assets that are visually similar to the assets placed in your InDesign document. In previous versions, it was done only in the CC Libraries panel, but now you can search for similar assets on the canvas as well. 

For more information, see Find similar images.

Onboarding resources

To provide you an enriched learning experience and help you get started, a variety of resources are provided in the Home screen of InDesign: guided tutorials, document templates, presets, recent document list, and more. This screen also offers a sneak-peek of the prominent new features released in the current version of the app.

For more information, see In-app learning and inspiration.

Removal of Flash formats

Adobe decides to stop updating and distributing the Flash Player. To follow this decision, InDesign removed the support for placing, importing, exporting, and linking Flash files, such as .FLV, .F4V, and .SWF. 

The removal of Flash formats required some user-interface changes, where options related to Flash formats are removed.

For more information, see Flash Player reached end-of-life | Impact on InDesign.

In-app troubleshooting support

We've improved InDesign's file open and save processes in this release.

However, if the issue still occurs and your file can't be auto-recovered, InDesign will display informative error messages stating the file recovery options.

Stability and performance

Our aim is to provide you a stable and better product in every release.

In this release of InDesign, we fixed over 50+ issues that you reported to us. For example, issues related to core features, workflows, performance, stability, user-experience, and more. In addition, we made improvements in the features released in InDesign version 14.0, such as import PDF comments, Adjust layout.

For more information, see Fixed issues.

Other enhancements

• You will have a better performance while typing and composing text. Text will now compose faster for span columns, vertical justification, and balance columns.
• The Hyperlink panel now includes two tabs: Appearance and Accessibility. You can specify the alternate text in the Alt Options in the Accessibility tab.
• The Properties panel has been enhanced to provide a better experience. 
• The Scale factor in Links panel can now be sorted as numbers. In previous releases, the scale factor was sorted as alphabets.
• You can now assign a keyboard shortcut to the styles (para, character, object, table, cell, and more) without using the number pad.