June 17 - 7:30pm EDT   Teacup Software has added several new features to its TypeFitter Pro plug-in for Adobe InDesign and InCopy. The software is designed to fix problems when pasting text into an InDesign spread. The Gap-toothed columns feature automatically detects and fixes gaps at the bottom of a text column without affecting vertical spacing. The update also offers Stubby chapter ends, a utility that tightens or loosens document text to prevent small numbers of words from being pushed to the last page or column. [full story]

April 21 - 3:10pm EDT   Xinet has released three WebNative plug-ins for Adobe CS4: WebNative ID, Annotator ID, and Asset Browser ID. Each plug-in is designed to help merge the new features in CS4 with the company’s digital asset management software. WebNative ID is an application that creates previews for documents, and contains links to images used. Owners can also drag and drop images from the web preview directly into InDesign documents on the desktop. WebNative ID will only create previews for documents that have been saved after the program has been installed. [full story]

March 26 - 11:10pm EDT   Meadows Publishing has announced a new plug-in for Adobe InDesign CS4, DesignMerge Pro. The software works within the InDesign application and enables variable data publishing, personalized printing, document automation features, and professional mail-merge. It supports text, picture, article, complete InDesign layouts, and master pages. DesignMerge Pro also includes a printing function designed for digital short-run color printers and copiers that are in need of quick throughput, and supports PostScript, PPML, and Creo VPS data printing formats. [full story]

March 16 - 12:05pm EDT   WoodWing has released an updated plug-in for Adobe's InDesign publishing software. Smart Image CS4 is said to be aimed at organizations like magazines and newspapers, which frequently need to place caption and credit information alongside photos in their publications. The plug-in is used to automatically generate text frames around images, borrowing information from XMP or IPTC metadata. [full story]

March 10 - 12:05pm EDT   XChange UK has announced CtrlChanges, a plug-in for Adobe InDesign and InCopy that helps users spot changes in an InDesign document. Created for situations in which more than one user is working with a document, the plug-in displays both added and removed text in the layout view. The software also provides users with information showing who has made a change, and at what time it was authored. CtrlChanges is available in three different versions: Light, Standard and Pro. [full story]

February 27 - 4:15pm EST   Zevrix has posted an update to one of its InDesign companion plug-ins, BatchOutput. The app handles automatic export and printing of data from InDesign, to print-specific formats such as PDF, PostScript and EPS, or alternately JPEG or SWF. Users can quickly bring files into the program through Finder integration, and process multiple documents at a time using a single range of settings. [full story]

February 13 - 12:30pm EST   Managing Editor Inc. has announced that its vjoon K4 5.9 R8 publishing system is now compatible with Adobe Creative Suite 4. The K4 layout and editing plug-ins for InDesign and InCopy, as well as the K4 modules including Web Editor, File Manager and Overview have been revised to work with the latest Adobe software. The company has also brought CS4 compatibility to its Notes Manager, Overset Manager and Revision Manager plug-ins. [full story]

February 3 - 3:10pm EST   GLUON has released an update to StudioPack ID, a collection of publishing tools for Adobe InDesign. Included in the pack are Slugger, which automatically updates slugs and includes a designer, and Cropster, which simplifies the creation of mechanical layouts. Another long-standing tool in the pack is ProScale, which resizes documents without skewing text or imagery. [full story]

February 3 - 10:40am EST   WoodWing has begun distributing Enterprise 6, an update to its signature publishing platform. The software links InDesign, InCopy and web-based content management systems, as well as a variety of other applications. New to the sixth edition is the Content Station, which lets users pull material from third-party sources such as DAM and wire systems in order to build content packages. The app reduces the need to leave Enterprise, and additionally includes an XML editor for creating digital-only output. [full story]

February 2 - 9:55pm EST   Meadows Publishing has released AutoPrice, a price updating application for QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign documents. The program is designed to perform price updates on catalogs or retail fliers, while offering additional tools to update phone lists, time tables, or other information that can be referenced by a key value. Users can process large projects using batch processing, while the program also supports special price styling, picture imports and ODBC for updating documents in flat-file format. [full story]

January 28 - 10:45pm EST   Zevrix Solutions has released BatchOutput 3.4, the latest version of its automated printing and exporting software for Adobe InDesign. The update now supports document export into the Adobe Flash CS4 Pro file format (XFL). Another new feature allows multiple InDesign documents to be repurposed for Flash Pro, instead of having to open and export each individual file. [full story]

January 23 - 5:15pm EST   Markzware has released an update to its InDesign-to-QuarkXPress conversion tool, ID2Q 4. The program is designed to take the content from InDesign that users choose to convert, and re-create it in QuarkXPress. With the new version, IDQ24 will be able to convert all InDesign documents -- through the latest CS4 release -- into QuarkXPress 7/8 versions. Items that can be converted from InDesign include page positioning, color models, fonts and styles, and text attributes. [full story]

January 23 - 1:55pm EST   Adobe has begun shipping InDesign CS4 Server, the companion software for its flagship publishing program. Server is meant to automate publishing tasks in larger corporate environments, and in its CS4 incarnation has been enhanced with IDML (InDesign Markup Language) support, which uses XML tools to assemble or disassemble InDesign documents without launching an INDD file. [full story]

January 20 - 11:25pm EST   Gluon has announced that its ColorBreaker ID plug-in is now available for Adobe InDesign CS4. The program provides automatic color mark-up for documents by placing tags that contain necessary information, with SmartTag technology that is designed to increase effectiveness by using arrows that point to items and text blocks. When a tag is moved, the arrows automatically reattach themselves in the new orientation to enable easier editing following the automated process. The plug-in also provides a collision avoidance feature that determines whether to move a tag or designate a call-out arrow. [full story]

January 15 - 12:15pm EST   As promised early last month, Recosoft has released both the Standard and Professional versions of PDF2ID 2.0. The tool is used to convert PDF files into InDesign documents, while maintaining formatting and appearance. The primary upgrade of v2.0 is support for InDesign CS4, in addition to CS2 and CS3. The software is also able to remember font substitution assignments in a Typeface library, and apply properties such as drop caps, drop shadows and paragraphs within table cells. [full story]