Suppress entire layer?

[[email protected]]

InDesign CS (Mac) running under 10.4.7

In InDesign Is there a way to suppress (make nonprinting) an entire layer, in the same fashion as Illustrator or Quark? I know how to make "nonprinting" an object, but not an entire layer. Yes, I could label the layer 'non-printing' but then the prepress folks are going to have to notice this and turn it off prior to prod'n. Too risky -- they're in a rush and they'll miss it. If I could suppress the entire layer that would be great.

[[email protected]]

You could "option+click" the layer in the layers palette. That will select everything on that layer. Then click "non-printing".
2 easy steps.

hth
Chris
( I had to use my newly discovered hth acronym :-))

[Bob Levine]

What do you have on that layer? Do the prepress people need to see it?
You could just turn it off.

Or...

Cmd+click the layer name. That will select everything on the layer. In
the attributes palette select non-printing.

That will work with one page at a time. If you've got lots of pages, it
could be scripted.

But if you want my opinion (if you don't, stop reading) something like
this should be common place for a qualified prepress operator.

Bob

[Bob Levine]

Yup...Opt+click. My mistake.

Bob

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the replies.

The layer contains text boxes that are read by the Table of Contents (some of the TOC items need to read slightly differently in the TOC than they appear in the actual text, or the TOC item refers to a graphic that has no text and therefore cannot be, in itself, referenced by the TOC builder in InDesign).

The OPT+Click method only selects all items on the layer on the particular active spread. This is the method I will use (again, thanks)...it'll be a little time-consuming, but not too bad. I do not know anything about scripting...and figure that by the time I figure out how to script it I might as well have done it manually.

I agree...a prepress operator that is paying attention should notice this. But...we have all had 'surprises' and people come back and say 'It was in the file!' I don't want to risk the client printing some 50,000 copies and discovering my 'hidden' layer no longer hidden. Making it non-printing globally as a layer would be a nice feature (a la Quark and Illustrator).

As a solution, I will build my TOC and then delete the 'hidden' layer in the file I ship to press.

Appreciate your responses.

[[email protected]]

John, is there a reason that the layer visibility cannot be turned off instead of assigning all objects on the layer to 'non-printing'?

With non-printing turned on, objects will still appear on the page in normal viewing modes, but will not print. There is an override in the print dialogue to print non-printing items.

Using the layer visibility, the objects are not visible and do not print unless the layer is turned on again.

The non-printing attribute must be set for each object on each page.
Layer visibility affects all objects on the layer on all pages.

[[email protected]]

Yes, I understand layer visibility affecting all items on the layer *across* all spreads (thus turning off everything in the layer in one fell swoop regardlness of what spread it's on). My concern is that prepress will see this layer turned off, assume it's a designer error and turn it back on again, then run it (that's bad prepress policy, but we all know it's not out of the realm of possibilities...and I'm not willing to risk that). I was looking for a way to turn off the printability of certain items that are important to the functionality of the document at design stage yet not for printing. I figured that assigning the entire layer to 'nonprinting' (as I would do with a Quark document or Illustrator file) would assist with this. I have since decided it's better to kill the layer in the copy of the document that I will deliver to press, and just keep it alive in my working document.

Yes, I understand that 'nonprinting' can be overridden at print stage so that even non-printing items will print, and understand that even an assignment to 'nonprinting' doesn't mean its impossible to print. It's just more explicit to the prepress operator.

I have assigned everything on the "non-printing" layer to "nonprinting" using Attributes and will be deleting this layer from the (copy of) file alltogether prior to delivery to press.

So it's all good...question answered, problem solved. Appreciate the feedback.

[Bob Levine]

Prepress people should never assume anything. I did a job a while back
that required two spot colors. One was used to color a grayscale pattern
for a background and the other was for an alternate design that just
used a flat spot color.

The prepress person assumed that I left out the pattern on the alternate
pages and put it in and changed the color. Needless to say the nobody
was pleased with this person's thought process.

All that said, is there a reason why you can't simply turn it off and
export a PDF?

Bob

[[email protected]]

Yes, agreed...prepress people should not assume anything. And in an ideal world, they never do. But we all operate on assumptions from time to time (gasp...deadlines, anyone?) and I was just looking for a way to ensure that if I get the same prepress operator that you did we don't end up with the same result.

I will be likely supplying the InDesign files (yes, supplying as PDF makes this whole layer question a non-issue), as the document is composited somewhat differently in terms of different spot colours per section, die-cut tabs, etc. Yes, I'm aware that PDF can take care of this, but for this job I will be supplying InDesign (plus PDF as composite working proof).

Issue is solved...I'm deleting the layer alltogether from the copy of the document that I ship to press.

THANKS, ALL.

[Tom Usrey]

Just remember that deleting the layer has its pitfalls too. If any frames on that layer had text wrap applied and you then delete them, it might change something on the other layers. Be vigilant!

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the word of caution...the "TOC layer" that I'll be deleting is used ONLY for TOC entry "tags". No text wraps, images, or other contents.

[[email protected]]

What would be wrong with moving the entire contents of the layer off onto the pasteboard?

That way there is no way the things will print.

No prepress person in the world, no matter how dense, could screw that one up.

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John S, still dangerous, the items still belong to that page and through certain workflows can appear on the page next to the one they were removed from in the imposed job!

Prepare a prepress file, not a crippled designer file.....I hate it when they leave junk all over the pasteboard and on invisible layers, then you have to account for missing links, fonts, overset text etc, unused colours, rgb things, auto text colour...

We in (my) prepress dont just ignore all the warnings, we address them.

[[email protected]]

I'd have to agree with Phil.

John, The 'hidden' layer was only for Table of Contents generation. Putting these TOC references onto the pasteboard will render the TOC to read "Introduction.........PB" (or some such null entry). Once the TOC is created, the layer is no longer needed, so I'll be deleting it. This is a completely satisfactory solution for me. I'll keep a copy of the file with the TOC layer (for future use), but the press folks will not know this layer ever existed.