Adobe InDesign

4.8 (298)
Write a Review!
Layout and page design software

Overall rating

4.8 /5
(298)
Value for Money
4.2/5
Features
4.7/5
Ease of Use
4.1/5
Customer Support
4.2/5

99%
recommended this app
Sort by

298 Reviews for UK Users

Tiara
Tiara
Overall rating
  • Industry: Media Production
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

The Holy Grail of publishing

Reviewed on 19/11/2023

Pros

Indesign is a part of Adobe Suite so it can integrate with other Adobe programs. I mostly use it in conjunction with Photoshop and Lightroom. Indesign also feature many customizable layouts to create beautifully curated print designs.

Cons

Large files can become an issue if you don't have a computer with sufficient storage space. Also, because of the large files, exporting can be very time consuming. External storage may be necessary.

Julie
Overall rating
  • Industry: Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Great Software, But Rather Complex

Reviewed on 12/01/2024

Like all Adobe programs, InDesign is incredibly powerful and robust...almost TOO powerful. It's got...

Like all Adobe programs, InDesign is incredibly powerful and robust...almost TOO powerful. It's got a lot of little intricacies you likely will never use or need...If you do, great--they're there! But if you don't, them it's just more buttons and tabs and windows and options for you to have to dig through in order to reach the features you DO use. Still a million times better than trying to layout a document in Microsoft Word though!!

Pros

It's very powerful and can do a ton of things. After using InDesign, and being able to customize so much of my graphic design and text, I now prefer to use this over most programs, including Microsoft Word. The guides are always helpful, ensuring that my elements are evenly spaces and aligned properly. I love being able to easily copy an entire page and all it's elements, and then rearrange things while still in the same document so I can see how a design progresses as I tinker with various elements of the layout and end up with several variations and options. The program is capable of so much, and I'm always continuing to learn more new and helpful tricks.

Cons

1. The cost. Thankfully this is paid for by my employer, because I wouldn't be able to afford to use it otherwise. It's also rather annoying that I don't have the option to just outright purchase a license to OWN. No, like most other software these days, you can only "lease" it, paying by the month. This program does not have enough major updates to truly need access to the latest version. I could work from an older version quite happily.

2. FONTS. I don't know what the deal is, but I always have issues with the fonts, and regardless of how many times I waste my time, reconnecting each font style when I open a document, I inevitably have to do it each and every time. It's time consuming and cumbersome, and considering the fonts are installed directly in my computer's font library, I don't see why it has such an issue. I could possibly understand if I were only using font's from Adobe's library on the cloud, however, this particular font is installed.

3. The fact that I cannot easily change the color of an icon with a cover overlay or something similar. It's a minor point, but as icons have become so popular lately, they are featured in almost all of my documents and layouts. The only way I've found to do it thus far is a messy workaround that involves using the Inner Glow feature, and changing about 6 different but specific settings in order to change the color of the icon. It's a bit of a hassle for a task that feels rather basic.

4. My user view/layout. You have the option to customize your own layout, which I have done...and yet the layout CONSTANTLY gets reset back to the default....and my custom one has disappeared, so I don't even have the option to select it any more! Given that experience, I haven't bothered to create a new custom view because it seems futile, since it'll continue to be reset with each update, AND I'm not confident that view won't mysteriously disappear like my previous one.

5. Not the most intuitive. Its complexity is both a blessing AND a curse, and if you use a lot of other Adobe products, it'll look familiar and you'll be able to identify a lot of the buttons and figure things out. However, new people will likely have a bit of a struggle learning their way around. Also, there's SO many features that a lot of them area tucked away, "hidden" in various drop downs, buttons, options, etc. It's hard to remember where things are if you don't use them very regularly. It's difficult to truly learn the whole program. I've been using it for 13+ years, and I still feel like I'm just mediocre with it.

NORMAN
Overall rating
  • Industry: Graphic Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 1.0 /10

You cannot upload anything

Reviewed on 27/07/2024

Terrible. It doesn't work. Again, no matter what file I try to upload to InDesign, it will take it.

Terrible. It doesn't work. Again, no matter what file I try to upload to InDesign, it will take it.

Pros

Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing

Cons

I have been trying to upload a pdf book to InDesign for weeks, unsuccessfully.

Renea
Overall rating
  • Industry: Graphic Design
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Industry Standard for Professional Publishing, but Costly for Small Businesses

Reviewed on 31/10/2024

Despite the cost, InDesign remains my top choice for high-quality, professional publishing. For...

Despite the cost, InDesign remains my top choice for high-quality, professional publishing. For those who need top-tier tools and work on larger projects regularly, it’s worth the investment.

Pros

Adobe InDesign is my go-to for complex and detailed design projects in my genealogy and family history business. It’s an incredibly powerful tool with virtually unlimited options for layout, typography, and customization, making it ideal for crafting professional, detailed templates that I sell to clients. The learning curve can be steep, but once you get the hang of it, the flexibility and precision are unmatched.

InDesign shines with its extensive export options and seamless integration with other Adobe products like Photoshop and Illustrator, which are essential when working on intricate projects across multiple platforms. That said, Adobe’s monthly subscription can get pricey, especially for small business owners who don’t need the full suite every month.

Cons

Expensive monthly subscription and a steeper learning curve for beginners.

Sean
Overall rating
  • Industry: Oil & Energy
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Short Learning curve - A must have for text-based content creation.

Reviewed on 03/11/2023

Coming from using photoshop for creating designs for flyers and brochures - company profiles ect......

Coming from using photoshop for creating designs for flyers and brochures - company profiles ect... and this has been an absolute eye-opener. Now I feel like i know what the pros do. I can edit elaborate,(and readable, text-heavy + image-rich content with huge page-counts without creating monstrously big file-size. - nothing can convert into pdf as efficiently as Adobe InDesign. I have found myself almost fully ditching Photoshop, Microsoft Word and others for weeks at a time because editing here feels effortless for me (someone that loves beautifully designed and thought out documents) . The only big gripe for me is that InDesign isn't very well adopted by my collogues... so when they need to edit a file that i made - they cant easily open it like they would an MS Word document.

Pros

IT just works! - it looks like a photoshop-ey interface, but the user experience is more fitting to Designers/Nothing else seems to convert my elaborate book designs filled with HD images into PDFs with the level of optimization like InDesign does.It feels like a proper design tool but with a built-in word processor. A perfect middleground between Design and Word functionality.Its an Adobe product so it gets updated often! and now with those nifty Ai tools that automagically makes your work alot easier!

Cons

Its an Adobe product so its probably on the expensive end for a non-pro user.Coming from Photoshop - I had to rethink the way i designed and that was a small but noticeable learning curve.Lacks some of the granular functionality of Microsoft Word to be considered a possible competitor for word processing.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Illustrator

Reasons for Choosing Adobe InDesign

Needed more efficient way to make small file size PDFs with very high quality.

Switched From

Adobe Photoshop

Reasons for Switching to Adobe InDesign

Made for documents and long format text files, books and magazines. Just what i needed
Neil
Overall rating
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

InDesign is Essential to our Business

Reviewed on 19/01/2024

Overall an incredible piece of software, the industry standard for creative layout design

Overall an incredible piece of software, the industry standard for creative layout design

Pros

InDesign is an essential tool that we use every day to get our work done! Simply the best

Cons

It does have a steep learning curve if you are new to it

Rissa
Overall rating
  • Industry: Nonprofit Organization Management
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Indesign is the best for publishing

Reviewed on 20/11/2023

I like using the full adobe suite of products together. It makes it so I can create and publish...

I like using the full adobe suite of products together. It makes it so I can create and publish assets extremely quickly without extensive training.

Pros

I like the ease of use with InDesign. I have used a both of different publication editors and InDesign is by far the most comprehensive and user friendly.

Cons

With the online adobe suite sign in, sometimes you get kicked off and then don't have access to your brand standards and it can be hard to get back in.

Alternatives Considered

Canva

Reasons for Switching to Adobe InDesign

InDesign is just a more complete product when used with the full suite.
Lewis
Overall rating
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

A must for any design professional

Reviewed on 24/01/2024

Pros

Adobe InDesign is the number one desktop publishing application and seemlessly intergrates with all the other Adobe applications

Cons

There are occasionally some very minor display bugs.

Isabelle
Overall rating
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

A complete software for day-to day work

Reviewed on 24/11/2023

Pros

It connects with the Adobe Suite. Very complete software to create ads and flyers.

Cons

Top menu keeps changing for unkown reason

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Graphic Design
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

My indispensable layout king

Reviewed on 06/09/2023

the overall experience is better, Indesign is a software that has been able to adapt to my desires,...

the overall experience is better, Indesign is a software that has been able to adapt to my desires, today I can create an ebook layout in a few clicks, so if I can't let my imagination grow, that's the limit of indesign.

Pros

Synchronized assembly of content: Shapes, images, text

Cons

What I like most about indesing is the higher price list.

Alternatives Considered

Affinity Publisher

Reasons for Switching to Adobe InDesign

I chose indesign because it saves me a lot of time.
Christopher
Overall rating
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

The pinnacle of publishing and layout work!

Reviewed on 17/12/2023

Overall we like the software very much. It has helped us present our designs to customers and...

Overall we like the software very much. It has helped us present our designs to customers and municipality. It works the way it should, without breaking the workflow.

Pros

It is easy to get into. And complex enough to do great stuff when you are more comfortable with the software. It is reliable and solid. We have had little issues with it.

Cons

It is pricey. There are competitors that do what InDesign does, so the price has to be justified.

Zoe
Overall rating
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

The Place for Publications!

Reviewed on 10/09/2024

I have used this software to make a few portfolios and research booklets. I loved using InDesign...

I have used this software to make a few portfolios and research booklets. I loved using InDesign since it allowed me to make everything very neat and aligned with countless fonts.

Pros

The countless features, guides, and tools that make your project come to life. It is easy to use and brings everything together and is much needed for publications.

Cons

Sometimes the scaling / framing of images was a bit tedious to deal with but still works.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

InDesign Review

Reviewed on 09/11/2023

Pros

What I like most about using Adobe InDesign is its precise control over typography and layout, allowing for intricate, professional-grade designs. Its seamless integration with other Adobe applications ensures smooth collaboration and a comprehensive creative ecosystem.

Cons

What I like least about Adobe InDesign is its resource-intensive nature, leading to occasional slowdowns, especially when handling large files. Additionally, the software's complexity can be overwhelming for novices, often necessitating extensive training to harness its full potential.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Professional Training & Coaching
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Adobe InDesign in the Professional Services world

Reviewed on 16/10/2023

Pros

I've been using Adobe Id for the last 10-15 years, focused on building books, reference manuals, and templated posters for our clients. What I like most about Id is the master pages, you can easily keep your pages consistent with margins, logos, text, and background colors. I am just now getting into the Interactive elements which look pretty cool and I can see some applications of how we might use it at our work.

Cons

You know, Id is a pretty robust tool for publishing printed and interactive web content. I would only say the links panel can get a little convoluted when you move folders and content around. Besides that I would highly recommend it.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

INDD is Perfect for Designers

Reviewed on 02/06/2023

Pros

Adobe has great tutorials out there for those who are new to the software.

Cons

It seems to always require an update for only minor improvements if anything at all.

Vihar
Overall rating
  • Industry: Media Production
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Somewhat difficult but Best result

Reviewed on 26/10/2023

Overall experience is good. First it is difficult to operate. But after that you can easy handle...

Overall experience is good. First it is difficult to operate. But after that you can easy handle and have a fun to operate.

Pros

Adobe InDesign is the best software for page setting in media office. I used it from last few years. Result is nice. Overall

Cons

Somewhat heavy and difficult to use for new users.

Juliana
Juliana
Overall rating
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

InDesign for Marketing

Reviewed on 08/06/2023

Pros

InDesign is an excellent design tool to use when working on long-format design. I use it daily for anything from long-format publication design to social media graphics and it easily adapts to help me work on anything in between.

Cons

Some of the features to expedite your work take some time to learn, I wish it was more intuitive to learn shortcuts.

Matt
Overall rating
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

InDesign is the best

Reviewed on 20/06/2023

Pros

It's by far the best desktop publisher out there

Cons

Literally nothing! I live in InDesign all day-every day at work, and I love it

Billie
Overall rating
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Indesign beginner

Reviewed on 19/10/2023

It was difficult to pick up but once I did it was a really useful platform

It was difficult to pick up but once I did it was a really useful platform

Pros

It’s perfect for formatting catalogues with the margins making it easy to replicate on the pages and keep it cohesive

Cons

It was difficult to get the hang of in comparison to other Adobe platforms such as photoshop or illustrator

Karen
Overall rating
  • Industry: Research
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

Great for layuts

Reviewed on 03/11/2023

Pros

I like that it makes it easy to make eye catching publications, with many tools and features

Cons

It can be a bit difficult to learn how to use it at first

Anthony
Anthony
Overall rating
  • Industry: Computer Hardware
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Page Layout at it's best

Reviewed on 13/06/2023

Pros

Adobe InDesign is pretty much the industry standard for page layout so it contains all the features that you need to design and layout artwork for commercial use. It has a fairly easy learning curve with basic features accessible to most people even without training, however to get the most from the software you will need some training to get the workflow and more advanced features working for you. I like the high quality results that are achievable when designing company marketing materials, from exhibition stand graphics to posters and everything in between.

Cons

It can be expensive due to the subscription model, especially if you don't use it very often.

Sarah
Overall rating
  • Industry: Research
  • Company size: 10,000+ Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Fantastic design product

Reviewed on 09/06/2023

Love it! Be determined to learn it and things getting faster and easier to use, the quality of...

Love it! Be determined to learn it and things getting faster and easier to use, the quality of outputs within our workplace has significantly improved since using InDesign. The way the Adobe apps interact with each other is powerful also, so if you do use Illustrator and Photoshop you will love the compatibility when used together.

Pros

Even though it took a while to learn it's features, the effort paid off as now I wouldn't be without it. The features and quality of the outputs far exceed many online tools.

Cons

Switching from Word to InDesign to create covers, reports and programmes etc, was time consuming due to the functionality being completely different - it required dedication to learn the software properly.

Jessica
Overall rating
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 3.0 /10

Is there alternative?

Reviewed on 05/05/2023

Pros

It’s the mainstream software and what I use from day to day.

Cons

Too expansive, crash a lot, I wish there were alternatives.

Cheikh
Overall rating
  • Industry: Media Production
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Efficient and Professional Layout Design with Adobe InDesign

Reviewed on 04/05/2023

Overall, my experience with Adobe InDesign has been very positive. This software offers advanced...

Overall, my experience with Adobe InDesign has been very positive. This software offers advanced features and practical design tools that have allowed me to create professional and creative publications. While there is an initial learning curve, I highly recommend Adobe InDesign for anyone looking to improve their design and layout capabilities.

Pros

What I like most about Adobe InDesign is its ability to effectively and professionally manage large-scale projects. Layout tools such as grids, columns, and guides are very handy for aligning elements and creating precise and balanced layouts. The character and paragraph styles feature is also very useful for quickly applying consistent formatting throughout the document.

Cons

However, what I like least about Adobe InDesign is its handling of images and objects. While the cropping and resizing tools are convenient, I find that manipulating images and objects can be difficult at times, especially when it comes to aligning elements to baseline grids or matching them to other objects. Additionally, managing layers can be complex for more complex projects.

Verified Reviewer
Overall rating
  • Industry: Hospital & Health Care
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Takes a while to learn but can do some cool things

Reviewed on 19/11/2023

Pros

In design makes it easy to format and modify the appearance of a page or document. You can make the page interactive and easy to view for the end user

Cons

Navigating in design takes a while to get the hang of. There are also different ways to access the same feature through the menu or side bars. YouTube and Reddit were helpful for learning ways to do things like make a fill able form on a website