Out: Scales the view smaller so that you can see more of the document at a time.
Help: Opens the Help documentation for the current application.
About Contextual Menus
A contextual menu is similar to the menu types we describe in the previous sections; however, it’s context-sensitive and opens when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) on an object in your document. Contextual means that the menu dynamically changes depending upon what you have selected.
For example, if you right-click, when an image is selected, you see options referring to the image. However, if you right-click on a document’s background, you typically see options that affect the entire document instead of just a particular element within it. This makes it easy to find the options you need quickly. Figure 4-5 shows a contextual menu that appears when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) text in InDesign.
FIGURE 4-5: Open a contextual menu by right-clicking on a selected object.
Using Common Keyboard Shortcuts
Shortcuts are key combinations that enable you to quickly and efficiently execute commands, such as save or open files or copy and paste objects. Many of these shortcuts are listed on the menus discussed in previous sections. If the menu option has a key combination listed next to it, you can press that combination to access the command rather than use the menu to select it. Figure 4-6 shows shortcuts associated with a menu item in InDesign.
For example, if you open the File menu, next to the Save option is Ctrl+S (Windows) or ⌘ +S (Mac). Rather than choose File ⇒ Save, you can press the shortcut keys to save your file. It’s a quick way to execute a particular command.
FIGURE 4-6: Shortcuts are shown next to their associated commands.
TABLE 4-1 Common Keyboard Shortcuts
| Command | Windows Shortcut | Mac Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| New | Ctrl+N | ⌘ +N |
| Open | Ctrl+O | ⌘ +O |
| Save | Ctrl+S | ⌘ +S |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | ⌘ +Z |
| Redo | Shift+Ctrl+Z | Shift+⌘ +Z |
| Copy | Ctrl+C | ⌘ +C |
| Paste | Ctrl+V | ⌘ +V |
| Ctrl+P | ⌘ +P | |
| Preferences (General) | Ctrl+K | ⌘ +K |
| Help | F1 or sometimes Ctrl+? | F1 or sometimes ⌘ +? |
Many additional shortcuts are available in each application in the Creative Cloud applications, and not all are listed on menus. You can find these shortcuts throughout the documentation provided with each application. Memorizing the shortcuts can take some time, but the time you save in the long run is worth it.
Changing Your Preferences
Setting your preferences is important when you’re working with new software. Understanding what your preferences can do for you gives you a good idea about what the software does. All applications in the Creative Cloud have different preferences; however, the way the Preferences dialog box works in each application is the same.
You can open the Preferences dialog box in each application by choosing Edit ⇒ Preferences (Windows) or Application Name ⇒ Preferences ⇒ General (Mac). The Preferences dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 4-7. Click an item in the list on the left side of the dialog box to navigate from one topic to the next.
Note: At the time of this writing, Adobe XD does not have a preference menu.
FIGURE 4-7: Adobe Illustrator preferences. Click an item on the left to navigate among topics.
The Preferences dialog box contains a great number of settings you can control by entering values into text fields using drop-down lists, buttons, checkboxes, sliders, and other, similar controls. Preferences can be quite detailed. However, you don’t have to know what each preference does or even change any of them: Most dialog boxes containing preferences are quite detailed in outlining which features the preferences control and are therefore intuitive to use. Adobe also sometimes includes a Description area near the bottom of the dialog box. When you hover the mouse over a particular control, a description of that control appears in the Description area.
In some Preferences dialog boxes, a list box on the left side of the dialog box contains the categories of preferences you can change. When you finish changing the settings in that topic, select a new topic from the list and change the settings for another topic.
In some applications, not all settings you can modify are in the Preferences dialog box. For example, in Illustrator, you
