The W(inning) Keyboard Shortcut

vintage keyboard
Photo by Juriaan van der Zwan on Unsplash

During my first year as a graphic and web design student, I started using inDesign and I found it very difficult to be able to visualize what my final product would look like. So, then I learnt that the “W” shortcut. How the “W” keyboard shortcut works in inDesign to improve your work methods:

How does it work?

After you finish your design work, you will be able to have a clear representation of the final product. They will be no more outlines, margins, gutter, bleeds, guidelines, grids in the way. You will be able to view your product as if you were going to print it. This is very useful and saved me a lot of time when working on my projects. All those extra things on the screen make it harder to see your item clearly. With “W” you can see how your project looks like and be able to adjust it accordingly to your needs and your preferences.

How I use it

What I do, for example is work on my project, click on “W” to see my project clearly. Then, I base myself off of what I see, notice what I can change and modify. Finally, I toggle the “W” off and proceed to execute my changes. I do this multiple time during the creation of my product and I do not know what I would do without it.

A Rant

The “W” keyboard shortcut is probably my most used shortcut out of all the Adobe set. If I were to live in a perfect world, a world without hunger, without wars, without poverty, without injustice, without racism but most importantly, a “W” shortcut added to Adobe Illustrator, I would be very happy.  I find myself always wanting to see my Illustrator projects without all the extra clutter but I cannot do so. Hi adobe, please add this to Illustrator.

Author: Adrian Lan

Adrian is a graphic and web design at John Abbott College. He is about to go off on this designing and become the best one that no one ever was. He also likes Shirley Temples and long walks on the beach.

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