During the 1990 parallel development was being done in Seattle for a replacement for Aldus PageMaker. Initially it was going to be named PageMaker Pro, but during development it had the code name k2 and internally within Aldus it also had the nickname “Quark Killer”. The main competitor and standard in the Desktop publishing arena was Quark Express (hence the nickname). The team working on this project was quite small and PageMaker was still the main product in development. In the mid-90s Adobe and Aldus merged and one of the main new developments in PageMaker 6 followed by PageMaker 6.5 was the integration between PageMaker and Adobe Acrobat which had just been released with the Export PDF feature.
Below is a table outlining the successive releases of Adobe InDesign and some of the main features for each release. The idea over all of this time was to have a product that mainly comprised of plug-ins with a relatively small executable. InDesign and InCopy are basically the same base product but with a different set of plug-ins as are InDesign Server and the desktop version of InDesign.
| Version | Features and Improvements |
|---|---|
| InDesign 1.0 (1999) | Initial launch introducing a new era in digital publishing. |
| InDesign 1.5 (2000) | Improved productivity and compatibility, support for more languages. |
| InDesign CS (2003, v3.0) | Integration into Adobe’s Creative Suite, enhancing interoperability with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat. |
| InDesign CS2 (2005, v4.0) | Object Styles, Adobe Bridge integration, better PDF and XML export options. |
| InDesign CS3 (2007, v5.0) | Transparency effects, table styles, improved text and typography control. |
| InDesign CS4 (2008, v6.0) | Support for interactive documents, GREP find/replace, conditional text, and cross-references. |
| InDesign CS5 (2010, v7.0) | Enhanced interactive document capabilities, new layers panel, span/split columns feature. |
| InDesign CS5.5 (2011, v7.5) | Focus on digital publishing, especially for tablets, with features for interactive eBooks and improved ePub export. |
| InDesign CS6 (2012, v8.0) | Alternate layouts, Liquid Layout, content collector tools. Last version before Adobe Creative Cloud transition. |
| InDesign CC (2013, v9.0) | Transition to a subscription-based model as part of Adobe Creative Cloud, bringing regular updates and cloud-based features. |
| InDesign CC 2014 (v10.0) | Improved packaging, EPUB enhancements, simplified hyperlinks. |
| InDesign CC 2015 (v11.0) | Paragraph Shading, Graphic Cells for tables, updates to Adobe Publish Online service. |
| InDesign CC 2017 (v12.0) | OpenType enhancements, better footnote placement, scalability options. |
| InDesign CC 2018 (v13.0) | Endnotes, paragraph borders, object height and width styles, improved export to HTML. |
| InDesign CC 2019 (v14.0) | Improved user experience with layout adjustments, PDF accessibility enhancements, Content-Aware Fit introduction. |
| InDesign 2020 (v15.0) | Support for SVG import, variable fonts, automatic layout adjustment. |
| InDesign 2021 (v16.0) | Performance improvements, Share for Review, enhancements to subject-aware text wrap. |
| InDesign 2022 (v17.0) | Introduction of improved collaboration tools and user interface enhancements, performance improvements, new and enhanced typography features, accessibility improvements. |
| InDesign 2023 (v18.0) | Enhanced Collaboration Tools, Performance Improvements, Typography and Font Enhancements, Accessibility Improvements. |
| InDesign 2024 (v19.0) | AI-Powered Features, Improved User Interface, Advanced Integration with Creative Cloud, Sustainability and Eco-conscious Design. |
Associated Links
History of Aldus/Adobe PageMaker
Adobe InDesign Software Development Solutions Plugins & Tools
