Expert: James Fritz - 12/10/2009

Question
I have been using InDesign CS3 for 2.5 years. I am the only one on my machine. Graphic artist for a newspaper. About 1 month ago, my stroke panel and effects panel are double the size. I have no arrow at the bottom to resize. I have saved my workspace, but even in all my templates those 2 panels block my view. I have 5-6 panels that I use in my workspace. I have never had problems till now, and I am trying to figure it out without resetting preferences. I have paragraph styles, object styles, many many preferences to suit my needs, I would have to recreate all my templates as well. Any suggestions short of rebuilding my preferences? No other issues. I don't know how it happened,

Answer
Kathy,

You can switch your workspace to something and not lose your preferences. Window > workspace > default.

Another option is to update InDesign to the latest version (if you haven't yet). Go to the help menu > check for update.

If this does not work you will probably have to rebuild your preferences. If you want to save all of your styles, just make a new document and save the document as a template. After you rebuild your preferences, you can load all of your styles and swatches with no document open and they will be there again as default preferences.

Your existing documents and templates will not be affected by the rebuilding of your preferences.