A Flex Layout container is a frame holding its objects as nested items (as Edit › Paste Into makes), with a `flex` record: direction, wrap, justification, cross-axis alignment, Fixed/Auto width and height, padding and horizontal/vertical spacing. designcraft_doc::flex lays the objects out (a Flexbox subset: lines, justification, alignment, Auto sizing), and the engine runs it after every edit, so the container keeps its objects in place whatever changes. Commands: flex.add (Add to Flex Layout; detects aligned objects: their direction, Auto size, Space Between at their own spacing, as InDesign does), flex.convert (a group or rectangle frame), flex.remove (objects stay, grouped), flex.set (every panel setting, plus the alignment grid cell), flex.reorder. Resizing a container by its handles or W/H changes its box and makes that side Fixed instead of scaling its objects; dragging an object inside one drops it in the nearest place. UI: Object › Flex Layout (Add to, Convert to, Remove, Show Flex Controls), a Flex Layout panel (Window › Panels) laid out as InDesign's (Create Flex Layout; alignment grid, W/H with Auto/Fixed; justification menu, four directions, wrap; padding with the link button; spacing, greyed as InDesign does when the justification works it out or nothing wraps), and the same section in Properties. Icons are new drawings. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
17 KiB
InDesign feature checklist
Generated: summary by
cargo xtask parityfrom the rows below; rows last re-scored 2026-10-04, summary unchanged since (checked 2026-10-10) · Target: Adobe InDesign 2026
This is the presence checklist: does each InDesign feature exist in DesignCraft? It answers
the feature-breadth question only. Depth, fidelity and readiness for real work are assessed in
target-app-parity.md; individual shortfalls are in gaps.md.
Formerly docs/parity.md.
Edit a row's status, then run cargo xtask parity to regenerate the summary; don't edit the
summary by hand. Each row of the InDesign feature catalogue is scored D (done), P (partial: works but lacks options or UI) or M (missing), weighted by priority (P0 core = 3, P1 = 2, P2 = 1). Out-of-scope rows (Adobe cloud services, plug-ins, Typekit, Flash) are excluded.
Caveat (2026-10-10 review): rows were graded by the agents that built the features, at a coarse grain. A measured match of InDesign 21.6's own menu dump against DesignCraft's labels finds 69% of in-scope menu items (75% against the documented menu tree) (see target-app-parity.md), so read 99% as an upper bound.
Weighted breadth parity: 99% over 277 features.
| Priority | Features | Done | Partial | Missing | Parity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | 102 | 100 | 2 | 0 | 99% |
| P1 | 99 | 99 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| P2 | 76 | 72 | 4 | 0 | 97% |
| Area | Parity |
|---|---|
| Application shell & workspace | 99% |
| Documents, pages, spreads | 100% |
| Layers | 100% |
| Frames, shapes & paths | 100% |
| Transform | 100% |
| Fill, stroke, colour | 100% |
| Effects & transparency | 100% |
| Placing & links | 93% |
| Type & text frames | 99% |
| Typography | 100% |
| Styles | 100% |
| Tables | 100% |
| Long documents | 100% |
| Interactivity & digital | 100% |
| Output & production | 92% |
| XML & automation | 100% |
| View & navigation | 100% |
| Undo, history, saving | 100% |
| Accessibility | 100% |
Open P0 items: Vector/page formats (PDF/AI/SVG/EPS place), Export to PDF (print).
Rows
| Area | Feature | Priority | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application shell & workspace | Start/Home screen | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Multiple documents in tabs | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | New Window for same document | P1 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Dockable panels | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Workspaces | P1 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Control panel | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Properties panel | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Contextual task bar | P2 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Themes | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | UI scaling | P1 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Keyboard shortcut editor | P1 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Menu customization | P2 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Show Full Menus | P2 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Recovery / autosave | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Preferences | P0 | D |
| Application shell & workspace | Localization | P2 | P |
| Application shell & workspace | Scripting (own API: commands, scripts, MCP) | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | New Document dialog | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Document Setup | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Page sizes | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Facing pages / spreads | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Pages per spread up to 10 | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Insert/move/duplicate/delete pages | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Per-page size (Page tool) | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Margins and Columns per page | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Spread rotation (view) | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Pasteboard | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Sections & numbering | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Page numbering display | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Smart Text Reflow | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Primary text frame | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Parent pages | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Parent item overrides | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Page transitions | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Spread view rotation | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Layout Adjustment | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Adjust Layout | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Liquid layout | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Alternate layouts | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Document grid & baseline grid | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Ruler guides | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Guides on layers | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Liquid guides | P2 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Flex Layout | P1 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Smart guides | P0 | D |
| Documents, pages, spreads | Snap to guides / grid / baseline | P0 | D |
| Layers | Layers panel | P0 | D |
| Layers | Layer options | P0 | D |
| Layers | Move items between layers | P0 | D |
| Layers | Merge layers, delete unused | P1 | D |
| Layers | Hide/Lock others | P1 | D |
| Layers | Page item names in Layers panel | P1 | D |
| Layers | Layer colour drives selection colour | P0 | D |
| Layers | Object Layer Options for placed files | P2 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Rectangle/Ellipse/Polygon frames | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Rectangle/Ellipse/Polygon shapes | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Polygon settings | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Line tool | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Pen, add/delete anchor, convert direction | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Pencil, Smooth, Erase | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Scissors | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Content type | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Convert Shape | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Corner Options | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Pathfinder | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Compound paths | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Text outlines | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Clipping paths | P2 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Frame fitting | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Frame Fitting Options | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Content grabber, select content/container | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Auto-fit | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Step and Repeat | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Gridify while drawing | P2 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Gap tool | P2 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Live Distribute | P2 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Generate QR Code | P2 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Placeholder text | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Arrange | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Group/Ungroup | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Lock / Unlock All on Spread | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Hide / Show All on Spread | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Select submenu | P1 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Select All / Deselect All | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Duplicate | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Paste Into / Paste in Place | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Paste Without Formatting | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Non-printing attribute | P0 | D |
| Frames, shapes & paths | Overprint fill/stroke/gap | P1 | D |
| Transform | Transform panel / Control | P0 | D |
| Transform | Free Transform tool | P0 | D |
| Transform | Rotate, Scale, Shear tools + dialogs | P0 | D |
| Transform | Transform Again family | P1 | D |
| Transform | Clear Transformations | P1 | D |
| Transform | Transformations are Totals pref | P1 | D |
| Transform | Scale strokes / content options | P0 | D |
| Transform | Align & Distribute | P0 | D |
| Transform | Dimensions Include Stroke Weight | P0 | D |
| Transform | Rotate 90 / Flip buttons | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Swatches panel | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Color panel | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Color Picker dialog | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Gradient panel & tool | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Gradient Feather tool | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Tints | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Special swatches | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Spot colours | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Ink Manager | P2 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Load/Save Swatches (.ase) | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Color groups | P2 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Unnamed colour to swatch | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Stroke panel | P0 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Stroke styles | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Color management | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Overprint Preview | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Separations Preview | P2 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Eyedropper | P1 | D |
| Fill, stroke, colour | Appearance of Black prefs | P1 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Opacity & blend modes | P0 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Isolate Blending / Knockout Group | P2 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Drop Shadow | P1 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel, Satin | P2 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Basic/Directional/Gradient Feather | P2 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Global Light | P2 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Transparency blend space | P1 | D |
| Effects & transparency | Transparency flattener | P2 | D |
| Placing & links | Place | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Place into frame / by click or drag | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Raster formats | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Vector/page formats (PDF/AI/SVG/EPS place) | P0 | P |
| Placing & links | Placing INDD/IDML pages | P2 | P |
| Placing & links | Text import (TXT/DOCX/RTF) | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Links panel | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Effective/actual PPI | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Relink to folder / extension | P1 | D |
| Placing & links | Copy Links To / Package | P1 | D |
| Placing & links | Captions | P2 | D |
| Placing & links | Image import options | P1 | D |
| Placing & links | Linked text/stories | P2 | D |
| Placing & links | Display performance | P0 | D |
| Placing & links | Video/audio | P2 | P |
| Type & text frames | Text frames | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Threading | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Overset detection & indicator | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Text Frame Options | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Type on a path | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Vertical type | P2 | P |
| Type & text frames | Story Editor | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Track Changes | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Notes | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Find/Change | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Find Font | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Spell checking | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Hyphenation dictionaries | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Glyphs panel | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Insert special chars / white space / breaks | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Text variables | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Conditional text | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Fill with placeholder text | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Create Outlines | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Change Case | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Show Hidden Characters | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Font menu with preview, favourites | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Missing fonts handling | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Footnotes | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Endnotes | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Cross-references | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Text anchors & hyperlinks | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Data merge | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Smart quotes | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Autocorrect / Dynamic spelling | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Drag & drop text editing | P1 | D |
| Type & text frames | Paste text with/without formatting | P0 | D |
| Type & text frames | Math expressions | P2 | D |
| Type & text frames | Right-to-left / World-Ready composer | P2 | D |
| Typography | Character attributes | P0 | D |
| Typography | Underline/Strikethrough options | P1 | D |
| Typography | OpenType features | P0 | D |
| Typography | Variable fonts | P1 | D |
| Typography | Paragraph attributes | P0 | D |
| Typography | Paragraph Composer (total-fit) | P0 | D |
| Typography | Single-line Composer | P0 | D |
| Typography | Tabs, leaders, right-indent tab | P0 | D |
| Typography | Nested / line / GREP styles | P1 | D |
| Typography | Drop caps | P1 | D |
| Typography | Paragraph rules | P1 | D |
| Typography | Paragraph borders & shading | P1 | D |
| Typography | Balance ragged lines | P1 | D |
| Typography | Optical margin alignment | P1 | D |
| Typography | Baseline grid | P0 | D |
| Typography | Highlight H&J / keep violations | P1 | D |
| Typography | Glyph scaling, letter/word spacing | P0 | D |
| Typography | Auto leading | P0 | D |
| Typography | Text wrap | P0 | D |
| Typography | Anchored objects | P1 | D |
| Typography | Hyphenation exceptions | P1 | D |
| Typography | Language support | P1 | D |
| Styles | Paragraph styles | P0 | D |
| Styles | Character styles | P0 | D |
| Styles | Object styles | P1 | D |
| Styles | Table & cell styles | P1 | D |
| Styles | Style groups | P1 | D |
| Styles | Quick Apply | P1 | D |
| Styles | Break link to style | P1 | D |
| Styles | Style mapping on import | P1 | D |
| Styles | Style export tagging | P2 | D |
| Tables | Create / Insert Table | P1 | D |
| Tables | Convert Text to Table / Table to Text | P1 | D |
| Tables | Rows/columns insert/delete/resize/distribute | P1 | D |
| Tables | Merge/Unmerge/Split cells | P1 | D |
| Tables | Header/footer rows | P1 | D |
| Tables | Table options | P1 | D |
| Tables | Cell options | P1 | D |
| Tables | Graphic cells | P2 | D |
| Tables | Table styles & cell styles | P1 | D |
| Tables | Table panel | P1 | D |
| Tables | Overset cells | P1 | D |
| Tables | Tables spanning frames | P1 | D |
| Tables | Sort table rows | P2 | D |
| Tables | Excel import | P2 | D |
| Tables | Drag to move rows/columns | P2 | D |
| Long documents | Table of contents | P1 | D |
| Long documents | Index | P2 | D |
| Long documents | Books | P2 | D |
| Long documents | Numbered lists across stories | P1 | D |
| Long documents | Cross-references | P2 | D |
| Long documents | Running headers via variables | P1 | D |
| Long documents | Footnotes/endnotes | P1 | D |
| Long documents | Captions | P2 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | Hyperlinks panel | P1 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | Bookmarks | P1 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | Buttons and Forms | P2 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | Object States | P2 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | Articles panel | P2 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | Object Export Options | P2 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | EPUB export | P2 | D |
| Interactivity & digital | HTML export | P2 | D |
| Output & production | Export to PDF (print) | P0 | P |
| Output & production | Interactive PDF | P2 | D |
| Output & production | Print dialog | P1 | D |
| Output & production | Print booklet | P2 | D |
| Output & production | Package | P1 | D |
| Output & production | Preflight | P1 | D |
| Output & production | Export JPEG/PNG | P1 | D |
| Output & production | Export IDML | P0 | D |
| Output & production | Export EPUB/HTML | P2 | D |
| Output & production | Export RTF/TXT/Tagged text | P2 | D |
| Output & production | Export XML | P2 | D |
| Output & production | Separations / Flattener / Ink limit preview | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Tags panel, Structure | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Import/Export XML | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Data Merge | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Scripts panel | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Script Label | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Content Collector/Placer | P2 | D |
| XML & automation | Snippets | P1 | D |
| XML & automation | Object Library | P2 | D |
| View & navigation | Zoom commands | P0 | D |
| View & navigation | Power Zoom | P2 | D |
| View & navigation | Animated/scrubby zoom | P1 | D |
| View & navigation | Screen modes | P0 | D |
| View & navigation | Overprint preview | P1 | D |
| View & navigation | Rulers, guides, grids toggles | P0 | D |
| View & navigation | Show/hide frame edges, threads, hidden chars | P0 | D |
| View & navigation | Structure / tag markers | P2 | D |
| View & navigation | Display performance | P0 | D |
| View & navigation | Navigate pages | P0 | D |
| View & navigation | Split window | P2 | D |
| View & navigation | Rotate spread view | P2 | D |
| View & navigation | Find/zoom to object | P1 | D |
| Undo, history, saving | Unlimited undo/redo | P0 | D |
| Undo, history, saving | Revert | P0 | D |
| Undo, history, saving | Save / Save As / Save a Copy | P0 | D |
| Accessibility | Tagged PDF export | P2 | D |
| Accessibility | Alt text | P2 | D |
| Accessibility | Keyboard navigation of UI | P1 | D |
| Accessibility | High contrast | P2 | D |