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Use the Canto Adobe Connector with InDesign


The Canto Adobe Connector enables you to access your Canto account directly from within Adobe InDesign.


Make sure that you have installed the latest version of our Canto Connector in order to use all the described features.


This is an add-on integration. Please contact your account manager or submit a support ticket for pricing.


Restriction: You need to be signed in using an administrator's account or be granted the respective permission by an admin in order to use these functions.


How to navigate to the Connector within InDesign

Window > Extensions > Canto Connector


How to sign in to Canto from within InDesign

  1. In InDesign, navigate to Window > Extensions > CantoConnector.
  2. Select your Canto URL from the pop-up menu and confirm your selection.
  3. There are two options to sign in, depending if your user account has been created in Canto or in your Identity Provider (using SSO).

    Login using Canto account: 
    Enter your Canto account credentials and click on Sign In if your user account has been created in Canto.Login using SSO account:
    Enter your tenant name only and click on Login with SSO if your user account has been created in your Identity Provider.
  4. Select your desired environment from the drop-down menu. Confirm your selection and grant access to your Canto account by clicking on Allow.
  5. If everything works, you will receive the following confirmation:
  6. You can now close the window and return to InDesign.


In the next section you will learn how to open the Connector in the application.


How to use the Adobe Connector

Make sure you are signed in to Canto (via Window > Extensions > Canto Connector).

Note: Files from your Cold Storage cannot be added.


How to add an asset to your InDesign document

  1. With the Canto tab selected you can browse through your Folder Tree to look for the asset(s) you would like to work with.
  2. Select the desired folder/album.
  3. Click on the arrow to hide the folder tree in order to view more files at once.
    Image, video, document and text formats can be added to an InDesign project.
  4. Alternatively, you can perform a Global Search by selecting the magnifying glass or filtering your files by keywords, tags, and approval status by clicking on the filter-icon next to the search bar.
    Note: For performing a search with exact match, please put the file name in quotation marks (" ").
  5. Hover over an asset and click on the circle in the top right-hand corner of the asset to select it.
    Tip: You are also able to select up to five files at a time.
  6. Choose between Insert and Replace.
  7. Alternatively, you can first draw a frame in InDesign and then select the asset you would like to insert.

    Note: When you insert an image that already lives in Canto to an InDesign document, Canto will automatically create and display the inserted images as related files.


How to make adjustments to assets you want to insert

  • Check Show import options before inserting an asset.
    Note: The import options can also be used when working with assets in bulk.
    Here you can access different settings which are grouped under the following tabs: Image, Color profile and PNG Settings if applicable.
    You can also make adjustments to a PDF's import options which are grouped in General and Layers.

  • By default, the Adobe Connector first inserts a low-resolution version of the selected asset into the InDesign document. In the Assets tab of the Canto Connector, you can switch between high and low resolution versions of the asset. To do this, click the square icon. The larger the square, the higher the resolution.
    Tip: You can toggle the resolution of several assets by clicking on the column title Resolution while holding the CTRL (Windows) / COMMAND (macOS) key on your keyboard.
    To change back from High-Resolution to Low-Resolution in bulk, you need to click on the column title Resolution while holding the SHIFT + CTRL (Windows) / COMMAND (macOS) key on your keyboard.


How to view assets that are used multiple times

The same assets will be grouped and can be opened/closed by clicking on the arrow (v).


When using the Canto Adobe Connector for InDesign, files are cached on to your computer to save loading time. When you open an InDesign file and see that your assets are no longer linked, you can easily fix it by going into the Assets tab on the extension window, hold SHIFT + CTRL (Windows) / COMMAND (macOS) key on your keyboard and click Status to relink all your files or select only a few and click on Relink Items.

This is also particularly useful when you are sharing InDesign files with other Canto users that use the Canto Adobe Connector or when opening InDesign files on a different computer.


How to switch to a portal/workspace

  1. Within the Connector navigate to Configuration > Logout.
  2. Sign in again and select the environment you would like to be displayed in your Connector.
  3. Click Allow.

Linked assets - naming convention

You may have noticed that certain identifiers are getting added to your linked asset's file names. Below you will find a list of these identifiers and what they stand for.If you do not see the tab Links in your InDesign environment you can open it via Window > Links.


Functions Breakdown

Canto Tab

No asset selected

  1. Hide/display folder tree
  2. Global search
  3. Filter
  4. Folder tree sorting options
  5. Refresh folder tree/album content
  6. Thumbnail size
    Note: Not supported in list view
  7. View options
  8. Folder/album content sorting options


With asset(s) selected

  1. Show import options before inserting
  2. Insert selected asset
  3. Replace highlighted asset with the selected asset(s)
  4. Deselect all assets
  5. Clickable marker for adding asset to current selection (gets displayed when hovering your curser over an asset)
  6. Metadata preview


Detailed single asset view

  1. Previous asset 
  2. Next asset
  3. Close preview
  4. Show import options before inserting
  5. Replace highlighted asset with the selected asset(s)
  6. Insert selected asset


Assets Tab

  1. Sort by name (ascending/descending)
  2. Press CTRL (Windows) / COMMAND (macOS) and click to update all to high resolution, press Shift + Command and click to update all to low resolution
  3. Relink items
  4. Press CTRL (Windows) / COMMAND (macOS) and click Status to update all to new version
  5. Select an asset
  6. Change resolution


Upload Tab

  1. After you save your file locally, you may upload it back to Canto as a New Version of the original asset
  2. Or you may upload the edited asset as a New File to your Canto library
  3. Browse your computer to locate the file(s) you want to upload into Canto
  4. Upload the asset into your Canto library


Configuration Tab

  1. Shows you your user name
  2. Launch Canto in your web browser
  3. Clear cache removes downloaded files from your local drive. Linked files will need to be relinked from the Assets tab for future use (see further information above)
  4. Configuration is divided into three tabs (see below) 
  5. Logout/change your Canto environment (see further information above)
  6. See which version of the Canto Connector you are currently using

General Tab

Here you can set the default resolution for the import.

You may want to assign a different location for your assets' cache. Be sure to follow the instructions prompted and to close and restart the extension for the changes to take effect.


Tooltip & Preview Page & List View Tab

Here you can configure which metadata fields you would like to see when hovering over an asset's thumbnail or when previewing the asset.


Filter Panel

Here you can configure your filter panel layout. Simply move any field from the available section over to the displayed section by clicking on the plus symbol. In order to remove a field from the displayed section click on the X.

You can arrange the order of your displayed filter options via drag & drop and determine whether a field should be displayed collapsed or expanded by default.


Video: Use the Adobe Connector with InDesign


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