Each time Adobe releases an upgrade to InDesign, it adds an assortment of useful one-trick enhancements. Some are based on user requests, while others are added because they support the program's new features. Here are some examples. The new Split Window feature lets you view two different pages or layouts in one document at the same time. When viewing at Actual Size (100 percent), InDesign now takes into account your display’s resolution so that your design appears closer to its output size.

The Align feature borrows a trick from Illustrator: you can choose a Key object to align other objects to. A text frame with multiple columns can now automatically add or remove columns when you resize the frame. You specify a maximum width, and if the columns grow wider than that, InDesign creates a new column. Previously, InDesign could perform basic math functions inside number fields, such as simple addition and multiplication. With the CS6 version, InDesign can now resolve complex functions that use multiple operators.

You can now Zoom in directly to a linked object when you view it in context from the Links panel. The Extension Manager now lets you save, enable, and disable extensions in groups you define.

You can now export objects, pages, or your entire document to PNG format, a lossless image file format. Saving your InDesign document for backward compatibility is now more intuitive—the Save As dialog box now includes “InDesign CS4 or later (IDML)” as an option.