The 5 InDesign Templates You Should Be Using Right Now

Adobe InDesign is a powerful design tool, and it can be improved with additional templates. Here are 5 of the best that you need in your life.

Using InDesign templates

Adobe InDesign is a sleek, professional page layout tool, and it can be improved with templates. Let’s look at where you can find templates, if you can get them for free, and which are the best.

What are templates in InDesign?

Templates are straight-from-the-oven, ready-to-use layouts for your InDesign projects. Think of them as shortcuts – they can be copied, downloaded, customized and used for your work, helping you achieve a specific look or feel. Most people will use them rather than start from scratch. In fact, even massive companies with thousands of employees use templates.

Why? They’re easy. As we touched on, they’re shortcuts to industry-standard posters, flyers, brochures, magazines and more. If you’re strapped for time and don’t have the knowledge or expertise to make something from scratch, you needn’t worry. InDesign templates are your new best pal.

Where do I find local InDesign templates?

InDesign is ripe for template usage – if the template exists, you should be able to use it in your project. InDesign templates can be easily spotted by their file type. They’re literally called ‘InDesign templates’, which is handy, and should be labeled as ‘.indt’ in your computer’s file explorer.

You can download INDT files and save them locally before importing them into InDesign. Keep your eyes peeled, though, as it’s easy to get things mixed up. Traditional InDesign project documents are called ‘indd’, which naturally sounds similar. To avoid confusion, if you’re using InDesign templates, consider labeling them as such and saving them in a different folder to your main projects.

People will often create template files in InDesign and share them for public download. You can also find a near-endless supply of InDesign templates over at Adobe Stock. 

Can you use Canva templates in InDesign?

Despite their functions being similar, you unfortunately can’t use Canva templates for your InDesign projects. Canva is web-based and relies on drag-and-drop, whereas InDesign is a local, desktop-native program.

Looking up InDesign templates

Where can I download free InDesign templates?

Adobe Stock is great, but if you have a small budget, you need to save where you can without giving up quality or choice. What else is out there?

There are tons of websites that offer up-to-date, exciting, and crucially, free InDesign templates to use in your projects. Here are just a couple of them:

The 5 best InDesign templates

OK, let’s get into it. It’s go-time. Here are the 5 best InDesign templates you should check out today.

Psychedelic Modern Flyer Set

Want to get a little freaky with it? Adobe Stock’s Psychadelic Modern Flyer Set has answered your call. Popping out of the screen – and from any page you print it on! – with a bold color scheme and ‘A Clockwork Orange’-esque font, this puppy’s guaranteed to make a statement. It’s available to download for free with a trial, or as part of your existing Adobe Stock subscription. 

Browsing InDesign templates

Hipster Portfolio Brochure

If you’re looking to assemble a portfolio with InDesign, this Hipster Portfolio Brochure from Envato Elements is a cool choice. It’s a sharp, clean layout that still pops where it needs to, without dragging focus away from what’s important: your work. Snag this template with Envato Elements’ free trial, or as part of their regular paid-for service. 

Cyber Gothic Presentation Layout

We’re back to Adobe Stock for their Cyber Gothic Presentation Layout. It’s a glowing, hot pink against a stark black background, with ample room for images, additional text, and intricate details. If you want to take the step up from your regular presentation slides, try out this template. 

Basic Construction ID Card Template

Sure, Template’s Basic Construction ID Card Template suggests it’s best-suited for a building firm, but this ID card mock-up could be used for anything. Its friendly colors and sharp lines make it the perfect ID card for any corporate event, creator meet-up, or even a regular office. You can grab this for just $24 with Template’s yearly Pro plan. 

Multipurpose InDesign Magazine Template

Let’s wrap things up here with another entry from Envato Elements, this time with the Multipurpose InDesign Magazine Template. Whether you’re creating old-school print magazines or PDFs for online use, this template’s bold style and dramatic layout will make people sit up and pay attention.

Finding new InDesign templates

How do you import InDesign templates?

Once you’ve downloaded your template, importing it into InDesign and using it is fairly straightforward. Here’s how:

1. Select and open your INDT in InDesign, clicking the ‘Open Normal’ option when prompted. Next, you… oh, that’s it. Your template’s ready to go! If you want to create a new version of the template – which we’d advise doing – then just save an alternate version before editing it. Or, if you want to edit the original template and make those changes permanent, just save over the file once you’re done making changes, rather than creating a new one.

So, you’ve found, imported and edited the perfect InDesign template. All in a hard day’s work!

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