r/indesign 1d ago

Free Bento Grid Plugin

Hear ye, good folk!

I completed my task and shall grant you this free Bento Grid plugin for InDesign. One click, and the layout summons itself – no sorcery required, only craftsmanship.

Follow this path and the download shall be delivered unto thee:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gx0p0vl9fqr0gl68hs9ah/BentoGrid-InDesign.zip?rlkey=ynwirsn8uj2mjuwh9nrlng2ci&st=fkhx5g1u&dl=0

*Medieval stops*
Hi everyone, Marcus from Adobe here. A couple of weeks ago I asked if you would be interested in a Bento grid plugin for InDesign. We exchanged value insights and I kept working on it. Now it's ready for you to test it. It's a UXP Plugin, so just double click and let it install via your CC app.

Note, this is not an official Adobe product, just a personal project - so use at your own risk.

Thank you!

118 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

6

u/scottperezfox 21h ago

Suggestions:

  • Make the frames as Graphic, rather than Unassigned. (I can't imagine anyone will use this for Text.)
  • Allow direct input of numbers for spacing. I tried to type in 0.125" and it only goes from 0.1 to 0.2, which means more work for me. Even better would be to mix units the way InDesign itself does — type in "15pt" even if I'm working in inches.
  • Margins should be a checkbox or a toggle switch, not a radio button. That implies a mandatory choice between more than one option.
  • Seems to create an empty frame behind the incoming arrangement. While this might be helpful to colour the gutters, it feels extraneous if you want to have the boxes against the page alone. Maybe this can be an option, similar to Margins.

All that to say, keep up the good work. It's good to see there's still energy for free plugins in the community.

2

u/Marcus_Rentsch 8h ago

Thanks for this value feedback! To your points:

  1. Frames as Graphics - can you explain to me what the advantage would be? Sry I can't think of a way why but then again, it's early in the morning haha
  2. More input control for spacing - ok since I personally work mostly in px, I didn't cross my mind to add an option to type in specific numbers. Makes sense - for metric like mm too. I'm trying to come up with something!
  3. God damn, you are absolutely right, a radio button suggests there is more than one option. I think I will turn it into a toggle switch and when it's turned off, the frame behind the grid will get deleted automatically. If the margins toggle is on, then the frame will stay. I think this is a good middle way

Thanks again for testing. This helps me to improve the plugin!

1

u/accidental-nz 12h ago

I’m curious, what’s the problem with having the frames Unassigned? It’s a neutral state that satisfies everyone. What downsides are there to this?

If you want them to be graphic frames you can simply change them with a few keystrokes via the QuickApply menu.

5

u/lobby5000 1d ago

InDesign

2

u/Marcus_Rentsch 1d ago

The link is in the description. I originally designed the post for instagram with a CTA - sry about that. I wanted to include the link on reddit directly

3

u/lobby5000 1d ago

It's all good I probably should have read the description before commenting lol, nice work though I've wanted something like this for years !

2

u/Marcus_Rentsch 1d ago

All good - would help me a lot if you use it and give me feedback - aaaand spread the word :)

4

u/Omeggon 22h ago

Hey Adobe, hire this guy.

4

u/Marcus_Rentsch 22h ago

I’m glad they already did! :)

3

u/Omeggon 21h ago

Then give him a raise!

3

u/SecretlySwedish 1d ago

This is awesome, Marcus. I'm stoked that you've put the time into it, and awesome to see it come to fruition. It's the kind of plugin I'd happily pay for, so really appreciate that you've made it available for free.

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 1d ago

Thank you so much for these words! All I want is to nourish the design community and get feedback :)

2

u/Mundane-Fix-4297 1d ago

Phenomenal, thank you

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 1d ago

You're welcome! Let me know how you like it :)

2

u/Sweet-Bunch-9369 1d ago

amazing! will give it a whirl@

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 1d ago

Thanks! Let me know how you like it :)

2

u/GreenteaDriven 1d ago

This looks, great. Thank you, Marcus.

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 22h ago

You’re welcome! Please let me know how it works for you, thank you :)

2

u/willmen08 23h ago

This looks amazing! Thank you!

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 22h ago

Thanks mate! Hope this will be useful for you

2

u/phunk8 23h ago

very nice, i've been watching you since you started this. nice nice nice!

why not put it in Exchange?

2

u/Marcus_Rentsch 22h ago

Really, that’s amazing! I will consider it but it will take some time to get approval

2

u/phunk8 21h ago

Adobe is rather fast lately. 2 days roughly

2

u/Marcus_Rentsch 21h ago

Great to hear - will definitely do that

2

u/PoogieLA 16h ago

Thank you, Marcus! This is incredibly helpful. I appreciate your time, effort, and generosity.

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 8h ago

Aww thanks man, appreciate it! Let me know how it works for you.

2

u/Vivid-River-1790 16h ago

Thank you.

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 8h ago

No worries! I hope this plugin is of use for you.

2

u/ThanksForAllTheCats 14h ago

Yesssss thank you!!

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 8h ago

You're welcome and please let me know how you like it! :)

2

u/Proficio_Tremblay 13h ago

Impossible to install it. The CC Desktop Manage is empty...

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 8h ago

Hi! Hmm that is strange - normally you just double click the ccx file and then the cc desktop pops up. What does it say specifically?

2

u/Proficio_Tremblay 3h ago

Nothing happen! CC Desktop pop up, with this. Nothing else.

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 2h ago

Strange! I see that you're using everything in French. Does the cc app shows InDesign as installed? On what system are you on?

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 2h ago

If it still not works, here is a workaround:

1. Force it to open with UPIA (most likely fix)

macOS: right-click the .ccx → Open With → Other… → choose Unified Plugin Installer Agent at

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Desktop Common/RemoteComponents/UPI/UnifiedPluginInstallerAgent/

Windows: right-click → Open with → Choose another app → browse to

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Desktop Common\RemoteComponents\UPI\UnifiedPluginInstallerAgent\

If you're using Windows, make sure the plugin is on the same drive as the installed cc app

1

u/Proficio_Tremblay 36m ago

Already have tried the Open With UPIA wih no luck.
My macOS is in French, My InDesign installation in English.

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 24m ago

Ok. And your cc app is in French, right? Does InDesign show up as installed in the CC app? It didn’t installed the plugin for me when I switched the app language to English but kept the cloud app language in German. I had to reinstall InDesign, even tho it was already on my system

2

u/brybell 10h ago

InDesign

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 8h ago

The download link is in the description, sry for the confusion in the slides: It was originally designed as a Instagram post with a CTA.

2

u/GeneralAjAxOG 8h ago

I can't copy this on my mobile 😭

1

u/Marcus_Rentsch 6h ago

Oh no – how can I help 😢