InDesign Beyond Layout: Data, Barcodes, and Automation

InDesign is much more than a page-layout application. In production environments, it often becomes the final stage of a data-driven publishing workflow, where product information, pricing, images, barcodes, and versioned content all need to come together accurately and efficiently.

In this workflow-focused session, Lawrence Horwitz of Teacup Software will demonstrate practical native InDesign techniques for building more reliable production documents, including styles, Data Merge, GREP formatting, linked assets, tables, conditional text, preflight, and scripting concepts. Along the way, he will show where native workflows work well, where they begin to strain, and how Teacup Software tools can extend those same workflows for more complex data, barcode, and automation needs.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Build InDesign templates that are more automation-friendly
• Use native Data Merge, styles, GREP, tables, and preflight more effectively
• Understand the practical limits of native data-driven workflows
• Manage barcode and structured-content workflows more reliably
• Recognize when plug-ins can streamline repetitive or error-prone production tasks

About the Presenter

Lawrence Horwitz

Lawrence Horwitz is the founder of Teacup Software, a company that develops productivity and workflow tools for Adobe InDesign. He has spent years helping designers, publishers, and production teams automate repetitive work, manage complex data-driven documents, and build more reliable publishing workflows. His work focuses on making advanced InDesign production techniques more accessible, practical, and efficient.