Today, Chris Sullivan went over Preferences to have set up for working in InDesign. Without opening up a file, but after launching InDesign, you can change the defaults for the rest of the time you are working with the software. Here’s what I recommend changing from the standard default. You can change these when you are working on specific documents that may require other settings, but this is a great place to start.

List of things to change:

 Set your workspace to [advanced] (located in the upper right corner)

(InDesign->Preferences->Type)

Check Enable in Layout View
Check Delete Empty Pages

(InDesign->Preferences->Composition)

Check everything in the highlight section

(InDesign->Preferences->Units & Increments)

The cursor key: .003″

Kerning/Tracking: 10/1000em

Rulers: [inches]

Keyboard increments: 1pt

(InDesign->Preferences->Spelling)

Check Enable Dynamic Setting (typos look very unprofessional)

(InDesign->Preferences->File Handling)

Snippet Import… Position at [Original Location]

And there you have it.