Feb 21 2009
“I Upgraded to InDesign CS4: Where’s all my stuff?!”
I received a note today from someone who’d upgraded to CS4, and suddenly half the controls in his Control Panel strip were missing. I thought — preferences? No, that wasn’t it. Wrong tool selected? Nope. Then it hit me: InDesign CS4 launches by default with an oversimplified Workspace called “Essentials,” which hides half the contents of the Control panel. Doh! I slapped my forehead. That was the culprit. Once he switched to the Advanced Workspace, all was well. You should do the same thing, so you’re not missing out on all those teeny little controls.
Also, you may not have noticed, but if you go to the Control panel menu, at the very bottom, there’s an option: “Customize.” You can totally customize the contents of the Control panel, controlling which field are displayed, and thus utterly befuddle the poor guy who uses your computer on night shift. Don’t do this.
At least, not yet: April Fool’s Day is coming up, you know 
By the way, Photoshop CS4 also offers an “Essentials” workspace, but it’s not the dumbed-down one! In Photoshop, “Basic” is the oversimplified workspace, and “Essentials” is the usable, fully-stocked Workspace. Go figure.
Thanks! My company recently upgraded to CS4 and you ended my WTF moment today when the “Essentials” workspace opened as my default.