By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator
Golden Triangle PC Club
July 2007

Join the growing ranks of creative professionals discovering new levels of creative freedom and productivity using Adobe InDesign CS3 software. Tightly integrated with the Adobe applications you use most, InDesign CS3 delivers faster production workflows and a more fluid creative environment for designing professional layouts with sophisticated graphics and typography.

What is InDesign CS3?

Explore more creative possibilities and experience new levels of productivity using Adobe InDesign CS3 page layout software. Built for demanding workflows, InDesign integrates smoothly with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InCopy, and Dreamweaver software, and it offers powerful features for creating richer, more complex documents; and reliably outputs pages to multiple media. With its sophisticated design features and enhanced productivity tools for streamlining repetitive tasks, InDesign CS3 lets you work faster and better than ever.

In the world of desktop publishing, today's software spans the continuum, from those brand new to designing pages with an interest in inexpensive programs, to professionals highly trained to use complex features in very expensive applications. Microsoft's Publisher represents desktop software that novices will appreciate, while Adobe's InDesign CS3 is targeted toward the professional market. At the high end of the design and layout software market, InDesign mainly competes with QuarkXPress, and both are not for novices. However, InDesign CS3 will most definitely appeal to these highly skilled and trained professionals, providing tools and features that go beyond the more limited tools found in entry level applications.

InDesign CS3 combines extraordinary production power and creative freedom to take page design to a new level. With InDesign CS3, you can produce pages quickly and output them reliably. Its intuitive creative toolset helps you refine design ideas rapidly. The ability to import native Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files saves significant production time. Plus, InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator software share a standard Adobe interface, so you can get up to speed quickly and work more efficiently with tightly integrated tools.

New Features in CS3 Edition

Creative effects and controls
Design compelling page layouts that include transparency, creative effects, and gradient feathers. Since effects are live and nondestructive, you can experiment with ease. Apply effects independently to an object's stroke, fill, or content.

Productivity enhancements
Perform a variety of tasks more efficiently using new and enhanced productivity features, including Multi-file Place, Quick Apply, faster frame fitting, and the visual Pages panel.

Table and cell styles
Table and cell styles Quickly and consistently format tables using table and cell styles. Even use regional cell styles to apply unique formatting to specific areas of a table, such as its header, footer, and body.

Robust long-document support
Maintain consistency and streamline the production of long documents using advanced bullets and numbering, running headers and footers, and synchronized master pages.

Advanced Find/Change on text and objects
Apply changes to text and object attributes across one or more documents. Include master pages, footnotes, and locked or hidden layers in a search; save search settings for easy reuse; and perform grep pattern–based searches on strings of text.

XHTML export
 Enable multiformat publishing, including print-to-web workflows, by exporting InDesign content as XHTML. Edit the exported content in Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 software (available separately) and automatically format it using cascading style sheets.

Intuitive and customizable workspace
Work in an environment that makes it easier to be productive. Keep just the tools, panels, and menus you use most at your fingertips, and dock self-adjusting panels out of the way when not in use to free up your workspace.

Placed InDesign files
Reuse layouts by placing INDD files in another InDesign document. Links remain intact, and InDesign automatically notifies you of updates to the linked INDD file.

Rule-based layouts from XML
Use scripts that apply rules to automatically build page layouts and format text and graphics from XML content.

Automation through scripting
Automate tasks by writing scripts in JavaScript, AppleScript, and VBScript. Attach a JavaScript to a menu command so it runs automatically when the command is chosen, and protect scripts for commercial use through enhanced JavaScript.

Reasons To Upgrade

Creative effects and controls
Productivity enhancements
Table and cell styles
Robust long-document support
Advanced Find/Change command
XHTML export
Intuitive and customizable workspace
Placed InDesign files
Rule-based layouts from XML
Automation through scripting

InDesign CS3 Features

Explore new creative possibilities
Discover a world of design possibilities and freely experiment with creative effects and finer transparency controls.

Creative effects and controls
Apply new visual effects, such as inner glow or bevel and emboss, using an interface that's consistent with Adobe Photoshop software to specify offset, angle, and other options. Apply effects independently to an object's stroke, fill, and content.

Finer transparency controls
Adjust transparency and blending modes globally on entire objects, or independently on strokes, fills, and content.

Gradient feathers
Create beautiful effects by applying masks that contain gradients so the objects fade into the background. Customize options such as gradient angles and fade rates, all within Adobe InDesign CS3.

Sophisticated graphics and layout
Adobe Photoshop and Adobe PDF layer support Control the visibility of layers in imported Photoshop and PDF files. Experiment with design options or use multiple variations of a file in your layout, all while linking to a single file.

Drawing tools
Use the convenient Pen, Pencil, Shape, Erase, Smooth, and Scissors tools to quickly create and edit simple graphics in your InDesign layouts.

Authoring of rich, interactive Adobe PDF files
Produce rich Adobe PDF documents by embedding SWF, FLV, movie, and sound files; interactive buttons to play movies or turn pages; hyperlinks; bookmarks; and more.

Multiple Undo/Redo
Experiment freely and retrace multiple steps using the Undo and Redo commands.

Simplified object transformations
Scale text and object frames with visual or numeric controls. Automatically repeat transformations, such as scale, skew, and rotate, to quickly edit multiple objects.

Pathfinder commands
Quickly turn simple shapes into complex forms or convert one shape to another, such as turning a rectangle into an ellipse.

Stroke style editor
Create and save striped, dotted, and dashed stroke styles and apply them to lines and paragraph rules, as well as to underlines and strikethroughs.

Professional typographical controls
Automatically optimize line breaks across a paragraph using the Paragraph Composer.

OpenType font support
Unlock the full potential of OpenType fonts with support for multilingual and alternate glyphs including old-style numbers, fractions, ligatures, and swashes.

Convenient Glyphs panel
Manage glyphs using the Glyphs panel to view recently used glyphs, filter and sort glyphs, and save glyph sets for sharing and reuse.

Optical kerning and margin alignment
Produce elegantly kerned type automatically. Use optical kerning for text that mixes typefaces and font sizes, and use optical margin alignment to hang punctuation, creating a visually pleasing edge for multiple lines of text.

Text on a path
Create graphical elements by aligning text to any path with full typographical control. Apply special effects to create eye-catching designs.

Color controls CMYK, RGB, and LAB support Create spot or process colors in CMYK, RGB, and LAB color modes. Add colors from more than 20 swatch libraries, including the latest PANTONE, Toyo, and TRUMATCH libraries.

Mixed ink support
Combine two or more spot or process inks to quickly define and generate a palette of colors that broadens your color choices for a design job without breaking your print budget.

Consistent color
Synchronize ICC-based color management settings across Adobe applications to achieve consistent color onscreen. Exchange swatches across the components of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design software.

Color Picker
Use the Color Picker, similar to the one in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator software, to visually select RGB, CMYK, or LAB colors.

Gradients
Create and apply gradients with one or more colors to the stroke and fill of graphics and text. The objects remain fully editable.

Be more productive
Achieve greater efficiency through productivity features that make it easier to lay out, export, and print your pages.

Productive layout features
Multi-file Place Multi-file Place Speed up document creation by importing multiple files at once from within InDesign or by dragging them in from the desktop or Adobe Bridge. Preview selected files as you place them in any order or location in your layout.

Visual Pages panel
See thumbnails of your pages in the Pages panel, making it easier to navigate and arrange pages in a document. Move pages more easily within and between documents.

Advanced Find/Change on text and objects
Apply changes to text and object attributes across one or more documents. Include master pages, footnotes, and locked or hidden layers in a search; save search settings for easy reuse; and perform grep pattern–based searches on strings of text.

Expanded Quick Apply
Gain instant access to often-used features while keeping your fingers on the keyboard. Simply type the first few letters of the name to quickly apply styles, menu commands, and scripts.

Placed InDesign files
Reuse layouts by placing INDD files in another InDesign document. Links remain intact, and InDesign automatically notifies you of updates to the linked INDD file.

Faster frame fitting
Edit settings on a placeholder frame to automatically size incoming content to the frame. Double-click a frame handle at any time to instantly fit the frame to its content.

Versatile master pages
Set up multiple master pages, and base one master page on another to help keep designs consistent when updating documents. Easily distinguish master page objects from document page objects and override master page items on a document page.

Enhanced object alignment
Align or distribute objects relative to each other, or to a page, spread, or page margins, for instant, precise positioning.

Support for the latest Macintosh and Windows systems
Get the most out of InDesign on Intel based Macintosh and Microsoft Windows Vista systems. Work smoothly on legacy PowerPC based Macintosh and Windows XP systems as well.

Layers
Organize text and graphics on document-wide layers and then hide, lock, or reorder the layers to efficiently manage your page elements.

Custom page sizes
Specify page sizes from 1 pica square (1/6 inch, 0.421 centimeters) to 1,296 picas square (18 feet, 5.48 meters) for large-format output.

WYSIWYG font menus
See samples of font faces in any InDesign font menu, so you can always choose the exact font you need.

Smart text handling
Comprehensive font replacement Change the fonts in style definitions when replacing missing or unused fonts to make sure all instances are updated.

Microsoft Word and RTF support
Automatically style Microsoft Word files on import by mapping Word styles to InDesign styles. Resolve style name conflicts at import, preserve local overrides while removing other formatting, and save Word import settings as presets for future use.

Drag-and-drop text
Drag and drop text within and between text frames, tables, views, InDesign documents, and even other applications, such as Microsoft Word. You can choose to strip formatting from text as you drop or paste it; the pasted text inherits the formatting applied to its new destination.

Enhanced text wrap
Easily flow text around objects using custom specifications, including a clipping path or an alpha channel. Wrap to specific sides of an object or around a master page object.

Story Editor
Edit and style text in the Story Editor, the integrated word processor that makes it easier to read text, manage text that spans multiple frames, and identify overset text.

Built-in support for multilingual text
Check spelling and correctly hyphenate documents in 28 languages and related dialects using the included Proximity dictionaries.

Flexible dictionary management
Link to one or more user dictionaries at once on your hard drive or network. Import and export word lists for convenient dictionary updating.

Dynamic spell-check and automatic correction
Activate dynamic spell-checking to flag misspellings, and add new words to user dictionaries with one click. Opt to automatically correct commonly misspelled words as you type using your specified word list.

Full-featured tables
Full-featured tables Advanced table options Format tables with options such as color fills in alternating rows and automatic running headers and footers. Spread long tables across columns, frames, or pages, and use headers and footers to repeat information at the top or bottom of divided portions of the table.

Table and cell styles
Quickly and consistently format tables using table and cell styles. Even use regional cell styles to apply unique formatting to specific areas of a table, such as its header, footer, and body.

Styled table import
Import tab-delimited text files or styled Word and Excel tables.

Comprehensive styles
Rich paragraph and character styles Define character and paragraph settings using a rich set of text-formatting attributes. Easily set up a default style, change the base style, clear overrides, and apply multiple styles to text.

Object styles
Apply and globally update object-level formatting efficiently using object styles. Save a wide range of graphic, text, and frame-level attributes as object styles to create more consistent designs and speed up production tasks.

Style group management
Keep related styles together and make them easier to find by organizing them into groups in the styles panels. Selectively load styles from other InDesign documents, and control how InDesign handles duplicate style names.

Nested styles
Perform complex text formatting efficiently with nested styles, which dynamically apply character formatting based on content. Formatting is automatically updated when the text is edited. Create loops within nested styles to apply repeated style sequences with one paragraph style.

Reliable prepress and printing
Professional printing interface Reliably print files to Adobe PostScript Level 2, PostScript 3, and non PostScript language devices using a comprehensive set of printing options designed to meet the needs of print professionals worldwide.

Output previews
Prevent mistakes from occurring on press by checking plates, overprinting, and ink limits, and help ensure the best results when printing transparency effects using output preview panels. Use Overprint Preview mode to proof spot-color effects and overprint settings.

Preflight and packaging
Avoid delays and costly production errors by preflighting documents to check for problems. Then package them for print or web handoff or export them as Adobe PDF files.

JDF integration between InDesign and Adobe Acrobat Pass JDF job information to Adobe Acrobat software with Adobe PDF files that you export from InDesign. Print service providers can then streamline prepress and print processes using JDF automation.

Custom print presets
Define and share custom print presets among service providers and customers for a fast, reliable way to print jobs that require consistent settings for many print options.

Adobe PDF file export
Use built-in Adobe PDF export presets — or create custom presets — to consistently and reliably create Adobe PDF files for electronic review or final output. Create ISO-standard PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 files for high-resolution CMYK printing, as well as PDF/X-4 (draft) files.

Print Booklet
Use the Print Booklet command to automatically impose pages prior to printing.

Intuitive and customizable workspace
Enhanced Control panel See more options in the context-sensitive Control panel, including transparency, text wrap, and rotation. Customize the panel to show the options you use most frequently.

Customizable menus
Colorize menu commands that you use frequently and hide commands that you rarely use to minimize clutter and work more quickly. Save custom menus as part of a custom workspace.

Customizable workspaces
Arrange and save a variety of keyboard shortcuts, menu commands, and panel layouts to your liking so you can quickly access the best setup for your projects or tasks.

Mouse scroll wheel support
Quickly navigate through panel contextual menus and execute menu commands using the mouse scroll wheel.

Intuitive tool behavior
Change tools quickly and intuitively. Double-click to switch between the Selection and Direct Selection tools; double-click to select an object within a group; and select text without converting empty frames.

Self-adjusting panels
Free up your workspace with self-adjusting panels that dock conveniently out of your way as icons when not in use and pop out when you need them.

Powerful viewing options
See how changes in one part of a document affect another by setting up multiple views; instantly switch from a 5% view to a 4,000% view using a variety of zoom controls.

Dynamic text and graphics preview
View text size, wrap, and line ending changes interactively with dynamic text preview. Modify crops using a ghosted preview of the entire image as you adjust what's visible in a frame.

High-resolution graphics preview
Display graphics in high resolution for precision work or to preview the graphics within your layout. Easily switch back to lower resolution view for faster onscreen display.

Multiple preview modes
Instantly hide all nonprinting items and show a trimmed version of a page as it will print. Also preview bleeds and slugs, and continue editing in any of the preview modes.

Customizable keyboard shortcuts
Customize keyboard shortcuts to suit your style, or select the predefined sets of QuarkXPress and Adobe PageMaker keyboard shortcuts included with InDesign.

Extensive integration
Native Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe PDF format support Speed up design by placing native PSD, AI, and even multipage Adobe PDF files in your layouts. Preserve Photoshop layers, and copy Illustrator artwork into InDesign as editable objects.

XHTML export
Enable multiformat publishing, including print-to-web workflows, by exporting InDesign content as XHTML. Edit the exported content in Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 software (available separately) and automatically format it using cascading style sheets.

XHTML export for Adobe Digital Editions Export InDesign content as XHTML for use with Adobe Digital Editions, a rich Internet application, to manage and view exported content in eBooks and digital magazines.

Backward compatibility
Open QuarkXPress 3.3–4.1x files, PageMaker 6.0–7.x files, and files created in earlier versions of InDesign in InDesign Interchange (INX) format in InDesign CS3 to keep working with legacy files.

Multiple export formats
Deliver rich content using support for multiple export formats, including Adobe PDF, XML, XHTML, EPS, JPEG, RTF, Text Only, Tagged Text, SVG, PostScript, and INX format.

Multiple import formats
Import content from a wide variety of sources through support for numerous text and graphics formats, including PSD, AI, Adobe PDF, XML, BMP, DCS, EPS, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, RTF, TXT, and Word and Excel files.

Shared Adobe technologies
Rely on consistent color management settings, font handling, onscreen graphics display, and Adobe PDF support across Adobe applications.

Adobe-standard user interface
Get up to speed quickly with familiar commands, tools, panels, and keyboard shortcuts.

Adobe InCopy CS3 LiveEdit workflow
Set up parallel workflows between designers and editors with Adobe InCopy CS3 software, the professional writing and editing program that integrates with InDesign CS3. Simplify workflows using e-mail-based assignments for external contributors.

Adobe InDesign CS3 Server support Process documents faster by moving time-consuming work off the desktop. Streamline workflows and automate processes using InDesign Server as a back-end component of a partner publishing system.

Easier asset management Integration with Adobe Bridge CS3
Browse, organize, label, and preview graphics and InDesign documents, templates, and snippets in Adobe Bridge. Drag and drop assets from Bridge into layouts easily and efficiently. Search for files using metadata, such as keywords, fonts, and colors.

XMP metadata support
Easily embed XMP metadata, such as copyright, author, description, and keywords, in files. InDesign automatically embeds metadata about the fonts and swatches used in files. View, edit, and search on metadata using Adobe Bridge.

Enhanced Links panel
Manage linked files efficiently by seeing all linked files and sorting them in various ways, including by file type. View status icons and update or replace linked files, including relinking multiple instances of the same file at once. Edit import options as you relink.

Info panel
View valuable text and image data in the Info panel, including word and line counts, the original and current resolution of resized images, and the metadata embedded in placed elements, such as Photoshop files.

InDesign snippets
Easily export InDesign objects as snippets to share with others or reuse in other documents. When you place or drag a snippet into a layout, InDesign re-creates the original objects, their formatting, and their relative positioning on the page.

Library panel
Drag and drop frequently used InDesign objects into a library for convenient retrieval. Add all items on a page as separate library objects in one step, update an edited library object directly, and maintain XML structure in library objects.

Automate routine tasks
Save time and money by automating workflows using robust long-document features and flexible XML support and by attaching scripts to menu commands.

Robust long-document support
Advanced bullets and numbering Make quick work of lists by using styles to apply bullets or sequence numbers to text. Import bullets or numbering from Word documents, and create figure or hierarchical numbering.

Text variables
Create text that links to a text variable; when you modify the variable, all instances of the text are updated throughout the document. Use text variables to create running headers and footers that are based on page content and are updated dynamically as text reflows.

Synchronized master pages
Maintain consistent page designs and styles across multiple documents or a book file by synchronizing shared master pages.

Footnote support
Use dynamic footnotes with your preferred numbering and layout options. Footnotes travel appropriately across columns and pages as text flow changes. Import footnotes from Word and RTF text files.

Multilingual book file publishing
Prepare long documents for multilingual publishing, including generating tables of contents and indexes in multiple languages.

Anchored objects
Easily anchor callouts, pull-quotes, margin notes, and graphics to text. Precisely control the positioning of anchored objects, apply text wrap settings, and more.

Data Merge
Create personalized publications from database information merged into your InDesign layouts.

Flexible XML workflows
Rule-based layouts from XML Use scripts that apply rules to automatically build page layouts and format text and graphics from XML content.

XSLT support
Apply XSLT style sheets when importing or exporting XML content to help ensure that the content matches the structure of an InDesign page template, a database, or a website.

XML import
Automatically flow imported XML into tagged templates, or specify options to control the results. Create links on import to easily update the XML content when the source content is updated. Help ensure accuracy by validating XML content against a specified DTD.

XML tagging and editing
Edit XML content in InDesign using the Structure view and Tags panel. Easily apply XML tags to InDesign tables, and then import XML content into the tables or export it from them.

XML mapping
Automatically format XML by mapping XML tags to text styles in your document, or more easily create structured content by mapping styles to XML tags and then exporting the XML content.

CALS table import
Import CALS tables and convert them to InDesign tables, preserving structured data from XML workflows.

Scripting and extensibility

Importance of InDesign CS3

The importance of Adobe's InDesign CS3 is significant, especially in the desktop publishing business. The following comments come from Mr. Michael Murphy, creator and host of "The InDesigner" video podcast at InDesignSecrets.com. A graphic designer with nearly 20 years experience, Mr. Murphy has crossed the line between design, production, and software training throughout his career. Currently the creative director for a monthly trade magazine, Michael is an Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign CS3, a contributing writer for "InDesign Magazine," and has presented before the New York and Milwaukee InDesign User Groups.

Since Adobe released InDesign CS3 -- the fourth version of the company's challenge to QuarkXpress -- in 2005, a lot has happened. InDesign has increased its market share in the design and publishing world. Adobe acquired Macromedia and its product line (including Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks), and InDesign's chief rival scored a victory in the battle between the two by releasing QuarkXpress 7 as the first major page-layout software to run natively on the Intel-based Macintosh platform.

Adobe at last counters QuarkXpress with an application that is now universal (compatible with both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs). More than that, it has done the same for all of the products in its Creative Suite, which now comes in six different editions; three of which -- Design Standard ($1,199), Design Premium ($1,799), and the mouth-wateringly complete Master Collection ($2,499) -- include InDesign CS3. It's no secret that the "Suite" strategy has gone a long way toward the successful adoption of InDesign. Most QuarkXPress users depended on at least two other products in previous versions of the Creative Suite, and purchasing the complete package was both a bargain and an opportunity to try out the new kid on the page-layout block. However, it was InDesign's feature set, ease of use, and integration with the other products in the Suite that made converts out of the curious.

Adobe's concentration for this new version is squarely on efficiency, automation, and customization. This reflects the customer focus for Adobe. Adobe has clearly been paying attention to the growing number of InDesign users, as evidenced by the addition of features like Table and Cell Styles (the number-one feature request, according to Adobe) and Text Variables, as well as significant improvements to InDesign's existing Find/Change and Numbered List functionality.

InDesign CS3 serves up the steak in the form of powerful new automation and text-processing features that whittle down repetitive tasks and provide an impressive level of flexibility. The best example of this is Text Variables. Date stamps ("created," "modified," "output," etc.), document length (e.g., page 1 of x), and running heads can be set up to gather information or text based on specific criteria, then add that text or data to a page with any desired formatting applied to it. As conditions change (modification date, number of pages in the document, re-flowed content, and so on), the variables in a file update accordingly. For the updates to appear on the page, you'll have to refresh the document view by toggling between normal and preview mode, or by re-sizing the document in the window.

InDesign was a mature product in its fourth version (CS3) and is now even more robust and complex. That's great for veteran users who are comfortable with the application's conventions and need only contend with the latest changes. For newcomers, however, approaching this feature-rich new version for the first time could prove intimidating. Even the many users who will leapfrog CS3 altogether and upgrade from InDesign CS may find two versions worth of major changes a lot to absorb. The next UI changes Adobe implements for InDesign should go deeper than panels and docks and down into some of the more cryptic dialog boxes to make the controls as simple to use as the features are powerful.

As InDesign matures, its new versions will be less revolutionary and more evolutionary, but this upgrade still successfully walks the line between the two. It delivers powerful new time-saving features, a streamlined and customizable interface, large-scale improvements to existing functionality, and a great many small, useful touches.

CS3 users will find that such features as Table and Cell Styles, attribute-specific transparency settings, and object searching are worth the price on their own. If you've skipped CS3 altogether and are still using CS, your perseverance has paid off, but you're also out of excuses. It's time to upgrade.

Price

$699 retail price
$169 upgrade price

System Configuration Requirements

Windows

Intel P-IV, Centrino, Xeon, or Core Duo (or compatible) processor
Windows XP (SP 2)
Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise
(certified support for 32-bit editions)
256MB RAM (512MB recommended) for Windows XP
512MB (1GB recommended) for Windows Vista
1.8GB free hard disk space (additional free space required during installation)
1,024x768 monitor with 16-bit video card
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
Internet or phone connection required for product activation

Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos and other services

Macintosh

PowerPC G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor
Mac OS X v.10.4.8
256MB RAM (512MB recommended) for PowerPC based system
512MB RAM (1GB recommended) for Intel based system
1.6GB free hard disk space (additional free space required during installation)
1,024x768 monitor with 16-bit video card
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
Internet or phone connection required for product activation

Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos and other services

Online services, including, but not limited to, Adobe Stock Photos and Acrobat Connect, may not be available in all countries, languages, and currencies. Availability of services is subject to change. Use of online services is governed by terms and conditions of a separate agreement and may be subject to additional fees.

Contact

Adobe Systems, Incorporated
Corporate Headquarters
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, California 95110-2704
408-536-6000
800-833-6687
FAX 408-537-6000

Order Online at Adobe Corporation
www.adobe.com/store/main.jhtml

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