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defaulttde9sxmezgc7
Participant
August 3, 2021
Answered

Beginner help!

  • August 3, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 647 views

Can someone give me a simple step by step to setting up an Indesign file that can be edited in Incopy? I've read so many variations online and am confused about whether to use assignments or not, how to check in/check out files etc. I have tried setting up a file using assignments but the recipient can't open the icma file. I've also tried exporting an Indesign file for Incopy but the recipient can't open the Indesign file in Incopy. I'm just really confused about the best way to get Incopy working and I have struggled to find a good step by step guide. TIA.

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Correct answer BobLevine
You are not going to learn this here. You need to ask specific questions after you get some kind of knowledge under your belt.

Start at LinkedIn Learning and search for Anne-Marie Concepcion's excellent InCopy courses.

Then come on back and we can try to help you nail it all down.

3 replies

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 12, 2021

I agree. I usually skip the assignments myself. It depends on the editorial group and how they work, but I always make sure I show all 3 approaches and thereafter I recommend the simpler ones. 

What gets my attention about this question is the writer says InCopy cannot open either an InDesign file nor content files. Something or someone ain't quite right!

Mike Witherell
BobLevine
Community Expert
BobLevineCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 12, 2021

The OP said the recipient couldn't open it. That could be for any kind of reason including using an old version of InCopy. Unfortunately the OP has disappeared and unless they pop back in here to fill us in, we'll never know.

D
defaulttde9sxmezgc7Author
Participant
September 12, 2021

Thanks everyone. We are still having some issues but some of the recipients are now able to open the Indesign files in Incopy which is some progress at least! I'm not sure why some can and some can't but I suspect I am not going to find the answers here. We are also dealing with big corporate digital infrastructure which may be part of the problem. Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 6, 2021

A few basic facts:

 

InCopy is for editing text. Text is saved externally to the InDesign document in a folder and it is named .icml: InCopy Markup Language (IIRC).

InCopy can open the .icml text story and check it out for editing, and then you make editing changes, and check it back in.

Once checked back in, the InDesign document Links panel and Assignments panel signals that its link needs to be refreshed, and this allows the changed text to be refreshed into the InDesign document.

Further:

If you want the text opened into InCopy to look physically like the InDesign layout, then you not only export the .icml text to an external folder, but you create an exported .ICMA assignments file into a folder. It isn't really an "assignment" but rather it is an xml version of the physical dimensions of the InDesign page that the content text came from in InDesign. In this second scenario, if the InCopy user opens the so-called "assignment" file, it is like opening up a light version of the InDesign page, and the .icml text files inhabit those imitation pages. The text can be checked out, edited, checked back in, and this signals InDesign's Assignments and Links panels that the content has changed and the link should be refreshed to bring the edited text back into the InDesign page.

 

If your InCopy user cannot open either the content .icml nor the assignment .icma (really the page's physical geometry) then I wonder if something is wrong with your InCopy user or that user has some wrong old version of InCopy? I assume they can navigate into the shared folder you set up, right?

Mike Witherell
BobLevine
Community Expert
BobLevineCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 6, 2021
I'm going to respectfully disagree with Mike here.

In most cases there is zero need for an assignment and the InCopy user can simply open the same INDD file in InCopy. Assignments can be beneficial with large workgroups for cases with one designer and maybe a couple of writer/editors, there's just no need.
    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    August 3, 2021
    You are not going to learn this here. You need to ask specific questions after you get some kind of knowledge under your belt.

    Start at LinkedIn Learning and search for Anne-Marie Concepcion's excellent InCopy courses.

    Then come on back and we can try to help you nail it all down.
    D
    defaulttde9sxmezgc7Author
    Participant
    August 3, 2021

    Thanks. Perhaps I should have framed my question better. I have been using Indesign for 17 years but Incopy has stumped me. I'll look up the tutorials, thanks for the info.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 4, 2021
    You shouldn't find it too challenging once you watch those courses.
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