INDD files versus INDDC files versus INDDL files

I’m having a similar problem. I can no longer open my INDDL file in InDesign. My collaborator is still editing text in the browser, but i can’t open the INDDL file in InDesign. HUGE problem and so I may have to abandon this entire workflow and revert back to copying text from a word document myself. I hope Adobe is working out all this bugs.

To the average user like me, the expressions “Invite to Edit” and “Share for Text Editing” mean the same thing. When you say that “Invite to Edit” is for “general collaboration”, the very first thing I imagine is text editing.

So, what we have developing is now three variants of the InDesign filetype. The second one is for Inviting to Edit, but that means file sharing while not meaning multi-party editing. The third one is meant for sharing, too, but only for text editing. It is, sort of, multi-party (2 users). Look out, reader: this is very beta and it simply does not yet work reliably enough to recommend using.

The trouble with INDDC and INDDL, the second and third variants, is related to version control and allowing it to become a real, usable, regular indd file. The second one doesn’t Package for handoff to prepress, and the third one doesn’t really work at all. Both of these make a complicated version control problem of “which one is my latest version?” And where did I put it? Creative Cloud file storage, now gone, was a much better file storage system concept. Imagine combining that with an internal version control. And in a condition that was stable.

We have a long way to go, yet, to harmonize these real-world needs.

Hi, 

I understand the difference between INDDC / INDDL files BUT! Few months ago I tried this and another person was able to edit text and then I was able to continue.

However, last 2 times I've tried again, I can share document + save it as INDDL. Other person without indesign can open it and modify text BUT I cannot open it anymore. This happened two times. 

From Creative cloud it kinda trying to open it… but only thing I see is this rolling icon but nothing happens + if I wish to do something I must use forced shutdown command and close everything. 

Hi ​@Mike Witherell,

Thanks for raising this. I checked in with the product team to get some clarity. In Adobe InDesign, the two file types serve different purposes even though both are tied to cloud workflows. .INDDC files are used for standard cloud documents, including features like Invite to Edit and general cloud-based collaboration and storage. On the other hand, .INDDL files are specifically created as part of the Share for Text Editing workflow, which is tied to InCopy on the web (beta). So, while they may seem similar, they are not interchangeable and are designed for different collaboration scenarios.

One important thing to note is that currently there is no version control mechanism available for .INDDL files. If version control is something you’re looking for in this workflow, I’d be happy to share that feedback with the team. Additionally, I’d encourage you to submit this as a feature request as well. I understand how important this functionality can be and raising it will help the team prioritize it. You can do this via the InDesign UserVoice page.

Hope this helps clarify things!

Abhishek

No reply from Adobe as yet, here's hoping!

I’m looking for clarity myself: