Sharing InDesign on Mac and PC

Nothing is seamless about moving files between platforms. With Adobe InDesign or most any other program. But with preparation, you can minimize any impact when moving files between platforms.

• Filename — Mac filenames can include characters that will absolutely scramble use, or be rejected, on the windows platform. Generally, the illegal characters will correspond to command/programming actions on the Windows platform. This counts not only for InDesign files themselves, but also for any graphics/content files that are linked to them. You can learn about which filename characters are verboten on the Windows platform through this link.
• File Packaging — Moving InDesign documents between platforms works most smoothly when your working with InDesign package folders. Package folders contain all the placed graphics the system can find, and all fonts (ideally, OpenType fonts, see below) used in the InDesign document. If the system you've moved your InDesign document to doesn't have those files stored on your system, the packaged links will recognize and correct any deficiencies.
• Fonts — Copyfit between Windows and Mac versions of Postscript and TrueType fonts will vary. Interestingly, in most cases I've found that the Windows platform does a better job at packing type than the Mac platform. The Postscript issue has been minimized as Adobe apps and both the Mac and Windows platforms are obsoleting use of Postscript fonts. TrueType fonts will still be an issue. To minimize conflicts, I strongly suggest using only OpenType format fonts. They pass cleanly between platforms, and the copyfit is virtually identical — I use the hedge word virtually because there is always an exception to the rule, but in this case it's exceedingly rare.
• Version Control — it's always easier, if you're using InDesign .indd/.indt files, to move files between platforms using the same version of InDesign. If you're using different versions of InDesign between your Mac and Windows platforms, be sure to include .idml interchange format files in your InDesign document package folder. While they're not absolutely flawless, .idml files let you pass a file format you can use to "reconstruct" your .indd/.indt document from if you have unforeseen issues with version control between differing incarnations of Adobe InDesign between platforms.

For what it's worth, I move InDesign files between platforms regularly. As long as I address the concerns I outlined above, I have very few issues moving between Mac and Windows systems with InDesign content.

Hope this helps,

Randy

I've done this via Dropbox and OneDrive on quite a few occasions with no problems. Make sure you have no illegal characters in file or folder names.

There is a difference between how a Mac stores file paths as compared to Windows, so you might see some need for relinking

I don't store my files on dropbox (but some of our other experts do and highly reccomend the practice) so I can't say file paths will transfer seamlessly, but I believe that they will, and other than that, yes, your files should open without issue on either platform.

As to your comment that InDesign doesn't work well on PC, I've been Using it for production on PC for more than 20 years (starting with version 2.0 for production), and never experienced the kind of trouble you describe, nor is it a common report on the forums other than when there is a sytem configuration issue. 

I would actually have to say that with more current versions there are actually more reports of problems such as you describe reported by Mac users than PC.

This forum is actually a fountain of trouble-shooting expertise if you want to use it. Give us details about the version of your OS, InDesign, the symptoms and any error messages you get, and if it is repeatable, happens only with old files, or only new ones, what you've tried to corect the problem, or anything else that might offer a clue.