Whether it is possible to track who made changes in InDesign

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
September 21, 2018
7 replies
616 views

good day

is it possible to track who made the changes?

if we have 5 computers with a licensed InDesign program, can we find in the file the digital trace of the program with the license key, which was corrected?

in our publishing house someone has corrupted the file and we can not find the culprit

Help

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A

Anonymous

I correctly understand, that on a file it is impossible to trace on what program with what license key changes have been made?

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

You would need some type of content management system (CMS) to keep track of who opened a file last. Most CMS's also keep auto-backups of prior versions too. Your company server should keep track of user log ins and may track what file(s) were accessed.

As far as corruption, are you referring to unwanted edits/changes or the file itself actually going corrupt? The former is a workflow/training issue; the latter could be a number of technical issues (server speed, bad install, fonts, bad graphic, etc.).

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Bill Silbert

Community Expert

Finding out "who done it?" seems to be not as important as getting a way forward with the file. If you are able to still open the file try exporting it as an IDML and then open that file with your current version of InDesign and if the file is now OK reserve it as an .indd file. This process can sometimes remove corruption from a file. Otherwise, hopefully there is an earlier backed up version that you can go back to. There are also services on the internet which will charge you to "fix" your file. I've never used one so I can't vouch for their authenticity or results.

A

Anonymous

The problem is not to restore the file

The problem is to find those who made the changes,

Can I somehow find out this other than standard tracking tools?

D

Dirk Becker

Legend

Apparently with "corrupted" you mean unwanted changes performed by a user, while the document is technically intact so you can still open it.

When you open the "About InDesign ..." dialog with all modifier keys pressed, you get an extended information dialog.

This dialog includes the document history including time stamps, OS version and application version. It does not include the actual name of the workstation or user, but maybe that information helps you further.