InDesign/InCopy workflow with text-editors abroad

[geshons]

Via E-Mail is very complicate and the files are too large. Dropbox causes mistakes (can't check in/out some text-frames any more …). And then it's complicate to deal with the amount of files: Where to save the assignments-file? Do I have to make a package or not? Do I have to make an assignment or no? Export directly or no? That's too complicate. Especially for my client (which is the text editor) which is using InCopy.

I just want to transfer the permission to change the text in specific text-frames (or all) to my client/text-editors and save/transfer again to me. This works all over the CC. And I get istant notification if a specific content has changed and if I want to load this in my InDesign-document. That's all.

Do I have to update to a team-licence to have this?

Or do I have to save the files into the folder "Creative Cloud Files" in my user account? If yes, which file?

Thanks!

[AnneMarie Concepcion · Accepted solution]

I've not found that Dropbox is a problem, it's definitely more stable than any other shared files solution I've worked with.

It sounds like you're asking if you can use the CC Files folder for the InDesign/InCopy workflow. In some ways you can. And no, you don't need to upgrade to Teams to do so.

In your CC Files folder, create a project folder and put the InDesign file and the exported InCopy stories (ICML files) inside it. I'd suggest you "hide" the ICML files inside a subfolder, named something like "stories" or "text" to help your editors find what they need. Then share that folder with your editor. (Right-click on the project folder in your CC Files folder on your hard drive and choose "Collaborate ..."). You'll need to know the email address they use to log on to their CC account, this is the email address you enter in the Collaborate dialog box. Be sure you choose "Can Edit" for their permissions.

Your InCopy-using colleagues will need to "accept" the folder; they'll get notified in their CC app that you're requesting to share it with them. After they say okay, the contents of your folder will be synced to/downloaded to their own CC Files folder on their own hard drive.

Up to this point, it's exactly how Dropbox works.

With CC Files (and Dropbox), your editors will be able to open the local InDesign layout file in InCopy (use File > Open from InCopy) and check out stories and edit them, or they could open an individual ICML file and edit it. They can save their changes and close the files, checking them in. They need to keep all files in their local CC Files folder without renaming or moving them.

What CC Files is incapable of doing is notifying you or others that someone has checked out a file. You won't see the "in use" icon. So, it's a little dangerous. Dropbox, on the other hand, does sync the checked-in/checked-out states of story files.

As long as you're careful not to edit the same file at the same time (by checking w/each other first by phone or email, for example), you could use CC files in this way.

Assignments in either case are unnecessary. In InDesign, just choose Edit > InCopy > Export > All Stories, and as I said, choose a subfolder at the same level as the ID file to export the stories to. The InCopy user/s open the full layout and check out stories within. The only way InCopy will open an InDesign layout though is by either using InCopy's own File > Open menu (and then selecting an INDD file) or the user could associate the ".indd" file extension to the InCopy app in their operating system, if they know how to do that.

AM

[geshons]

Dear AnneMarie,

thanks a lot for this instructions! Now I had the time to simulate this. And I have some question:

1. Is it possible to open the INDD-file by several editors at the same time (each editor has its own CC-subscription and will work on different chapters)?

2. Do I need the InCopy-assignments or may I simply export each text frame with "InCopy > Export selection…"

3. If the editors did their job in the first step and I have to rearrange the layout, can I simply save the INDD-file and the editors will see my new layout-changes? Can the editors directly do new text-changes?

Thank you so much!

Ma

[AnneMarie Concepcion]

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) Yes. 😉  When you save your change to the INDD file, the editors who have the INDD file open will see "Out of Date" in the title bar and at the top of the Assignments panel. They choose File > Update Design to see the latest changes. (If you're using Assignments, you'll need to Update Assignment in the Assignments panel too. But most of my clients don't bother with the Assignment file type, as you asked in #2.

AM

[geshons]

In which way do the assignments make sense?

[BobLevine]

Very rarely, IMO. If you have a very, very large InDesign document with many editors working on it at the same time, it might help to use assignments.

[geshons]

Thanks. Why might it help? To assign/allocate editors specific text-sections?

[AnneMarie Concepcion]

Yes, to help them focus on just their stories, and it reduces network traffic a bit because the editors don't need to open very large INDD files over the network, just their smaller Assignment files.

But it's another filetype to track and to update, another thing to go missing, another plate to keep spinning. Like Bob said, most IC/ID users just have a layout-based workflow. One layout sitting on a server or Dropbox, all users open/edit that one layout.

AM

[geshons]

Thanks for this helpful decision guidance. I feel to do it simple like you say. To avoid problems (lost texts). But I'm a bit scary to give my INDD-file out of my hands … Everybody with InDesign can open it … And: Is it still possible to make versions of my INDD-file like "name-01.indd", "name-02.indd" and so on … to save some layout changes?!

[BobLevine]

Not with InCopy.

[geshons]

But I can do it in InDesign? And the exported texts and pictures (which can be changed by the editors). Just the name of the INDD-file will change

[BobLevine]

The INDD file name does not change unless you save it as a new name...which you should not do in an InCopy workflow. If you can't trust the editors/writers, why are you working with them?

[geshons]

I#m starting working with your workflow and a question appears: If two text-editors work with InCopy on the same InDesign-document and they close their document, they get a dialog: "… Do you want to check in every content?" (my translation from German to English might be different). If the text-editor 1 klick "YES" is the content of editor 2 (on which he is currently working on) also now checked in (so he can now no more work on)? Thanks!

[AnneMarie Concepcion]

No, the check-in status only applies to that one story. The other editor will notice after a few seconds (when Dropbox syncs up status) that the first editor's story is now available for checkout and is out of date. They can ignore that, or if they're  curious they could update the story.

[geshons]

At the moment I have a hard problem with my InDesign-file in my the Creative Cloud files folder. My Creative-Cloud-Application was off (I don't know why!?!) but I didn't recognized it, so I began to work and was wondering why my client told me things I didn't see in the file in InDesign. First I thought they have a font-problem (and because of this the text is wider than with the original font) but then I realized that the InDesign-file in the Creative Cloud files folder is not up-to-date (change-date was very old)! But I saved the file meanwhile. So I replaced the file with my TimeMachine-Backup. But after that I was afraid that this older version of the file will now replace the current/up-to-date-file of my client (text-editor). So I shifted it into a Backup Folder. So now, the folder is empty … My client is out of office (I think her computer is off). Will the folder be filled with the up-to-date-file tomorrow? Or will the up-to-date-file in the clients "Creative Cloud files folder" be also deleted?! If the client knows when she saved the file, is it possible to backup the file (she do not use TimeMachine) via Creative-Cloud?!

I'm so afraid that I destroyed the up-to-date-file of my client and their work of several days are away … Can you help me?!! Thanks!!!