Using InCopy in book production

[nelgom1]

Hi everyone,

I've always associated InCopy with magazine, text book, or newspaper workflows. For book production, since we have longer production deadlines and is more of a linear workflow (my turn, your turn), InCopy has not been appealing. I'm taking another look to see if things have changed and see if InCopy has gotten upgraded enough to make it work in book production. I also see that the last version was in 2018. We are in Adobe InDesign 2019 and soon to be 2020. Are there any concerns there? Also, if someone can share their good or bad experiences using InCopy in book production that would be great. Thank you.

Nelson

[BobLevine]

What type of improvements are you referring to?

And 2018 is most certainly NOT the most current version; 2020 is. The availability is dependent on the operating system

[nelgom1]

Hi Bob, thank you for replying. Yes, after I clicked on Post I realized there was a 2020 version. This was my mistake.

The book production process we have is very linear. A designer or typesetter does the InDesign layout (usually just one file), prints a PDF and sends it off to the editor. The editor either comments on the PDF or writes the edit on a printout. The designer gets the edits and makes the necessary correction in InDesign. We have a Magazines division that uses InCopy with Woodwing to manage their files. For us in the book division we don't have Woodwing to help manage the files. One of our designers told me that InCopy now has a feature ("packages) that can allow the designer and typesetter work together without needing Woodwing. The idea is that the editor can make edits that can flow directly to  the layout without too much effort. Could this work? What are the advantage or disadvantages? Thank you.

[BobLevine]

You've never needed Woodwing for this to work.

For a small group, which sounds like the case, there's really no need for any third party applications. Just export the content for InCopy and the InCopy user can open the INDD file using InCopy, check out the content, make edits and then check it back it in.

Everyone should be on the same version and every must have the same fonts installed.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

[nelgom1]

Bob, this is extremely nice of you to answer my questions. This is very useful information as we explore this path further. Much appreciate.

Nelson

[Geоrge]

>> Could this work? What are the advantage or disadvantages?

Yes it could. But if admin give "incopy-package" to the "writer" he need to understand that he can't do any changes in this period for not lose this changes after "applying" this package.

[Creamer Training]

As Bob mentioned, you don't need Woodwing for this workflow. 

Some of your easiest options are:

• PDF text comments imported into InDesign
  • Similar to what you are doing now, but turn on track changes and import comments directly into ID
• InCopy workflow
  • IC is available for $5 US per month; no need for entire Cloud subscription for editors
• EmSoftware WordsFlow (or DocsFlow) plugin for InDesign
  • Just the ID user(s) needs the plugin