Best Practices for Splitting a Large InDesign File into Smaller Ebooks

[adieu]

We have an 830-page InDesign file with images and hyperlinks (both internal and external) on every page. It is 360mb in size. It’s an e-guidebook which our little company has been building and selling for 12 years, updating it annually.

Our plan is to divide it into several ebooks of roughly equal size, but InDesign, I don't think, has any tools to automatically split files into smaller files with a few clicks. Apparently this can be achieved by running various scripts.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but would it not be just as easy, and maybe safer, to copy the original file sereral times, then in each one delete the unneeded parts? Of course, many of the internal links will no longer work, but that's an easy fix because each of the parts mosty functions autonomously.

Thanks for your time.

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[Derek Cross]

Presumably the final output format is Interactive PDFs. As you're going to reevaluate the project it might be worth considering using InDesign's Publish Online facility. As this the format is HTML5 it will be accessible on all devices and any hyperlinks will be reliable and can be between each document (link them), You will also be able to enhance the books by including extra features such as animations, audio and video. Just a thought!

[adieu]

Unfortunately, Publish Online requires an Internet connection. Our guides are used off grid much of the time so unless you have Starlink or a similar service you can't connect.

[Derek Cross]

Yes, that's true, the reader has to be online with Publish Online. The other option for format after separating the units, might be in5, if you have the budget.

[Eugene Tyson]

It really depends on the setup of the file and how it's all connected throughout. 

On a basic level - I start with a Main File that is a duplicate of the original

Then change the name of the file to Chapter 1 (or what is relevant)
Then delete all the irrelevant pages

Duplicate the main document again

Rename it Chapter 2

Delete the content not required

Then keep going

It really doesn't take long.

But do you need it as a whole book also - if you do you can add each chapter individually to to a Book File

Be interested to know a bit more about the file setup and your workflow.

[adieu]

Yes, that is what I was thinking... a lot of deleting. But using a script running somewhere in the background scares me.

We will eventually need it as unified book. We currently sell it as separate, smaller files, but we combined them into a single volume as our intention was to put it on Google Play and the App Store this year. We made many many updates and upgrades to it as a combined file, but the guides are seasonal and we ran out of time to finish the work.  So the dilemma is our separate files would need major overhauls to bring them up to date. Much easier to slice up the new book.

Thanks for the input.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yes, that is what I was thinking... a lot of deleting. But using a script running somewhere in the background scares me.

By @adieu

There is nothing to be scared about. 

And most of the time, scripts don't run in the background - you have to execute them, when needed. 

With the right tool, splitting your document into smaller parts - and keeping links working - won't be a problem. 

[Willi Adelberger]

There is a script to divide stories. You can select to divide story with a specific paragraph style. When you have broken the story for each Chapter you can extract the pages for each chapter. 

Don*t embed images, link them instead.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

• Create n copies of the file, each named descriptively.
• Open each file and delete all the material that is not intended for that subsection.
• Apply cleanup, brief forward matter, etc. as needed.
• Save.
• Create Book from component files to enable all-in-one export when desired, and to help keep styles etc. in sync.

As so often, I just don't see the hassle and time investment in a script, for a process that needs significant wetware decision-making and input, as useful. Not for a one-and-done project, anyway.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Have you saved the files as IDML and then reopen (and re-save) in InDesign? You might see the file size go down--in some cases quite a bit. I'm assuming (hoping) the graphics were pasted into the document, but placed...

I would follow Eugene Tyson's advice but, after you create the book, you will have to relink any internal links that link to other chapters. 

Another slight variation on this method is to create a blank page document and use the Move pages option in the Pages panel to move a group of pages from the original (copy) to the blank page document. Rinse and repeat for each chapter.