Best Workflow for copy changes and proofreading from non-InDesign editors

[DavidLaufer]

I make large files in InDesign and Illustrator that must be proofread and edited by subject matter experts who will never be InDesign users. What is the best way to send them files and re-introduce their changes to my file? Have been limping along exporting INDD files to Acrobat, and exporting those to MS Word, which is miserable, and generates as  many errors as it fixes. 

Any battle tested solutions?

[BobLevine]

You're describing InCopy.

[DavidLaufer]

Hi Bob, Eugenio, and Laubender:

We have tried and discarded marking up PDF, even w Acrobat pro the user interface is just too wonky.

The loss of InDesign formatting when saving InDesign back to Word doubles the work when bringing edited copy back into InDesign, so we have ditched that. I have not used InCopy- but the issue here is that we are getting proofreading from subject matter experts (SMEs) from all over the globe—it just isn't possible to ask all of them to subscribe to and learn InCopy; a few might try it but most just cant make time for one more learning curve. That leaves manual mark-up, which is where we are now, an enormous time waster. 

I will install InCopy and test it—if it is easy enough to learn maybe I can offer to pay for SME's to download and learn it. Thanks, All for your insights! 

[BobLevine]

As I and others pointed out, with a Word based workflow, em software's Wordsflow is a godsend! A trial is available and I suggest looking into it.

[Eugenio.NYC]

Yes InCopy is great, another way to do it if you create Word documents with links, go to the clipboard preferences and you can create a link if you place text, the only thing you have to be careful with the styles and create a workflow to match the styles, let me know if this works for you and I can show you how

[BobLevine]

If using Word for this then Wordsflow from emsoftware is an absolute must.

[Laubender]

Hi David,

my personal experience with customers tell me that technical writing staff is unwilling to use Adobe InCopy.

What worked in several cases is a workflow with placed Word documents where changes are managed with the WordsFlow plug-in by EM software. Plus some custom scripts I wrote that log error or info messages injected by WordsFlow using InDesign Note objects. Also custom scripts that are able to stitch stories and split stitched stories to create a smooth roundtrip workflow with MS Word.

For the technical drawings made with Illustrator there is no good solution at all. Illustrator is lacking a lot of features in this regard and it seems one could handle this only with annotations in PDFs where there is no automatic process for applying changes to text or drawing details in Illustrator files. There is no counterpart of e.g. Adobe InCopy with Illustrator.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Document Geek]

• The best bet you've got is to send them PDFs and try to get them to do proper markup in Acrobat. A lot of folks will just use sticky notes and red lines (because those are the default tools in the toolbar). So there will be some education required to get them to use the tools properly.
• Some folks will also say "My company won't pay for Adobe." If that's the case, you'll need to explain that Adobe Reader is free. Other times, people will want to install a third-party PDF editor, but those aren't as reliable. I've actually seen one of those third party softwares (Nuance) introduce random extra comments into a document. 
• I've also seen some people print out the document, and then just do markup on the page, then hand it back to their admin assistant who will input their comments into the PDF. The issue with that is that if I have asked questions (in sticky notes) on the technical document, the subject matter expert won't see them because sticky notes don't print. You can do a  create comment summary, but that often just creates more confusion. If they insist on printing out the document, you'll need to have the your questions as drawing markups rather than PDF sticky notes. @Try67 has a script that will convert sticky notes to drawing markups.
• If you use Dropbx to share the document, sometimes people will use Dropbox commenting, which IS NOT compatible with Acrobat commenting. So if you send your files to people via dropbox, be sure to disable dropbox commenting (in the dropbox web app), so the temptation to use it is gone.
•  

As far as the best method:

1. Send them the PDF using your file sharing method of choice.
2. Make sure they use Acrobat/Reader to input their feedback.
3. Teach them the importance of properly using the tools (how it's important for the technical accuracy of the content).
4. If you need to merge comments from multiple people into one document, export each person's comments as an FDF file, then import those all back into your master PDF file.
5. If they have properly used the tools, you will be able to import those comments with either InDesign's built in "PDF Comments" or DTP Tools "Annotations" (my personal prefrence). 
6. If you want to automate the comment incorporation process, DO NOT use Acrobat's "Send for Shared Commenting." Your toolset will be extremely limited and you'll have to manually implement all the comments back into your InDesign file.

I'll actually be giving a presentation on this topic at Creative Pro Week in Austin this June. Join me!