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defaultjxz1ysy5er6s
Participant
November 30, 2023
Question

Do I delete the original file after packaging?

  • November 30, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1025 views

Question about packaging files: once I have successfully packaged my InDesign file, should I then delete the original file? If I don't, then I'll have two copies, so how do you manage that?

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1 reply

leo.r
Community Expert
leo.rCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 30, 2023

It strictly depends on your workflow and other needs, as well as the purpose of your packaging the file. If you package it in order to send the package to your service provider then obviously don't delete the original file. If you package it for archiving purposes and don't need the original anymore then delete the original. But don't delete the original if you still need it in any case. Other than that, you need to give us more details regarding your workflow.

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    defaultjxz1ysy5er6sAuthor
    Participant
    November 30, 2023

    Well, I'm packaging it to share it with collaborators. The project is not 100% finished, so I may need to make more edits. But if I now have a version in the packaged folder, shouldn't future edits happen there? Ergo, why do I still need the old (original) file?

     

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    defaultjxz1ysy5er6sAuthor
    Participant
    December 1, 2023

    As Joel mentioned, the big difference in the files is that the packaged document has updated links that point to the new collected Links folder as opposed to your own original locations. That helps your collaborator find them, but really, YOU don't need the packaged files at all, and having these new copies will become confusing when you make changes to your linked files, so once you send them off, you should still use your original file with its original link paths (I personally just delete the whole packaged folder as it's not for MY purposes anyway). Should you have made some last minute changes to the document before you Package, ID is smart enough to force you to save your local document before it will alllow it to be packaged.


    Thanks for both your responses. They give me different approaches to the question of which ID file to keep, but with the clarity I needed to make my own decision. Much appreciated!

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