I make technical documentation in InDesign, and very often I need to make a separate copy of an existing book to use as a template for a new project. The fact that this is very difficult makes InDesign a joke of a software. Let's be specific:
I can use "Package for print". That makes a copy of the book, documents, links, and fonts, and seemingly does what I need. Except that the cross-references still point to the original documents. So I would need to update every cross-reference manually. And as far as I can tell, there is no way to automate this using a script. Then I encountered a solution that if InDesign can not access linked content, it will look around the book file and automatically relink to it. Great, that is exactly what I need. Except I need to make the original "disappear" to use this. So if I copy a template from a folder I only have read access to (so I can't change the path to the original), but need to make a copy on the same network drive (so I can't just disconnect it temporarily), the way to go is:
1) Package for print to a local drive
2) Disconnect from the network
3) Open the book and open every document in the book so that everything relinks
4) Reconnect to the network
5) Cut and paste the book and all documents/links to the new location on the network
6) Open the book and open every document in the book again...
7) Curse loudly for everyone in the office to hear (yes, this is mandatory)
If anyone has a better way, I would love to hear about it. I did my best to test things and search online for a solution, so I am convinced there is none.
Why is there no way to trigger the relinking manually instead of having to make the original not accessible? All the necessary functions exist, if only they could be packaged into a new function: "make an independent copy".
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