Renaming Book Files

[victoriagb]

How can I rename all of the documents in a book? 

I am new to InDesign and have inherited a book file from a previous employee. At our company, our data management practice is to save a new copy of a document when we edit it, with the current date included in the title. I have changed the title of the book overall, but I would like to change the title of the individual documents/chapters in the book. Is the best way to do this in File Explorer, within InDesign, in the book window or somewhere else? If I "save as" and rename it, does that create a new file outside of the book? Any help is appreciated. 

[Scott Citron]

The individual InDesign files in your Book can be renamed however you'd like; Save As or via Windows Explorer/macOS Finder. Once you're done renaming these components, you'll need to relink the original Book documents to their renamed versions. BTW, why are you using the Book feature? Just because you're creating a book, you needn't necessarily build it as a multi-file InDesign Book.

[victoriagb]

Thank you for your help! I was not around for the creation of the document, but my understanding is each chapter was created individually, and then was compiled as a book for easier data management. The final document is a city plan, which involves a dozen different chapters that were worked on by different people, so breaking it apart was better than working on one large document. Is there a better option moving forward?

[Mike Witherell]

Yes, if you Save As to a new file name, that will be outside the book. You would go into the book and add the new document in (and remove the old document, likely) to the book file.