Two authors working remotely on InDesign

Many thanks to all of you for this information.  I packaged an InDesign file and sent it to my volunteer via Google Drive.  Seems easy enough.  Waiting on her comments to see how it goes on that end.  This is also very useful information for the NEXT editor of this newsletter.  We're all volunteers here with varying degrees of computer competence.  But with your help and I think I'm ready to go forward to see if we can get this collaboration going.  

My two cents...

First, clarify your licensing as @Peter Spier noted. Being able to technically run two users of the Creative Cloud software at the same time is different from doing it legally.  

I use Creative Cloud storage, DropBox, OneDrive (1TB each for personal and enterprise), Google Drive (3 accounts at once, 15 GB with any gmail address), and Box. They ALL operate about the same and have desktop software to install. 

You usually get 100GB included with our Creative Cloud subscription, which should be enough for a newsletter. Eventually, you may have to archive older newsletters elsewhere if you get near your storage limit.

Personally, I like OneDrive--you get 1 TB (appx. 1000 GBs) with any home Microsoft Office subscription. Mine is only $99 US and I can share 4-5 installs with others users, and each user gets their own 1 TB OneDrive. (I wish the Adobe subscription was a flexible!)

One thing on all of the services mentioned: you should install the desktop app on both systems, however you need to allow time for the file(s) to upload to the cloud from one system and then download/sync to the other system. The files should NOT be worked on during this time. This can take a minute or two or 20, depending on the size and quantity--even if the computers are right next to each other.

BTW, nothing will happen to your local files if you cancel any service. The cloud storage and file sync simply stops.

InCopy for work with text when another man works with other tasks. 

Or use it LayoutZone if you can't divide task to text/other. https://www.automatication.com/product/lz/

If you package the file into a Dropbox folder (I am not a fan of Creative Cloud storage for this) or OneDrive folder not only will you both have access but you'll have the ability to roll back in case of any issues.

I'm going to also recommend InCopy for your volunteer assistant. That will restrict the other person's ability to simply edit text without any risk to the integrity of the layout. Non-profit or not, you both need at least a minimal amount of training or you're risking winding up in a world of hurt, IMO.

Hi @CTrotter , Your Creative Cloud app iinstalls a sync’ing folder named Creative Cloud Files in your computer’s user folder. Any files and folders saved to that folder are sync’d to your cloud account and you have the option to invite others to sync to a specified project folder. More here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/do-indesign-links-work-with-adobe-cloud-multiple-users/td-p/11521179

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/idlk-files-over-cloud-storage/td-p/11307839

When I was the technical advisor to a college newspaper we handled this by doing separate files for each page so multiple students could work at the same time.

I want to clarify your licensing, however. Unless you purchased a two-seat license two users may not use the software. The standard license allows the installation of the software on two devices for non-simultaneous use by a single user, such a an office workstation and home machine or travel laptop. Not saying you are abusing your license, just want to be sure you know that a single subscription allows only one user.

InDesign does not have any significant co-work/collaboration features. The only effective and safe way to share work is to transfer the work file/s themselves.

In an organization, this can be done by sharing access to a network location and coordinating work times. If you're both more or less solo, the most effective way to share the job is for each of you to save your last version to Dropbox or Google Drive, and the other to download it — and vice versa. Set up a careful name-versioning system and archive at least two or three file versions from each direction at all times, so that you can back up if a file gets corrupted or incorrect changes are made. Neither of you should ever work on the only copy that has updates or changes from the other — each of you should start by making a work copy, and then the same on the return loop.

You could probably work with local resources such as images as long as they don't change... if there are images or other content that one changes, the other would have to download it for their workflow. It can get a bit complicated.

The alternative to most of that is for each user to "package" the project and upload the whole project file to the shared file source, but packaged projects can get very large and maintaining a few archival copies could take a lot of shared space as well. A carefully planned sharing of the resource. font, and other support files, and then just swapping the actual INDD file on each round, is... more streamlined.

That make sense?