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Working between a Mac and PC

New Here ,
Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

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Hi,

So, at work I use at Mac.

For remote working I need a laptop. If I went with the Microsoft Surface book will I be able to open my InDesign files I have created on the Mac on a or do I need a Mac Book Pro?

Thanks in advacne,

Chantelle

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

Running like versions of InDesign (or any CC app), you should have no problem working cross-platform, as long as you have the same fonts available on both systems. Open Type fonts are essential to such a workflow.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

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Running like versions of InDesign (or any CC app), you should have no problem working cross-platform, as long as you have the same fonts available on both systems. Open Type fonts are essential to such a workflow.

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 14, 2019 Aug 14, 2019

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I am having some really frustrating issues with using InDesign between PC and Mac. We used opentype so fonts hasn't been an issue but when I open the file on my Mac, I see lines of text that are a different color than the rest of the document, things that were re-formatted using the PC are not showing up as re-formatted when opened on the Mac (even after saving as a new file name) and applied character styles are gone and instead my paragraphs are showing that we have overrides applied which typically does not happen when using the character style to format the text. Every time I open the document I've been working on today it gives me a missing fonts dialogue and even after going through and replacing all of them with the intended font, it seems to revert back when it is saved to Creative Cloud and re-opened elsewhere. I convinced my team to switch to InDesign from Word to create these very long documents and I am pretty embarrassed about how poorly the experience has been. I have read so many things that say with the newest versions of InDesign and through sharing the files with Creative Cloud, this would be a seamless process. Any ideas as to why we are having so many struggles? Sort of related to that, is it typical to have the document display differently when previewed using the Web Creative Cloud app vs. when opened in InDesign? Thanks!

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Community Expert ,
Aug 14, 2019 Aug 14, 2019

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Not a big fan of creative cloud storage. I prefer Dropbox and Onedrive as proven entities.

Please post screenshots showing the issues.

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 14, 2019 Aug 14, 2019

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So good to know about the file storage! We were using SharePoint but that doesn't play well with InDesign files too...we were mainly trying to find a way to not have versions stored on local machines so we can work on the most current version between me and my two other associates.

Character style not applied and override showing up in Paragraph Style:

Screen Shot 2019-08-14 at 3.39.59 PM.png

Expected result:

Screen Shot 2019-08-14 at 3.40.53 PM.png

Web view vs. ID view, respectively:

Screen Shot 2019-08-14 at 3.36.17 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-08-14 at 3.35.43 PM.png

I could post step by step screen shots of me updating the "missing fonts" but I'm not sure how that would be helpful. Unless my team is just completely lying to me and not using the provided styles, there is zero reason why any of these fonts should still be trying to creep their way into these documents. I did the standard process of going through the find font dialogue box, identifying the part of the copy the font claims it lives in, and replacing it with the intended font. I saved the file, closed InDesign, and re-opened the file only to get the same errors. I'm thinking it has to be some type of delay with uploading/saving to CC so I'm going to talk to my team about moving them to OneDrive and continuing to save with a new version number each time we make "big" edits--this just seems like it defeats the whole purpose of storing these documents in a place where we can all access the most up to date version without having to create a new document for each pass. If this doesn't help, I'll be back with more screen shots 😃 I've got a whole slew of questions about master pages and text flow, so if you have any good resources for best practices working with those (as we have 5 different master pages that need to have the same copy flowing through them all) I would very much appreciate the opportunity to learn on my own before posting my questions. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience!

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Community Expert ,
Aug 14, 2019 Aug 14, 2019

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@kd299305, I think you might have 2 different problems.

One is the missing font, the other the central storage of your files.

RE: the missing fonts, are you using TypeKit fonts or fonts that are traditionally installed on your systems (permanent desktop fonts)? Or a combo of both? Search this forum for "missing fonts" and you'll have ample reading on that topic alone! One thing that helps some people with this problem is installing your fonts in a subdirectory of the InDesign program files, but see the details in other posts.

RE: the storage, it's not clear why you're using cloud storage (Creative Cloud storage, OneDrive, ShareFile, DropBox, etc.). All of these cloud storage technologies are for a) offsite backup storage of files or b) transferring files between users who are not connected to a central file server or NAS drive.

They are not intended for "live" access to use the files directly off the cloud storage server.

If you're trying to let everyone work on files while they're on any of these cloud servers, it won't work well enough. Or not at all. Too many connections and too slow bandwidth to accommodate InDesign files, especially large ones. Any signal to retrieve the multiple files of an InDesign "document" that are stored on the cloud server could involve:

  1. Your computer's connection to the wired LAN or WiFi.
  2. The LAN/WiFi connection to the router that connects your organization's system to the Internet (your broadband, such as Verizon Fios or Comcast Xfinity).
  3. The broadband speed and capacity your organization purchased. More $$ = faster upload and download speeds.
  4. The actual connection to the cloud servers and how much traffic is on the system.
  5. The log-in / security firewall that your signal must get through to reach the stored files.

And then reverse that path to bring the files down to your computer.

kd299305  wrote

it defeats the whole purpose of storing these documents in a place where we can all access the most up to date version

I read this and wondered, why isn't she storing these files on a central file server at the organization or NAS drive (which is like a mini file server)? Even if the other designers are off-site, they can remote into the server/NAS and get the files. Why add the cloud traffic into the mix? As said before, cloud storage servers are for backup storage of files, not working files.

My office has a mix of Macs and Windows workstations, and a mix of designers working at the office and telecommuting. We run a NAS drive at the office that stores all of our working files, regardless of whether the designer is at the office or remoting in. The designers work on "live" files on the NAS; they rarely have to download a set of InDesign files to their desktop to work on them.

We rarely have problem with fonts since we banned TypeKit fonts due to the "missing fonts" problem similar to yours. And we never see the problems you've shown in your screen caps. It's very seamless once the system is set up. Back and forth all day long, no problems.

Good luck with this.

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer & Technologist for Accessible Documents
|    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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File is packaged and we are using the same fonts. Are you suggesting that EACH time we make an edit we need to package and re-post the packaged file to a server location? The fonts were put in a folder and shared and installed on each person's computer. The "missing fonts" were ones that were never in the document to begin with. We were using TypeKit but it was giving PC users the OTF version of the font and my Mac was giving me the TTF which caused missing font issues when the template file that was created on my Mac was opened on a PC. I found an OTF version of the font and all three of us have installed that version and have since had no issues.

Our organization has always managed our shared product documents through SharePoint, so I think we navigated that direction just because it is what we are used to using.

What is an NAS drive so that I can see if this is a capability we have? What you explained about how your designers work is exactly my goal. Can you explain how to store something locally and sync to a shared folder from my Mac to a PC? I have a personal folder on a corporate shared drive I could use to share these files if that helps you give me more direction. Currently they're in my creative cloud folder on my computer which I thought synced to the web version as you suggested but it sounds like based on your comment I am missing something here. Are you able to tell me your suggested method for storing files so that me and my two coworkers have access to the most up to date version of the file? Two of us are onsite and one is remote.

I appreciate your detailed response as to why what we are doing currently is wrong, but it would be productive to share more information about the best practice solution so that myself and anyone else learning how to manage similar situations can learn from your knowledge. Thank you SO much for your detailed replies! I'm learning a lot 😃

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Community Expert ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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No on packaging each time. Just initially to make sure all users have the same files.

Can you try this with dropbox? Even if you can’t use it going forward we can then focus on current use.

Just be sure you’re using locally synced files. You should have a local dropbox or onedrive folder on each machine and the folder containing the work must be shared and available to all users.

A note here: last I checked the lock files don’t sync on dropbox but they do on onedrive.

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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OK awesome, we all have access to OneDrive and OneDrive folders on our local machines. So, if I create a folder in my OneDrive folder that is stored on my Mac and share it with the two associates, will this accomplish the same goal? Or will they have to take additional steps once the folder is shared with them?

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Community Expert ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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Nope…that’s it.

Keep in mind with Onedrive once you share it, they need to add it to their Onedrive, not leave it as a shared folder.

It’s an extra step that I wish Microsoft would get rid of.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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Bob, we had problems years back using OneDrive and its previous iteration (SharePoint). Would not handle the Mac versions of our files well. They'd often become unusable to our Mac designers.

Any thoughts about this? Has OneDrive improved? What about Microsoft's new Azure that is replacing SharePoint?

And can OneDrive reside on an internal file server rather than in MS' cloud?

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer & Technologist for Accessible Documents
|    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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Community Expert ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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I don’t know anything about Azure for this, but out of the box Onedrive has improved dramatically.

I’m not sure what you mean by that last part.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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I mean, can we sync our files via OneDrive to a location on our internal NAS/server, rather than synching them to MS's outside cloud server?

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer & Technologist for Accessible Documents
|    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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Community Expert ,
Aug 16, 2019 Aug 16, 2019

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Ah, so instead of having the OneDrive folder in your local Documents folder, it's on a network share?

I'm not sure why it wouldn't work but I've never tried it. If you do, let me know how it works.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 14, 2019 Aug 14, 2019

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Not stored locally?

That could be your problem right there. You should absolutely be using a local version synced to shared folders.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 14, 2019 Aug 14, 2019

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One more thing. The file should be packaged with a document fonts folder which would force all users to use the same fonts. There’s almost no way I can think of that would result in missing fonts.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

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The files created with Creative Cloud InDesign will work cross platform between Mac and PC. The only real thing to watch out for is fonts. If you use only Opentype fonts you should be OK as they were created to be cross platform. Truetype fonts on Mac and PC may have the same names but they will not usually work correctly cross platform.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

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Windows TrueType is crossplatform.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

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In my agency we have had many problems trying to use Truetype Windows fonts cross platform with Mac especially with the Microsoft Office programs.

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Guru ,
Aug 17, 2017 Aug 17, 2017

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Issues will come in typefaces, they are not all created equal. having a font manager is of most importance to truly control your type and different forms ( opentype, truetype, postscript).  Typefaces are the variable here that will disrupt the cross platform set up you are talking about, not adobe indesign software.  I personally stick to opentype. Font folio 11 from adobe is a dream to work with. If you can get the company to buy it for you, you will have nothing but easy streets ahead.

hope this helps.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 15, 2019 Aug 15, 2019

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kd299305  wrote

What is an NAS drive so that I can see if this is a capability we have? What you explained about how your designers work is exactly my goal.

NAS = Network Attached Storage.

It's really just a small "box" (about the size of a shoe box) that houses one or more hard drives. Takes the place of a larger file server, which is a full-fledged computer with many hard drives. A NAS is simplier and easier to set up, and certain brands are very compatible with handling files from both Macs and PCs.

It's a personal cloud server..."personal" because the NAS is onsite at your place, not on someone else's server in the cloud. You retain all of your information.

We use the Synology brand called DiscStation. The software to run and maintain it is provided by Synology. What is NAS | Synology Inc.

Everyone on our team logs into the NAS the same way you would to a server. Our remote people use an additional piece of software to connect to the NAS, usually a VPN (Virtual Personal Network). After logging in, everyone has access to any of the files on the NAS. Just click to open the InDesign file. Everyone always has access to the latest version. Nothing to download to desktops or upload back to the NAS...the files are just live "there" on the NAS.  Been doing this for 7-8 years.

Whether you're on Windows or Mac, you open and save files to the NAS the same as you would to any internal file server. Select the drive and folder, and save or open the file. It's quite seamless.

The IT department at your organization should be able to set up a NAS for you, or designate a drive on the regular file server for your files. Allowing the telecommuters to access them via remote would require VPN software on their systems and protocols on the server to allow them to access the server remotely. That's not a big deal today, given that more than half the working population telecommutes at least one day per month.

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer & Technologist for Accessible Documents
|    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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New Here ,
Oct 21, 2019 Oct 21, 2019

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We just incorporated macs into our workplace and have all of our Indesign file assets stored on a server where our individual Indesign documents link to. When the macs open up the Indesign documents, the files aren't "mapped" the same way and we have to fix broken links, then when saving and someone on a PC opens up the document, their Indesign can't find the links because of how the Mac has saved the path to the links and have to be re-linked again. How do you all work around that?

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 26, 2022 Jan 26, 2022

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@TheMudKid I am facing the same issue - the path linking to the OneDrive folder location is different on a Mac (Macintosh HD / Users / OneDrive) than on a PC. I can't work out a way around this, that would allow others working on PC to open up Adobe files without relinking everything each team.

Has anyone had experience with this?

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Community Expert ,
Jan 26, 2022 Jan 26, 2022

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I've worked across platforms for years. It should work.

 

What problems EXACTLY are you seeing?

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New Here ,
Jan 26, 2022 Jan 26, 2022

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Well, newer MacOS's use SMB path names without drive letters, so when you "link" to a photo that you're using in InDesign on a local server, the path to that link reads something like "iir.com/files/share/photos". So, when a person on a PC opens the InDesign file it cannot find any of the linked photos because PC's still assign a drive letter to their path locations, like "F:/share/photos" and you have to then re-link each photo in your document. Then when the Mac person goes to open the same document again, they have to go through the process of re-linking every photo, etc.

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