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When will Adobe InDesign would be available on IPad Pro

New Here ,
Feb 14, 2020 Feb 14, 2020

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Hi Does anyone know whether Adobe are planning on developing InDesign for the iPad Pro? 

 

***** Title renamed by Moderator "VS" *****

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

May 05, 2020 May 05, 2020

You aren't going to see InDesign on iPad anytime in the near future. Stop holding your breath. Quite frankly, I don't understand what is “boring” about a MacBook (or for that matter, any Mac or Windows system). The real issue is working on a platform that is appropriate for the job.

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 14, 2020 Feb 14, 2020

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I doubt it. If you want to see what it would look like try Adobe Comp or find a friend with InDesign on a Windows touch device.

It's very basic. You can throw a layout together but trying to do real work is not a lot of fun.

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Feb 14, 2020 Feb 14, 2020

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Adobe doesn't generally pre-announce products.

 

That having been said, implementing InDesign on an iPad had numerous challenges including:

 

(1)  Poor or almost non-existant support for hierarchical file systems that may be readily accessed and manipulated by users. This is critical for a paradigm where documents depend on linked content either on the local “system” or on an accessible server. It would be very difficult to move a packaged InDesign document to the iPad as the file system currently is and to allow other applications access to the linked contents.

 

(2)  Poor support for user-installed fonts.

 

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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New Here ,
May 04, 2020 May 04, 2020

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HAD numerous challenges, meaning development is underway?? I hope so, I'd like to keep my iPad Pro but I'll have to trade it in for a boring MacBook if there's no hope.

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2020 May 04, 2020

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I think you'll be waiting a long time!

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LEGEND ,
May 05, 2020 May 05, 2020

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Adobe recently announced and finally released Photoshop for iPad. That Adobe were working on it was publicly announced more than a year before it was available. Apart from very carefully managed announcements, Adobe don’t talk about their plans and won’t even hint because some people make purchasing decisions based on them, then become angry and even litigious when it doesn’t turn up soon. (I do suspect this was an unfortunate typo...) 

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May 05, 2020 May 05, 2020

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One will also note that all the iOS versions of Adobe applications are subset functionality to what is released on MacOS and Windows. This includes not only Photoshop, but also Acrobat…

 

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 19, 2020 Jun 19, 2020

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The real issue isn't whether or not a ps or Mac are noting. The real issue comes with people with professions like me. I work for a large national GC as a project manager and am also a manufacturer/ distributor of my own product.  I live on planes traveling the country from job site to job site. Taking a computer onto these job sites is not a feasible option. I need software that I can load onto my iPad Pro. We do not even need a fully functional version with all of the bells and whistles, but a touch optimized workspace ( as you already have available within the pc software) to be able to edit files sent to us on the fly.
     You mention one of the hurdles being unsupported fonts. There is a very simple solution for this. As with html5 coding you have open font and font face tags referring them to a css file telling them where to find the font online to sho it. I know that adobe has enough cloud space to add a code snippet directing the app to take the specified font in the app as people use it and giving it a font face attribute, linking the font to the app. You do not need to preinstall any actual font files. Just the names and as chosen by the user they become available within the projects. 
     The other is the support of hierarchical file systems. As with the other mobile apps, the ONLY supported file system that it requires are the actual InDesign files and the ability to use images and pdf's in editing. 
     This is the problem with most software developers. Because of the worries of bad reviews and backlash from the community, it's become an all or nothing situation when it comes to mobile platform releases. What people truly need is a happy medium.... a lite version that can be used on the go, so our marketing people and clients don't have to wait until we have a computer available to sit and work on. Something with fully functional viewing capabilities, but basic limited editing capabilities. ( the ability to add a notes layer to mark up files sent to us so they can be returned to the sender to modify from their end without having the notes actually embedded into the images, the ability to resize and rearrange existing sections in the documents as well as modify verbiage in existing text boxes, the ability to replace and resize and reposition images within the documents.) what we DO NOT need is an app to create documents from scratch. As was said, this is better done on a computer platform and could never be done on a mobile device with the precision and functionality that a professional document needs. 

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 19, 2020 Jun 19, 2020

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I might also add, that as of now, I have no way to open and view InDesign files at all that the marketing team I work with for my products sends me while I am traveling for work until I settle into,my hotel rooms in the evenings.... when they are already closed, so instead of being able to productively work with them, it becomes an email correspondence that makes the projects last for weeks rather than days.  

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LEGEND ,
Jun 19, 2020 Jun 19, 2020

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An idea: have your team send you PDFs. It will take them moments to make one for you. You can add comments on a iPad and return it. With luck, they can even do automatic review.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 19, 2020 Jun 19, 2020

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This doesn't take care of fixing verbiage or modifying photo sizing/placement. Either way, it still slows down productivity. 

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LEGEND ,
Jun 19, 2020 Jun 19, 2020

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Creeping scope... A moment ago you wanted to "open and view" InDesign documents, already you want to "fix verbiage and modify photo placement". This really means you DO "need a fully functional version with all of the bells and whistles", since you'd want live editing of everything MADE with those bells and whistles. 

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New Here ,
Oct 28, 2020 Oct 28, 2020

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Well you don't/can't do inDesign for iPad?

Let Adobe Comp open ID files.. come on! It's impossible you did not think about that..

Explain me why please Adobe Comp or another app can't open ID files.. 

it have to be a solution

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May 05, 2020 May 05, 2020

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You aren't going to see InDesign on iPad anytime in the near future. Stop holding your breath. Quite frankly, I don't understand what is “boring” about a MacBook (or for that matter, any Mac or Windows system). The real issue is working on a platform that is appropriate for the job.

 

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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Participant ,
Jun 07, 2020 Jun 07, 2020

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Hi Dov. I'm one of the first book authors/publishers in the country to have ditched Quark for what was then a new program called InDesign. People said I was crazy, but I thought InDesign 1.0 looked amazing, and didn't require the stupid dongle that Quark did. That was 9 editions of my book ago. (The book was soon adopted by college instructors, and grew to more than 1,000 pages.)

I'll still be sending the 10th edition of my book to press in InDesign. But I'm thinking of doing the rewriting and the raw editing on my new iPad Pro 12.9" with the magic keyboard. (This might be a horrible idea, but I find the display on the iPad Pro 12.9" such a pleasure to view and my eyes are not as resilient as they were 20+ years ago.) After I'm done, I'll send all 50 chapters to my desktop and port them into InDesign one by one. My question is if you have any suggestions for a word processing program to use on my iPad that will work well with InDesign when I'm ready to do the typesetting in InDesign. I had been set on using Ulysses, but I've been reading reviews by a couple of former Ulysses evangelists who ditched Ulysses for iAWriter after Ulyssess mysteriously lost some of their revisions. 

Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. I also trust you'll tell me if you think I'm crazy and should be doing the rewrite on a MacBook instead of an iPad Pro.  Thanks so very much. --Paul

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Community Expert ,
Jun 08, 2020 Jun 08, 2020

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I don't necessarily think editing your book on an iPad is a horrible idea. In fact, I think in some ways it's an excellent one.

 

It helps enforce a discipline that everyone recognizes but rarely respects: edit the text, revise the text, polish the text in a dedicated word processing application, then place the completed copy into InDesign. Using a different device — a portable, easy-to-use device like an iPad Pro with a Bluetooth keyboard — is an excellent call.

 

All I'd suggest is you add is a good mesh-tip stylus to your kit to substitute for a computer mouse/trackpad. There are times when you want to move from spot to spot in your copy and using cursor keys is a poor substitute. I recommend the mesh-tip stylus because it doesn't mar the screen like conventional rubber-tip models, eventually spotting up the screen like a wrapped loaf of Wonder Bread until you wipe it all off and start over again.

 

I really like good ol' Microsoft Office on the iPad. Microsoft Word has most all the tools you'd want in a useful word processing application (in-app spell-checker, thesaurus, grammar-checker, etc.), provides a common cloud component for transfer/storage of your copy, as well as synching capabilities with MSWord on your computer desktop and iPad to make version control a heck of a lot easier when you do have to edit/revise copy on your computer.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Randy

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Participant ,
Jun 08, 2020 Jun 08, 2020

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Thanks, Randy! You are so right about not moving text into InDesign until you are 100% done with the editing. I can't tell you how many times I've made that mistake over the past 9 editions of my book, with never, ever having a good outcome. This time, I'm not even opening InDesign until I'm totally done with the revision. InDesign can get very grumpy when you use it for word processing as opposed to layout. That's why I decided to do the entire rewrite on an entirely separate device--to help me avoid temptation. 

And thanks for your thoughts about Word. On the other hand, I've read a number of reviews where people have said Word is crashing a lot on the iPad.  Do you have any experience with Google Docs on the iPad? 

Thanks again. I now feel much better about using the iPad as my dedicated rewrite-revision device. I got the Magic Keyboard, and I also have the Apple Pencil. So hopefully I can keep the Wonder Bread issue to a minimum. --Paul

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Community Expert ,
Jun 08, 2020 Jun 08, 2020

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I have Google Docs to support a couple clients I have who use it on their iPads. But to tell the truth, I don't use it regularly. It seems to work well, with few problems. And since you will do all your serious formatting with InDesign, RTF or old-style Word DOC files are easy to create, update and export from either G Suite or MS Office packages.

 

I do use Microsoft Office on the iPad regularly though, and I haven't had any issues. Unless I have a specific need for a full-fledged computer in the field (e.g. I need to demos or train on dedicated desktop programs like Adobe graphics software), I travel light and carry my ancient original iPad Air and an old, reliable Microsoft Wedge Bluetooth keyboard. The hardware has seen regular (ab)use for something like six years now, and still ticks like Swiss clockwork.

 

MSOffice 365 runs fine for me with the previous version 12.x of the iOS operating system. But if you're running on a fresh install of iOS 13.x on an iPad Pro, your mileage may vary. I may or may not be the best example for you to consider.

 

Sometimes the old stuff is still the right call. Even if the new stuff is much better. My plans are to upgrade to a new 10.1 iPad as the next generation is released soon.

 

Randy

 

 

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Participant ,
Jun 09, 2020 Jun 09, 2020

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As for "the old stuff," I finally found a mechanical keyboard that feels really good but is quiet enough that my wife doesn't threaten to konk me over the head with it. I also force myself to try new apps and combinations of software and hardware in hopes that trying new things will help keep dementia at bay, even though the learning curve is seldom worth it. I also try new things in hopes the promises and hype are real and it will make my workload easier. Like that's ever panned out...     --Paul

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Jun 08, 2020 Jun 08, 2020

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Paul,

 

You are not at all crazy (at least about this 😄)! And for many if not most books, it may actually be better to initially key in the content using a word processor, concentrating on the narrative, spelling, grammar, etc. as opposed to trying to juggle complex formatting and graphics at the same time, In the InDesign ecosphere, InCopy was one of the tools for that purpose. But Word and in the case of an iPad, the iOS version of same, would suffice quite well, again the caveat being that your content is mostly paragraph text or at least text that is faily well-decoupled from graphics. I would also strongly suggest that if you are starting from Word (for example), you remain fairly rigorous and consistent in terms of use of paragraph styles in that authoring tool such that transfering back into InDesign can be less painful.

 

I do have a relatively recent vintage iPad Pro, but quite honestly, I do like larger screens, And being a relatively fast and accurate typist, I appreciate real keyboards and numeric keypads. As such, most of my writing is done on a either Lenovo ThinkStation P700 (30" 4k screen) workstation or a ThinkPad P70 (17" 4k screen with full keyboard) notebook.

 

But again, it comes down to personal preferences and exactly what type of authoring you are doing.

 

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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Participant ,
Jun 09, 2020 Jun 09, 2020

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'Thanks Dov. Yes, sanity is a relative state of mind, that I find can vary depending on the time of day and project I am currently struggling with!  I totally agree about using one very consistent and basic set of formatting in Word before importing into InDesign. It will go along way toward migraine prevention once you are in InDesign.  As for using the iPad--I've got the 2020 12.9" Pro and the new Magic Keyboard. That keyboard doesn't hold a candle to my mechanical keyboards, but the keys aren't cramped on the Magic Keyboard for the 12.9" iPad and the feel is not terrible. I like it better than the supposedly same keyboard that's on my wife's 2020 MacBook 13." However, I wouldn't even try the narrower Magic Keyboard for the smaller iPad. (I type with both hands the way they taught in high school on a --gulp-- manual typewriter. I suspect someone who only uses a couple of fingers will be just fine with any keyboard.)

It's going to be very strange switching back to InDesign after having spent the past three years learning After Effects. (The source of all wisdom for people under 30 is YouTube and images are the new words, so being "an author" today means you either learn to communicate with video or you die!) Thanks again. --Paul

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Community Expert ,
Jun 19, 2020 Jun 19, 2020

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Dov Isaccs wrote:

Poor support for user-installed fonts.

 

How much has that issue been addressed by the way Adobe recently made it much easier to install fonts on an iPad using the Creative Cloud app?

https://helpx.adobe.com/fonts/using/activate-fonts-mobile.html

 

“All fonts included with Creative Cloud can be used on mobile on iOS13.1 (and newer) apps that support Apple's custom font APIs. Search for your favorite font families or discover new ones with just a few swipes.”

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Jun 20, 2020 Jun 20, 2020

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Unless you get all your fonts via the Adobe Fonts service, this is somewhat useless. Most designers license particular fonts and/or have specialized fonts that are not available via that service. Apple's custom font APIs simply maintain their “walled garden” approach that tremendously limit creative professionals. And, BTW, any way of installing ICC color profiles in iOS or iPadOS?

 

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 18, 2020 Jun 18, 2020

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I just spoke on chat with a rep that said it was in the works but no date for release. Hope so, because I thought I could do everything from adobe and got an iPad Pro but now I'm stuck!!! Not very pro when a pro can't use it the way they need. 

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Jun 18, 2020 Jun 18, 2020

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Here at Adobe we'd be very interested in knowing what “rep” you had a chat with gave you such erroneous information.

 

At no point has Adobe ever promised or even hinted at InDesign on iOS or iPadOS. As I have personally explained earlier in this thread, there are any number of very important reasons why anything resembling a full version of InDesign could not be readily implemented on an iPad.

 

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

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