How to create linked indesign files to place inside other ID documents for dynamic updates?

[jameskachan]

I want to create a linked indesign file that can be placed inside of multiple InDesign documents so that master document can be updated dynamically? (Like a smart object in Photoshop)

I suspect this is either not possible, or sorta possible, but very complex with a lot of issues.

It seems strange to me Adobe hasn't developed this ability into a new and intuitive process.

Thanks

— James

[BobLevine]

You can place an InDesign into another InDesign and when you update it, you can update the links in the other documents.

Is that what you’re getting at?

[jameskachan]

Thank you!

Interesting, I never tried that, or if I did, not recently.

Do you know of any potential issues or drawbacks to this process? Especially when it comes to printing or packaging?

Unfortunately, placing another ID file into your current one leaves the whole placed doc not editable, and as such, you can't align objects to elements inside of it or directly change anything within the placed document, though you can rightclick / Edit Original.

[Scott Falkner]

Only issue I had was I needed to back save to an earlier version of InDesign. i prepared the files (source and target) in InDesign CC(2017) then discovered my client was using InDesign CS6. I saved Both files as both INDD and IDML. Client opened the IDML target file and got error messages for every instance of the placed INDD. I fixed it by opening the source IDML in CS6 and saving as INDD then opening the target file and relinking to the new INDD.

Source file: File I place into target file. 

Target file: File into which I place the source file.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi James,

done extensively linking InDesign documents is slowing down InDesign.

More in comparison to linking PDF files.

I would recommend linking PDF/X-4 files with no downsampling of images.

And with PDFs you never have problems if a different version of InDesign created the PDFs in comparison to the document you are placing the PDF. Further: You have all assets like fonts and images packed into the PDF and it would not hurt if a font or image is missing on a machine that is used in the PDF.

The only downside: The time you need for export to PDF/X-4.

Regards,
Uwe

[jameskachan]

Thanks @BobLevine — Is there someway to have a linked text file (or something like that) outside of the indesign document to input that text into a text frame, much like you would have a linked image file?

Im trying to find the best way to keep text in sync, across multiple different indd files

[JonathanArias]

You can also add copy to you cc library and have text link that way. As in whole text frames.

this feature is only available on CC 2018, I believ.

[jameskachan]

That sounds interesting, do you mean you add a txt file to the CC library, or an indd file, or something else?