Layout Zone

[leoniem71111859]

HI - I updated to 2020 version (15.0.1) and Layout Zone is now not working - Is there a new version of layout zone or a fix? 

Thanks

[Manan Joshi]

Are you talking about the following product

https://www.automatication.com/index.php?id=13

If so you will have to contact the developer for a version compatible with CC2020

-Manan

[Jongware]

Make sure to include more information than "it does not work". Does nothing happen? Do you get an error?

[Laubender]

Hi Leonie,

what was the last version of InDesign with Layout Zone that worked OK with you?

My guess:

Layout Zone uses code that requires a feature that was radically removed from InDesign 2020.

And that is Flash.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Hi Leonie,

just downloaded Layout Zone and tested a bit.

German InDesign 15.0.1.209 on German Windows 10.

At first I had an issue with the Layout Zone menu under menu Edit.

The menu did not show up after I restarted InDesign.

Then I went to InDesign's Scripts panel and executed: LayoutZoneMenuItemLoader.jsx

Now the Layout Zone menu showed up. But with truncated functionality.

The divider line below the menu wasn't there and only one item was available: Export Selection >

But with no further options.

Then I restarted InDesign 2020 again.

Went straight to LayoutZoneMenuItemLoader.jsx in my Scripts panel and made sure by using the context menu to execute the script only once. See screenshot below. Could well be that my issues before were because I tried to double-click the script and was not aware that it was executed more than one time.

Now Layout Zone is up and running without issues, I think. Only did some quick tests.

Assign Zone is working as you can see below.

Export Selection with options SWF or XFL will NOT work because anything Flash based was removed from InDesign 2020. Tested InDesign Markup (IDML) and could export a selection to IDML.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Hi Leonie,

below some screenshots that illustrate my issue I first had with Layout Zone and InDesign 2020. And how I solved it.

1. After installing Layout Zone and restarting InDesign the Layout Zone menu was not fully loaded automatically:

2. The workaround or fix for this:

I executed the LayoutZoneMenuItemLoader.jsx from my Scripts panel.

Note, there is no feedback from the script like a message or an alert.

3. Look into the Edit menu again. Then suddenly all functions were available:

I have to do this every time after restarting my German InDesign 2020 version 15.0.1.209 on Windows 10.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[rickt38612460]

I believe you are putting the Layout Zone Scripts in the wrong place. You should not see them it in your Scripts Panel.

Please see this extract from the Layout Zone Manual Installation page.

Drop the LayoutZone.zip file into the Scripts folder inside your
InDesign application folder. It should be at the top level of the
Scripts folder, and not inside a folder that’s already there.
Double-click the .zip file to decompress the archive. The archive
will decompress into a LayoutZone folder. Inside the folder you
should see three folders and the LayoutZoneMenuItems.jsxbin file.
Delete the .zip archive. Launch or restart InDesign to begin working
with LayoutZone.

[Laubender]

Hi @rickt38612460 ,

thank you very much for your feedback on that issue I had with Layout Zone in 2019.

You said: "Drop the LayoutZone.zip file into the Scripts folder inside your
InDesign application folder."

Ah. You mean that I dropped the Layout Zone folder with the scripts too deep into the folder structure?

Hm. Could be. Will test if I find the time…

FWIW:

Many users do not have permission to change something in the application folder and need to use the Scripts folder of the user account. So the installation readme should also cover this case.

But thanks!

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[rickt38612460]

Below is the link for the manual from the Automatication website.

www.automatication.com/downloads/LayoutZone.pdf 

Yes on macOS you would need 'Admin Privileges' to modify the scripts folder if your InDesign install is in the defualt location of /Applications/Adobe InDesign 2022/