Opening .indd file in a text app to make amends

[individualistic_Echo5FD6]

Hi

I'm sure I've seen documentation showing that it's possible to open an InDesign file up in another app (possibly a text app) and be able to make text amends or other amends for that matter.

I need to open a lot of files (more than InDesign can handle) and make some minor amends to the text.

Has anyone done this?

thanks

Shane

[Jongware]

"More than InDesign can handle" would surprise me. I have worked with InDesign for almost two decades and must have handled many thousands of files. Or do you mean you need to open them all at once?

There is no other application that can handle binary InDesign files. You may be mistaken by reading about IDML, which is a plain text format – XML, to be precise – but, like a Word .docx file, this is composed of multiple separate files and packaged in a zip wrapper. But IDML is not really meant to be 'editable'; surely, it can be done but you won't be able to 'see' what you are doing, and things such as text wrapping and line breaking are not implemented. These only come alive when you open the IDML inside InDesign again.

Look into how to write scripts for InDesign. It's a series of basic operations to open each file in a folder (one at a time, or a whole bunch if you think this has any advantages), perform a certain action, and then save it again.

[individualistic_Echo5FD6]

Hi Jongware

Ahh yes! maybe it was idml, If open it up ant the text is accessible but its also a separate file I can't just edit.

Back to the drawing board, I guess.

Long story, but I have a load of products all as separate .indd files placed in a master txt thread that orders them, I've found this a great way to data merge the initial data and keep the document lightweight.

I already have an open file and batch script, but with so many, it takes a lot of time to process them all.

I was trying to open them all at once (500+) and just do a find/replace but I can't open them all at once.

[Laubender]

Hi Shane,

can you tell more about your workflow?

E.g.: Can you formulate a recipe indepentendly of the individual InDesign document's contents what should be added?

If not, means, you, as an author, have to look into each and every contents and then decide individually on the contents what to add, then automation is not doable.

But if you were able to write your text amends by scripting in e.g. ExtendScript (JavaScript) you could use Peter Kahrel's Batch process script to run a custom script on InDesign documents automatically:

http://www.kahrel.plus.com/indesign/batch_convert.html

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )