Inspiring

Question

Understanding Photoshop PDFs and InDesign PDFs

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
July 18, 2019
6 replies
1896 views

Hi there,

I am currently working on some scripting and action solutions for my team, and have to export an incredible amount of files out of InDesign to PDF, unfortunately, there are a few actions that have to take place on these files first. Now, I am investigating scripts within InDesign, but this got me wondering... Could this somehow be done in photoshop? Can I somehow bring my InDesign file into photoshop and save out a PDF with layer versioning and action commands? And have that PDF be editable still?

What is the difference between Photoshop PDFs and InDesign PDFs? W

What kind of workarounds might there be?

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

davidc69929907Author

Inspiring

All images will have been edited prior to this process. In fact, the files we are proliferating from will have already been fully approved and sent to our print vendor for production. These new files are for use in the field, digitally. We build the "converted" files from our existing approved print files. I outlined the process above.

The script I tested is called Layers to Smart Objects. Unfortunately, it won't work for this process as is, as it does not render out the second page and it is integral that the second page is a part of the document, as items from the first page will be placed on the second page in the action set.

rob day

Community Expert

The script I tested is called Layers to Smart Objects. Unfortunately, it won't work for this process

Right, that's the name of the most recent version of my script. Are you writing your InDesign scripts with AppleScript or JavaScript?

davidc69929907Author

Inspiring

Good to know, thanks for the script. It will come In handy on other projects for sure. I don't write much script, but I know limited Javascript, and next to no AppleScript.

rob day

Community Expert

Could this somehow be done in photoshop? Can I somehow bring my InDesign file into photoshop and save out a PDF with layer versioning and action commands? And have that PDF be editable still?
...I found a lovely script that allows me to break my InDesign layers into Photoshop smart objects, but only outputs a single page document.

It doesn't seem like you would want to move the pages into Photoshop. If one of the tasks prior to exporting the PDFs involves image editing, wouldn't you want to edit the image objects in Photoshop and update the links via the script?

Is the script you are referring to my AppleScript linked in this thread?

Re: how to export indesign layers to photoshop layers (same structure)

jane-e

Community Expert

davidc69929907 wrote
Can I somehow bring my InDesign file into photoshop and save out a PDF with layer versioning and action commands? And have that PDF be editable still?

Hi David,

“there are a few actions that have to take place on these files first”
Can you say what it is exactly that you are trying to do the the files? Are you currently doing those things in InDesign or in Acrobat? We need to know this before we can best advise.

“ Can I somehow bring my InDesign file into photoshop and save out a PDF with layer versioning and action commands? And have that PDF be editable still?”
No, you can’t bring an .indd file into Photoshop. It’s the other way around: you bring Photoshop files as linked images into InDesign. In fact, there are some InDesign users who go so far as to call PS and Illy plug-ins for InDesign, but I am not one of those.

Also, saving as PDF from Photoshop does not support Layers. Exporting to PDF from InDesign does as long as you choose Acrobat 6 or higher.

“What is the difference between Photoshop PDFs and InDesign PDFs?”
They are both Adobe PDFs. Adobe gave away PDF technology and PDFs are owned by an ISO, so Microsoft and Mac and others can make their own PDFs. Adobe’s are best. You have choices about settings when you export or save to PDF, and that’s what makes the difference.

“What kind of workarounds might there be?”
The best way to edit a PDF is to make the edits in the source package and make a new PDF. That’s always been true. Saying that, though, there are many things that can be done inside of Acrobat, including prepress and creating actions. And again, saying that, some people edit the PDFs using Illustrator. There are pros and cons to that, and I don’t do it — I keep the source file and make edits there. I have never heard of the workflow you are suggesting of trying to place an InDesign file into Photoshop in order to make the PDF.

Knowing what your goals are and what the actions that you are trying to do is the only way we can give you a best answer.

~ Jane

davidc69929907Author

Inspiring

Thanks for the reply Jane, I'm just attempting to brainstorm various methods at this point, this was one of the methods I had some questions on.

So, to describe the process as it currently stands:

First, we will have a 2 page InDesign file, this file has an Imprint layer as well. We have to take the envelope portion of the first page on the flush left and move it to the second page, flush right. Additionally, we will then resize the document to the size of the first page without the envelope. Then we shift the flush left components of the second page into the new size of the document. Finally, we export PDFs with and without the Imprint layers, and also JPEGs. We do this with up to 1200 files per season. Recently I was able to automate the exporting and layer versioning process, which has cut down the time this takes drastically. My new goal is to entirely automate the process, so that the designer would simply select a folder, hit a button and take a coffee break.

Now, I was able to also track down a script that exports InDesign layers as smart objects into Photoshop, but this process only works for single page documents.

The real issue here is that InDesign is still missing an Actions panel, if there were an Actions panel, I'd already have this process entirely automated. This line of thought has me questions; is it possible to get these files in and out of Photoshop somehow? Some combination of scripts that I could stitch together and make into a single script and then an action within Photoshop?

I know this is a bit outside the box and an eccentric/brainstormy line of thought; but that's sort of my job, finding unique production solutions.

rob day

Community Expert

First, we will have a 2 page InDesign file, this file has an Imprint layer as well. We have to take the envelope portion of the first page on the flush left and move it to the second page, flush right.

It sounds like you are trying to impose the pages? Can you show a screen capture of before and after? It’s hard to see how moving the pages over to Photoshop would help the process if all you are trying to do is rearrange pages.

davidc69929907Author

Inspiring

This is definitely an issue I have encountered. I found a lovely script that allows me to break my InDesign layers into Photoshop smart objects, but only outputs a single page document. The most annoying step of our process is the one that I'm struggling to find solutions for the most, is taking the envelope section from the far left side of page one and move it to the far right side of page two.

War Unicorn

Community Expert

If I remember correctly, Photoshop opens PDFs on a page-by-page basis, i.e., if you had a multi-page PDF document designed in InDesign, Photoshop opens each page as a separate document...which could be a nightmare for PDFs with lots of pages.

Akash Sharma

Legend

Hi Davidc,

I'd recommend that you also post your query on Photoshop Scripting

Not moving the discussion over to the above community as experts here can provide suggestions as well.

Thanks,

Akash

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