The Strange Case of the “Editing and Out of Date” Status
I get a lot of screen shots of InCopy UIOs (Unidentified Interface Objects) sent my way. “What does this thing mean?” is the usual message in the e-mail. Here’s one that I get at least once a month — you may have encountered it yourself — and at first glance, it seems impossible:
Now, how could a story be out of date (the triangle icon) if you’re editing it (the pencil icon)? No one has a more up to date version of the story than you, right? And no one else could have saved changes to the story while you were working on it. So the icon makes no sense. Yet there it is, staring at you. What gives? Read more
InCopy CS4 Gets 4 Stars from Macworld Magazine
It’s always a welcome surprise to read about InCopy in a trade magazine, especially when you can tell the author actually uses the program (as opposed to recasting a press release as an article). (As if Adobe ever writes press releases about InCopy.)
Such is the case with Macworld magazine’s review of Adobe InCopy CS4, just published on their web site. Reviewer Sally Zahner is the assistant managing editor at the magazine. Macworld themselves moved to an InDesign/InCopy workflow earlier this year, so Sally’s excitement over being able to track changes in table text rings true. As does her disappointment that Adobe didn’t add any new Notes-related features (other than the ability to embed them in tables) to CS4, among other still-missing enhancements she says she’s been pining for. We’re with you, Sally!
These frustrations aside, she was upbeat about the new version, expounding on how useful the redesigned Links panel and conditional text features will be for editors and publishers.
(Full disclosure, I was the technical editor for this review. However, Macworld tech editors are limited to pointing up factual errors or overlooked major features in reviews and have no sway over mouse ratings or anything else.)
Working with a Mixed CS3 and CS4 Workflow
On October 14, 2008, Adobe released its CS4 versions of all of its Creative Suite software, including InCopy. And as they always do when they release a new version of the suite, they removed all previous versions from their store shelves at the same time.
So if you’re using an InDesign/InCopy CS3 workflow, and you need to get another copy of ID or IC for a new hire or to bring a new publication into the workflow, you’re a little bit stuck. (Unless you’re ready to move everyone—designers and editors—to CS4 at the same time.) That’s why one of the most frequent questions I’ve been getting lately is, “Can InDesign CS4 work with InCopy CS3?” while the second-most frequent one is, “Can InDesign CS3 work with InCopy CS4?”
The answers are “Yes” and “Yes” … but because of new file formats and extensions, you might have to modify the way you work.
InCopy and InDesign CS4 Free Trials Available
Want to see if the InDesign/InCopy CS4 workflow will work for you? You can now download fully-enabled trial versions of each CS4 program from Adobe’s web site. They’re available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms, in English and other localized language versions.
Inexplicably, InCopy CS4 is not a “featured product” on the trial downloads page … heh … so you’ll have to scroll past the image links and select the product name from the dropdown menu on the same page. Enter your Adobe ID if necessary, and you’ll be brought here:
Give a Little Air to the Editors
Here’s an interesting tip I thought some of you could use. A few clients of mine have their designers routinely extend text frame depth into white space below (below the point where they actually prefer the text to end), sometimes into the pasteboard. Then they use ruler guides to show the editors where the text should optimally end.
So, instead of handing the editors a text frame like this one (text frame is green, margin is magenta, bottom trim edge is the heavy black rule):
They make the text frame extra deep, like so:
Top Three New Features in InCopy CS4
With all the hoopla about the second coming the announcement of Adobe Creative Suite 4, you may be wondering … hey, what about InCopy? Where’s the press release? Where’s the live webcast? It’s part of the Creative Suite, isn’t it?
Well, yes and no. It’s called “InCopy CS3″ (or whatever version you have) because it’s designed to work with the same version of InDesign. But it’s not bundled with any of the Creative Suite packages, it’s always sold separately. (If you want them to include a copy, as I do, let Adobe know.)
Luckily, you’ve got me, and I’m here to give you the scoop. I want to start with the top three new features. I’ll write about additional new features in upcoming blog posts.
Table Editing in Story/Galley
There may be new feature that will have more long-range impact, but I believe this baby will be the most welcome to any editor or writer who works with tables in InCopy. You’ve always been able to edit table content in Layout view. In CS4, you can now see and edit the text content of tables — every cell, every row — in Story view and Galley view too.
And now, back to our regularly-scheduled program
Just wanted to post a quick note to you all, reassuring you that yes, InCopySecrets.com is still alive, and I’m starting up again with new posts— tips, workarounds, news, answers to user’s questions, the whole shebang.
My sincere apologies for neglecting this site in the past few months. Here’s what I replied to one of InCopySecrets’s fans who recently e-mailed me asking what’s up:
Yes, it’s still alive! This whole summer for me has been one huge client project after another, and everything else fell to the wayside (my posts on InDesignSecrets, my DesignGeek ezine, the updating of my own web site, my creativepro.com column … and my new baby blog, IC Secrets.)
Most of the huge projects are almost done and I’ve hired a couple new people who are just getting up to speed so I’ll be able to offload some tasks to them. Now I am doing my best to shore up neglected things, and IC Secrets is #1.
I hope you can take heart in the fact that many of the projects I referred to in my reply are directly related to Adobe InCopy. Training, writing, CS4 documentation, Lynda.com video tutorials, even working with plug-in developers to come up with some solutions to missing features in the off-the-shelf InCopy/InDesign workflow. (What I like to call the “commando” workflow—sans K4 or Smart Connection, just using what comes in the box.)
I’ll be writing about all of these projects in upcoming posts, but most especially, I’ll be writing about you, and the innovative ways you’re all making the workflow work at your own publications.
Incompatible plug-ins
It’s a bitter truth, but not all InDesign plug-ins are compatible with InCopy. Here’s an example.
Chris, a production manager at a catalog company, sent me an e-mail. He said that his company’s art department uses InDesign CS3 to put together their catalogs, relying heavily on Meadows Publishing Solution’s AutoPrice plug-in and Virginia System’s Sonar IndexPro. Chris really wants to move everyone to the InDesign/InCopy workflow, but during testing, discovered this:
Galley and Story View are Not Available
Lately, the InCopy forums at Adobe.com have been peppered with posts from different users quoting the same Alert dialog box, and asking why they’re seeing it.
The Alert box they’re referring to is this one:
How Many Letters in a Word?
A production manager at a book publisher e-mailed me this question a couple weeks ago:
How long of a word did Adobe use to determine the number of words in selected text frames?
Here’s a straightforward answer for you: They didn’t. Each word, regardless of length, is counted as one word. (You can change this in InCopy, but not in InDesign—more on that below). And in case you were wondering, hyphenated words are counted as one word, but em- and en-dashes are properly treated as white space separating words.