Styles That Apply Themselves
Ideally, we could have the computer figure out which styles go where and have InCopy apply them on its own. We could just say “Computer, format text” (maybe speaking into the mouse as though it were a microphone, like Scotty did in that Star Trek movie) and go on to the next task. Wouldn’t that [...]
Versioning Stories, Part 2: Editors’ Turn
In the last issue of InCopyFlow I wrote about a couple ways that designers could create back-ups and/or versions of an InDesign layout and its stories while it was in the middle of an InDesign/InCopy production cycle. Here’s the story, if you want to refresh your memory: Versioning Stories and Layouts. You may remember that [...]
A Hidden Game in InCopy CS3
When Adobe released CS3, many users (especially designers) were aghast at the change in the branding. Instead of butterflies (InDesign and InCopy), flowers (Illustrator), and feathers (Photoshop), now our program icons and splash screens were simple colored squares with initials, evoking a Periodic Table of the Elements theme. But butterflies still exist in InCopy (and [...]
Palettes to Toolbars and Vice Versa
Microsoft Office is a toolbar-centric set of programs. Adobe Creative Suite has a palette-cenric philosophy. And InCopy is a mash-up of the two. It’s an Adobe Creative Suite program designed to appeal to editors most familiar with Microsoft Word. That’s why it has horizontal toolbars at the top and the bottom along with the usual [...]
Permanently Enable Track Changes?
Speaking of tweaking default settings … At least once a month, an InCopy user e-mails me and asks if Track Changes could be turned on by default for all stories. The answer is no, unfortunately. While it seems at first that it is a customizable default — you can turn it on with no documents [...]
Personalize InCopy’s Defaults
Do you constantly change the same settings over and over again when you’re working in InCopy? Perhaps you always turn on Show Hidden Characters? Or you always switch from the default Story view to Layout after opening a new file? Take a few minutes today and set the program up to run the way you [...]
DIY Solution: Pasteboard Notes
Most users in an InCopy/InDesign workflow make at least some use of the Notes feature (Notes > New Note). They’re a great way for editors and designers to communicate with each other within the file itself, without worrying about compromising the text flow or accidentally including some sort of in-house business in a final printout. [...]
Text Macro Tips
If you have a lot of text macros, it can become difficult to remember which code enters what. Double-click an entry (listed by code) in the Text Macros palette and you’ll see a preview of the full text in a scrolling window. Remember that you can include underscore characters in your code, so “Joe_bio” (for [...]
Fun with Text Macros
Have you ever needed to type the same long company name, boilerplate blurb or multisyllabic mouthful over and over again in the same publication? Or every time you write a particular type of article or story in multiple publications? If you’re not using InCopy’s Text Macros feature to share the workload, you’re missing out. By [...]