In his publication’s editorial-driven workflow, editors are primarily responsible for creating styles and applying them correctly to their stories in standalone InCopy documents, which are later placed into InDesign layouts. Being able to use InCopy to pick up formatting specs from previous InDesign files would help him a great deal. But, he lamented, it was impossible to pick up text formatting specs from older issues (which are usually read-only) in InCopy.

He said,

“I could look up something that’s been archived, but yesterday I tried that and found I can highlight the word or character in an archived document but the palette reveals nothing about font, size or leading.”

I thought, naw, he must be doing it wrong … but I tried it, and he’s correct. (Note to self: Editors are always right.) InCopy won’t show you formatting details until you actually check out the story containing the text. But in a read-only layout file (one that doesn’t have any managed stories), there’s nothing to check out.

Ah, but there’s a workaround! Here’s what I suggested to the editor: After selecting some text in a read-only layout, you can copy and paste it into a story that you’ve checked out in a different document, or just create a new standalone InCopy document (File > New) to paste the text into. That pasted text is now editable, so you can see all the paragraph and character formatting settings it has in the relevant palettes. When you have the information you need, you can delete the pasted text.

Workarounds … more satisfying that solutions, sometimes, because it feels like you’re tricking the software. Hah!

In case this feature (introduced in CS2) escaped your notice, here’s a quick rundown of how it works.

First, designers export image frames — filled with an image, or an empty placeholder — from InDesign to InCopy the same way they export text frames. When they export a frame with an image inside it, the resulting .incx file doesn’t contain the original image, just a preview and a link to the original, native file, just as in InDesign. InCopy users have a Links panel where they can see the same info about placed images that InDesign users can.

Once an image frame has been exported to InCopy, it displays the same status icon (Available, In Use, etc.) in layout mode and in the Assignments panel as managed text frames. In the Assignments panel you can tell which of the managed content items are images by looking at their icons. Managed graphics show a little box with a large “X” inside (mirroring what an empty graphic frame looks like in the layout), while managed text stories show a little box with a captial “A” inside.

InCopy’s Galley and Story view don’t show managed images. Users stay in Layout view to work with them. As with workflow stories, editors need to check the images out (select the image and choose Check Out from the usual places) and check them back in when they’re done. The important thing to remember is that as with text frames, InCopy users can only edit the content of image frames, not the frames themselves.

However, there’s a ton of stuff you can do with that content! Both InCopy CS2 and CS3 have a Position tool (right under the Type tool) to drag the image around in the frame, changing what the frame reveals, i.e., the image’s crop. You also have an Object menu with automatic and precise image editing controls like Transform (Scale, Rotate, Flip, etc.), Object layer options, Display options, and Fitting commands. This latter fly-out menu includes commands like Fit Content to Frame and Fill Frame Proportionally, but not Fit Frame to Content (an option in InDesign), since that would be changing the frame itself.

InCopy users can also import images into frames they’ve checked out via the File > Place command, or by dragging and dropping from the Finder, Windows Explorer, or from Adobe Bridge (now included with InCopy CS3).

Importing an image into a text frame turns it into an Anchored Object, an image that’s part of the text flow. Importing it into an empty image frame fills it with the image, of course. Importing it into a filled image frame replaces the old image with the one that’s being imported.

Danger, danger, Will Robinson! Care must be taken to only import images that are on the shared fileserver so that other users in the workgroup can access the original if needed (and the designers will need these when they prepare the publication for final output). If the image is on your local hard drive, move it to the server first before importing it into the publication.

Finally, after an InCopy user checks out a filled image frame, they can use InCopy’s Edit Original command to open the source image — the one that the preview is linked to — in its native application, and edit it there. After you save your changes to the image, when you return to InCopy you’ll see the image is automatically updated. But it’s not until you take the second step of saving your changes to the content in InCopy that other users with the document open will get the “Out of Date” icon on the image, prompting them to Update Content to see the changes.

You’ll find the Edit Original command in InCopy’s Edit menu and the context menu (right-click on the image), or you can use the Edit Original shortcut: just hold down the Option or Alt key and double-click on the image.

Brooks recently converted his publication’s 7-member editorial/design staff to the InCopy/InDesign workflow, and we’ve been trading a few e-mails back and forth. A couple days after the switch, he e-mailed me, “The advantages of the parallel workflow are a Godsend. I am not exaggerating when I say that we have leapt four days ahead in our production schedule in the last 48 hours.”

I just love hearing that, you know? There aren’t too many software applications that people call a “Godsend” these days. I trust all of you know exactly what Brooks is talking about and why he’s so excited. I hear the same thing from my publishing clients who’ve made the transition — production schedules slashed by days, and even weeks.

But that’s not the point of this story, just the scene-setting. Read on …

InPhoto?

A few weeks later, I e-mailed Brooks to see how it was going, if “the bloom was off the rose” yet. You know that’s gotta happen… once the dazzle departs, you get used the new workflow, and then start seeing things that could be improved.

And while he did reply with a couple of common wishlist items, what struck me was his detailed explanation of a completely new use for InCopy (new to me, at least) that they’re finding indispensable for their photocentric publication.

Call it “InPhoto.” Equip the artists and Photoshop retouchers at your publication with InCopy, and they too can edit within the layout. Not the text, but the artwork.

Brooks gave me permission to reprint his explanation of LensWork’s image-editing workflow, pre- and post-InCopy:

“Old way with InDesign only: We would layout the magazine with all the images (sometimes a hundred or more) that a photographer sends us. We would then edit down to the final cut. Next, every image that makes the final cut needs to be examined and tweaked in Photoshop for perfect tonalities, color corrections, and other image issues. We would do this from InDesign using EDIT ORIGINAL on each image in the final layout, working our way through the portfolio one image at a time. While doing this, the layout and editorial folks would not have access to the InDesign file — which was a frustration for all of us.

“New way with InCopy: We simply assigned the image layer of the InDesign document to an InCopy assignment. The person doing the photo editing could then use InCopy to access the final cut images rather than InDesign. They could still review and port images to Photoshop one at a time using InCopy’s EDIT ORIGINAL command just as in InDesign. This obviously left the text editors and layout people free to do their work while the photo editor was tweaking the Photoshop files for perfect reproduction. Voila — a perfect workflow for image editing that didn’t interrupt anyone else. A thing of beauty!”

Yes, Brooks, beautiful! And thank you for letting me share that with everyone.

Who else is using managed images in their InCopy/InDesign workflow? I’d love to know how it’s being used at your publication. E-mail me at amarie@incopysecrets.com and let me know the details, if you get a chance.