Tips and techniques for Adobe InCopy/InDesign workflow users

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

Working With Layout Templates

Is there some sort of efficiency virus going around? Over the past few weeks I’ve received a slew of phone calls and e-mails from IC/ID users of every stripe asking for help with the same thing: setting up template-based InCopy/InDesign workflows.
Here’s an example, from an art director who e-mailed me last month:
“I want to […]

My InCopy CS3 Workflow White Paper

Last fall, one of my favorite clients — Adobe Systems themselves, woo-hoo! — hired me to write up their official InCopy CS3 Workflow white paper. You’re probably familiar with an earlier version (like CS or CS2) of this white paper. It’s the PDF document prospective users download from the main InCopy product page on the […]

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 and Layouts

Designers, editors and writers have itchy trigger fingers, born out of bitter experience working with computers. We like to periodically do a “Save As” to files we’re working on so we can safely revert to previous versions in case something gets messed up.
But when a designer does that to a layout file with linked InCopy […]

InCopy and Images Refresher

I wonder how many seasoned IC/ID users are even aware images can be exported to the workflow, just like text. And what exactly an InCopy user can do to them.
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 […]

My Lynda.com IC/ID Video Training is Live

My first Lynda.com video training title went live a couple weeks ago. Right now the lessons are only available online, but a DVD will be available for sale shortly:
InCopy CS3 + InDesign CS3 Integration
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=323
If you’re not a lynda.com member, you can only view the first few introductory Quicktime movies for free. Once you subscribe […]

Huge Yellow Tool Tips Bugging You?

When you’re in InCopy’s Layout view, or anywhere in InDesign’s main view, the programs insist on displaying huge yellow boxes with tiny text whenever you hover your cursor over a managed workflow story or image. The text says, “You are currently editing “feature story-Once there.incx”” or “X Story is available for anyone to edit” or […]

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