A common design workflow involves somebody designing a page, spread, or chapter in a layout application, then waiting for a writer or editor to finish with the copy. When the copy is complete, the text is imported into the layout application. If the copy needs a last-minute edit, the editor has to wait for the designer to finish working in the layout application before the edit can be made. Similarly, if the designer needs to make a last-minute change to the layout, he has to wait until the editor is done with the file. This repetitive loop is a common bottleneck in the publishing process (Figure 8.1). When each department is waiting for the other department, you realize how slow and inefficient this linear approach is.

Figure 8.1. A linear publishing workflow is very common but also very inefficient.

Alternatively, InDesign and InCopy let designers and writers/editors work simultaneously. For example, a designer can make last-minute changes to a layout, such as changing the size of a photo or inserting a late advertisement, at the same time that an editor is fixing an error or correcting a fact in the text of the same layout (Figure 8.2). That’s right, different parts of the same layout can be edited at the same time by different people using different computers. You can even have one designer making last-minute edits to the layout while multiple writers and editors work on multiple stories from the same layout. This parallel workflow can streamline the publishing process, allow for more flexibility near press time, and make it easier to meet deadlines.

Figure 8.2. The parallel workflow allows writers and editors to work on different stories with InCopy at the same time a designer is finalizing the layout with InDesign.

Another significant advantage of a parallel workflow is that it helps distinguish roles in the process. When you implement InDesign and InCopy together, it allows designers to focus on design and layout while allowing writers and editors to focus on writing and editing. This might sound overly simple, but we’ve seen a lot of publishers struggle with designers who edit copy and editors who change the layout. Adding InCopy to the workflow helps publishers take a divide-and-conquer approach between their design and editorial departments.

The second major advantage of using InCopy is that it gives writers and editors the power of page visualization. Writers and editors typically use word-processing or text-editing software that has no concept of the final layout. This is like writing in the dark, with only the slightest sense of how the writing will appear in the context of the layout. We’ve talked with a lot of writers who make their best effort at writing to an estimated word count and then “toss it over the wall” with a vague hope it will actually fit the layout. The text might be too long, too short, or suffer from awkward line breaks when placed on the designed page. Unfortunately, the writer has no idea how his copy will fit with the layout unless he’s using an editorial solution like InCopy and InDesign.

InCopy works hand-in-hand with InDesign so that InCopy can accurately display the page layout that the writer is writing for, including line breaks, column breaks, page breaks, text wrap, and copyfit statistics. You can view the various breaks in Galley view or see the actual InDesign layout, complete with graphics and text flow, in Layout view (Figure 8.3). As if this page visualization weren’t cool enough, InDesign and InCopy can even work together so that any updates to the layout or text stories can update for users working on a particular layout, so all contributors can be confident they’re always up to date.

Figure 8.3. Writers and editors can use InCopy’s Layout view to visualize how their writing interacts with the page design.

This page visualization is possible because InDesign and InCopy share a lot of common technology, including file formats, text styles, text composition engines, and the LiveEdit Workflow plug-ins. Because of this tight integration, you should always use InDesign and InCopy with matching versions. For example, InCopy CS works best with InDesign CS but not as well with InDesign CS2. To be specific, if the layout department uses InDesign 4.0.1, then the InCopy users should also use InCopy 4.0.1, but not InCopy 4.0.

The third area where InCopy really shines is general productivity features that allow you to work quickly and efficiently when a deadline is looming. The new Quick Apply feature (see Chapter 3) makes it easy to apply text styles without taking your hands off the keyboard. It’s a great example of the kind of thoughtful details that make working with InCopy a speedy process. Automatic text macros (see Chapter 4) are another handy feature that expands short text strings such as “ic” into longer pieces of text like “Adobe InCopy CS2.” Automated bullets and numbering make the life of a writer that much easier. Lastly, the dictionary and spell check features got a major overhaul in version CS2 and now include dynamic spell check (as in Microsoft Word), shared dictionaries, and easy import of custom word lists.

In order for InDesign and InCopy users to work together, they both need the LiveEdit plug-ins installed. InCopy users have the plug-ins installed by default any time they install InCopy because anybody using InCopy will also be working with InDesign users. However, not all InDesign users collaborate with InCopy users, so the LiveEdit plug-ins must be installed in InDesign.

Before you install the LiveEdit plug-ins, open the Adobe InDesign CS2/Plug-Ins folder to see what’s already installed. You should see a folder called InCopyWorkflow in the Plug-Ins folder and you might think you have everything you need. However, if you open the InCopyWorkflow folder you’ll see only two plug-ins, InCopyImport and InCopyWorkflow (Figure 8.4). These default plug-ins merely allow InDesign to be aware of InCopy files and to place them in a layout. These plug-ins are the equivalent of a Word or RTF text-import filter. If all you need in InDesign is the ability to place InCopy files, then these two plug-ins are sufficient. However, if you want to participate in a parallel workflow with other users and enjoy the benefits of a LiveEdit Workflow, such as check-in/check-out, notes, assignments, and exporting InCopy stories, then you need to install the rest of the LiveEdit plug-ins.

Figure 8.4. The InCopyImport and InCopyWorkflow plug-ins are installed in InDesign by default, but you need the rest of the LiveEdit plug-ins to make InDesign work completely with InCopy.

Before you install the LiveEdit plug-ins, you should quit InDesign CS2. Now you need to locate the plug-ins that you’re about to install, and the location of these files varies depending on how you licensed your Adobe software.

If you work in a large organization that participates in Adobe’s volume licensing program it’s highly likely that you have Adobe software installed on your computer but don’t have access to the installation media. In that case, you’ll need to contact your internal support staff or IT manager to request access to the installation CDs.

When you locate the LiveEdit plug-ins, follow these simple instructions to install them in the correct location:

Figure 8.5. After you install the LiveEdit plug-ins, you’ll have these ten plug-ins available when you re-launch InDesign.

When you install the LiveEdit plug-ins, you’ll notice that one new tool (Note), two new palettes (Assignments and Notes), and several new menu commands have been added to InDesign. Let’s take a look at how each of these new features is used by an InDesign user participating in a LiveEdit workflow.

First, notice the File > User command that has been added by the LiveEdit plug-ins. Choose this command to enter a unique user name and choose a color that will be used to identify your contributions to the workflow (Figure 8.6). This user name is used when multiple users are checking out stories from the same layout, and the color is used to indicate any notes you insert in a story. See Chapter 2 for a complete discussion of choosing a user name.

Figure 8.6. InDesign users should enter a unique user name and select an indicator color in the User dialog.

You’ll also notice the Note tool has been added to the Tools palette. The Note tool in InDesign works exactly like it does in InCopy (see Chapter 5) and lets an InDesign user add notes to an InCopy story. Without the LiveEdit plug-ins installed, though, an InDesign user cannot even see notes in an InCopy story. But when the plug-ins are installed, an InDesign user has full notes functionality, including the Notes menu and Notes palette in addition to the Note tool in the Tools palette (Figure 8.7).

Figure 8.7. InDesign users can use the Note tool, Notes menu, and Notes palette to view, create, and edit notes in the main document window and in the Story Editor (Edit > Edit in Story Editor).

Additionally, the Edit > InCopy submenu is added by the LiveEdit plug-ins and includes many commands for creating assignments, exporting stories, and managing content. InDesign users manage assignments and stories with the Assignments and Links palettes, and the View > Show Assigned Frames command highlights which stories have been assigned to InCopy users. All of these features and more are covered in detail later this chapter.

The purpose of exporting text threads as InCopy stories is obvious, but the ability to export graphic frames as InCopy stories is new in InCopy CS2 and probably sounds like a foreign concept. Previous versions of InCopy maintained a strict separation between text and graphic handling, but based on user feedback, the InCopy product team decided to give users a few more options in the CS2 version. For example, many newspaper publishers in Europe expect their editors to choose the images that accompany their stories.

Whether or not you make graphic frames available to your InCopy users is an important decision. If you’d rather not let your editors place, scale, or rotate images, then export only text stories and don’t export graphics as InCopy stories. Choose Edit > InCopy > Export > All Stories and you’ll be safe because InDesign will export only text stories for the InCopy users to edit. If you’re planning to let your editors use InCopy to place images and make minor edits such as scale, rotate, and shear, then you can also export graphics as InCopy stories. If you want your InCopy users to control only certain graphics, then select only those graphic frames and export just the selected images.

When you export InCopy stories from InDesign, it’s important to consider where you’ll save the stories so that everybody involved in the publication understands the organization and structure of the files. Because InDesign and InCopy need to collaborate on the same group of files, you need to store the InDesign and InCopy documents on a file server that all contributors can access.

The InDesign and InCopy files should probably be saved in the same place, but that doesn’t mean they have to be in exactly the same directory. For example, it’s a good idea to export all the InCopy stories to a subfolder called Stories, next to the InDesign file (Figure 8.9). This way all the files are together, but users aren’t as likely to confuse the InDesign (.indd) files with the InCopy (.incx) files. However you decide to organize your exported InCopy stories, ensure that everybody working on the publication uses the same organizational scheme.

Figure 8.9. Exporting InCopy stories to a subfolder can keep the files organized and help avoid confusion between files with similar filenames and different extensions.

If you export InCopy stories one at a time, you get to choose the filename for each story, such as: travel story by Bob.incx. Some users might enjoy that level of control, but most folks don’t have the time to export every individual story manually. It’s not a difficult task, but it’s tedious and time consuming. Instead, you’ll probably export all stories or an entire layer at a time.

When you export multiple stories simultaneously, InDesign uses a default naming pattern for the exported .incx files. This isn’t a problem, but it’s helpful to understand the naming scheme. If you create an InDesign file called monday_features.indd with four empty text frames, choose Edit > InCopy > Export > All Stories, and use the defaults, InDesign exports four .incx files named:

Notice that the name of the InDesign file is used as the default prefix for all the exported stories and then is followed by the type of frame (Text) and then a sequence number that makes each filename unique. If you’d rather use your own prefix for the exported .incx files, type a custom filename in the Export dialog. For example, if you type travelstory.incx in the Export dialog, the .incx filenames will be:

If you add three graphic frames to the InDesign file and export them as InCopy stories, the filenames follow the same pattern except “Graphic” is used instead of “Text” to indicate what kind of story it is. For example, here are the filenames of the three graphics if you export them as InCopy stories:

If the text frames you export as InCopy stories already have text in them (as opposed to being empty), then the first few words in each story are used in the exported filenames. For example, here are the filenames for three exported stories about fall activities:

After you export content as InCopy stories, InDesign warns you that you must save the InDesign file if you want to share it and the InCopy stories with other users (Figure 8.10). In order for the connection between InDesign and InCopy to function properly, you really don’t have a choice, so click OK.

Figure 8.10. You always want to save the InDesign document after exporting InCopy stories, so check the “Don’t show again” option and save yourself a lot of annoying clicks.

It’s important to understand why InDesign needs to save the working document. Before you exported the InCopy stories, the content, such as placeholder text and empty text frames, were considered internal objects in the InDesign document. However, when you export the InCopy stories, you externalize that content so that it’s available to InCopy users as .incx files. This means that what used to be an internal document element is now an externally linked object in InDesign (Figure 8.11).

Figure 8.11. Exporting InCopy stories as .incx files separates text from the InDesign layout.

An easy way to see how this works is to watch the Links palette in InDesign when you export InCopy stories. Export a few stories and you’ll see the .incx files listed in the Links palette just like linked images (Figure 8.12). Realizing that InCopy stories are linked files in an InDesign document is key to understanding how the LiveEdit workflow manages the InCopy stories.

Figure 8.12. The Links palette in InDesign reveals that exported InCopy stories have turned text stories into externally linked files.

In addition to the fact that InCopy stories are listed in the Links palette, InDesign also adds a small graphic adornment to any frame that is linked to an InCopy story (Figure 8.13). Look near the top left of a frame in InDesign, and a small icon of a globe and a document icon appear if the frame is an InCopy story and therefore part of the managed workflow.

Figure 8.13. Frame adornments indicate that a text thread is an InCopy story.

Now that you understand why InCopy assignments are the greatest thing since sliced bread, let us show you how a designer using InDesign creates them. It’s important to remember that assignments are just a snapshot of the page geometry of the InDesign layout. This means that if an InDesign user creates an assignment and then changes the page layout or adds stories to the assignment, she must update the assignment before InCopy users can see the changes. The nice thing about the assignment being a snapshot of the layout and stories is that the InDesign user doesn’t have to push design changes until they’re relevant to the other contributors using InCopy.

In this chicken-and-egg cycle, the InDesign user should first export the InCopy stories that are supposed to be a part of the managed, collaborative workflow. After the InDesign user has exported the InCopy stories, she should select the stories in the layout that she wants to assign as a logical group (assignment) to a writer or editor. When she has all the pieces of the story selected (headline, body, photo captions, and maybe even graphic frames) she chooses Edit > InCopy > Add Selection to Assignment > New. When she’s prompted to save the assignment file (.inca), she should save it in a different location than the exported InCopy stories, such as a folder reserved just for assignment files. You can name the assignment file whatever you want, but give it an understandable name and always use the .inca file extension, as in weekend_dining.inca. Saving the assignment file with the .inca extension and in a specific folder helps keep InCopy users from accidentally opening the wrong files.

After the InDesign user names the assignment file and chooses where to save it, she still has a few more decisions to make in the New Assignment dialog that appears (Figure 8.15). The first field is for the Assignment Name, which defaults to the name of the .inca file she specified in the previous dialog. She can change this to be different from the .inca file name if she wants, but if she’s chosen a useful filename for the .inca file, then changing this here is only going to cause confusion. In fact, we’ve even heard from InCopy users who wish that InCopy required that the assignment name always match the .inca file and didn’t allow users to change it.

Figure 8.15. The New Assignment dialog in InDesign lets the designer control several important parameters.

In the Assigned to field, the InDesign user can type the name of a particular person, a department, a role, or leave it blank, whichever makes sense. The Assignments palettes in InDesign and InCopy reference the value of the Assigned to field, but don’t necessarily prohibit other users from accessing the assignment. It’s more of a reminder note for you and your co-workers as to who is expected to work on that assignment.

The third option in the New Assignment dialog is the Color pop-up menu, where the InDesign user can choose from a list of dozens of different colors. It’s technically not necessary to choose a different color for each assignment, but it’s helpful when dealing with complex publications that have several contributors. The color of an assignment is used both as a visual reminder in the Assignments palette and as the frame tint and border color when the Assigned Frames option is enabled in the View menu.

The last option in the New Assignment dialog determines how much detail is included in the assignment file. The three options are:

If you use assignments in your InCopy/InDesign workflow, make sure all placed images are linked to a file server instead of the designer’s hard drive. If the images aren’t available on the server, InCopy users will see gray boxes instead of image previews when they open an assignment file. If InCopy users open InDesign files instead of InCopy assignments, they don’t have to have access to the file server to see the image previews because the .indd file stores low-res image previews.

After the InDesign user creates assignments in InDesign, she might need to make changes to the layout, stories, or organization of the content. For example, if she decides to add a sidebar to a story, she’d start by adding a new text frame to the InDesign layout and exporting it as a new InCopy story. This new frame is itself a story, and she’ll probably want to add the new story to the related assignment. To add new content to an existing assignment, the InDesign user follows these steps:

Altered assignments show a small yield triangle icon in the Assignments palette. The InDesign user can choose Update All Assignments from the Assignments palette menu to refresh all the affected assignments (Figure 8.16).

Figure 8.16. After you make a design change in InDesign, update the assignments so InCopy users can see the latest changes.

Adding new stories to an existing assignment obviously requires the assignment to be updated, but so does making a change to the InDesign layout. If the InDesign layout is changed by doing things such as resizing a text frame, adding a new text frame, or changing the text wrap on an image, the assignments should be updated. To update specific assignments, the InDesign user selects them in the Assignments palette and chooses Update Selected Assignments in the Assignments palette menu.

In some cases, the InDesign user might accidentally add the wrong story to an assignment. If that happens, she can just drag the mismatched story in the Assignments palette to the correct assignment (Figure 8.17). After she reassigns the story, both assignments must be updated. She can drag and drop stories to change their sequence within an assignment in the Assignments palette, but this has no effect on the sequence of the stories when the assignment file is opened in InCopy.

Figure 8.17. InDesign users can reassign a story in the Assignments palette by dragging it from one assignment to another.

If the InDesign user inadvertently adds a story to an assignment, she can change her mind and remove it. To remove a story from an assignment, select the story in the Assignments palette and choose Remove from Assignment from the palette menu. After the story is removed from the assignment, the InDesign user must update the assignments as previously described.

There are a few more scenarios to be aware of where InDesign users might need to manage assignments. If the designer opens an InDesign file in InDesign and the associated assignment files cannot be located, she’ll see the warning dialog box shown in Figure 8.18.

Figure 8.18. If an InCopy assignment has been moved, renamed, or deleted, InDesign warns the user that it can’t find the expected files.

This dialog box is pretty verbose, but it actually does a good job of explaining what has happened: An assignment file has been moved, renamed, or deleted. To fix the problem she should select the assignment in the Assignments palette and choose Update Selected Assignments from the palette menu.

InDesign will create new assignment files with the same names in the same locations and resolve the issue. InDesign can recreate the assignments from scratch because assignments are just snapshots of the current page geometry. InDesign remembers that the assignments exist, but an InDesign file doesn’t have a dependent link to an assignment in the same way it requires linked files such as images and InCopy stories.

To change the name or location of an assignment, the InDesign user selects it in the Assignments palette and chooses Change Assignment Location in the palette menu. When prompted, she must choose a new location for the .inca file and can change the filename if desired. This is another way to fix missing assignments and an easy way to correct mistakes if an assignment was accidentally saved in the wrong place on the file server. To change assignment options other than location and filename, the InDesign user selects the assignment and chooses Assignment Options in the Assignments palette menu to change settings such as the assigned user and the color.

To delete an assignment altogether, the InDesign user chooses the assignment(s) in the Assignments palette and clicks the trash can icon at the bottom of the palette or chooses Delete Assignment from the palette menu. When she deletes an assignment, she’s only deleting the organization provided by the assignment, but nothing in the layout and none of the InCopy story files are deleted.

The check-in/check-out mechanism avoids file collisions, but that is only part of the equation in a collaborative workflow. Other key components include understanding who is working on different stories and managing live updates between InDesign and InCopy. For example, what happens if an InDesign user has to shorten the column length of a story to make room for a last-minute advertisement? The good news is that the LiveEdit plug-ins also handle these delegation and update aspects of the workflow.

There are several ways to know if a managed story is checked out and, if so, who is working on it. When an InDesign user looks at the layout she should notice the small frame adornment icons on the top left edge of the frame or next to the story name in the Assignments palette. There are five icons that communicate the status of an InCopy story:

In addition to these status icons, you can hover your mouse pointer over them and see a tooltip with more information. For example, if a story has been checked out by another user in the workflow, the tooltip tells you the name of the story file, who has the story checked out, which application they are using to edit the story (InDesign or InCopy), and the complete file path (Figure 8.21).

Figure 8.21. Use the tooltips to get more information about who is editing a story.

InDesign users can see the impact of the story edits made by InCopy users by choosing Edit > InCopy > Update Content. You can also select an out-of-date InCopy story in the either Links or Assignments palette and click the Update Link button at the bottom of the palette to force the layout to refresh. These updates aren’t automatic because the performance on the file server and network would undoubtedly slow to a crawl. Imagine a newspaper spread getting real-time updates from ten different editors. Not only would the network slow down, but it would be distracting to see multiple stories updating at the same time in the same spread while somebody worked on the layout in InDesign.

In most workflows, the process starts with an InDesign user who creates a template, designs the layout, reserves sufficient space for any advertising, and creates text frames for the stories that will be written in InCopy. Then the designer exports the text frames as InCopy stories so that they can be accessed by a writer using InCopy. The designer might also create InCopy assignments to hand off parts of a layout to an InCopy user.

However, that’s just the beginning of the process. The integration of InDesign and InCopy really kicks in later in the workflow when the two applications communicate with each other via the LiveEdit plug-ins. When a designer updates a layout by doing things like resizing a text box, inserting a new ad, changing a text wrap, or altering a text style, the change should be communicated to the InCopy users. To ensure that the writers and editors are working with the most current update of the layout, the InDesign user should update all out-of-date assignments in the Assignments palette (see “Managing Assignments” earlier in this chapter). It also wouldn’t hurt to save the InDesign file to make sure recent changes are saved to disk.

Layout updates are only communicated to InCopy users who open InDesign documents (.indd) and InCopy assignments (.inca) because those two file formats understand page geometry and copyfit calculations (see “Calculating Copyfit” later in this chapter). If an InCopy user only opens InCopy (.incx), he will not get updates about page geometry from the InDesign document. When an InCopy user is editing a story affected by an InDesign design update, the document title bar changes to say [Out of Date] (Figure 8.22). This indicates to the writer or editor using InCopy that there’s a change to the InDesign layout that could affect the amount of space for the story.

Figure 8.22. The document title bar indicates when the layout is out of date.

When this happens, the InCopy user should choose File > Update Design to refresh the layout and ensure they’re writing for the most recent layout from the designer. The Update Design command is also available from the context menu in the Assignments palette and in the Assignments palette menu. When Update Design is invoked, InCopy warns you that all content must be saved and that the Edit > Undo command won’t reverse the update (Figure 8.23). Click OK, and InCopy saves and closes the document, but then immediately opens it again. When the document re-opens in InCopy, you’ll see a refreshed view of the design with the changes submitted to the workflow from the InDesign user. Any stories checked out before a design update stay checked out.

Figure 8.23. Perform a Design Update in InCopy to ensure you’re working with the latest version of the layout.

When using the LiveEdit plug-ins, the final decisions are ultimately made by the designer using InDesign, so the list of responsibilities for the InCopy user is pretty short. Essentially, InCopy users need to check out stories (File > Check Out), edit them, and check them back in (File > Check In) when they’re done.