Managed files, Best practices for working with managed files – Adobe InDesign CS5 User Manual
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USING INDESIGN
Sharing content between InCopy and InDesign
Last updated 11/16/2011
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Export content as separate InCopy files (InDesign)
Managed files
For a file to be managed, it must be added to an assignment file, exported from InDesign as InCopy content, or placed
as InCopy content into InDesign. Managed files communicate both content status and ownership. With managed files,
you can:
•
Lock and unlock stories to help preserve file integrity.
•
Notify InCopy users when the associated InDesign layout is outdated.
•
Identify the user working on a file.
•
Notify users when an InCopy content file is outdated, being used by someone, or available for editing. Notification
methods include alert messages, frame icons, status icons in the Links panel, and status icons in the Assignments
panel.
Read-only files
Once a content file becomes managed, it’s read-only to all users in the workflow at all times, except to the person who
has checked it out. The software creates a lock file (*.idlk) when a user checks out a content file, giving that user
exclusive editing control. Read-only files have the following characteristics:
•
An InCopy user cannot manually format the text in it. However, if text has been assigned character or paragraph
styles, an InDesign user can change the definition of those styles, thereby changing the formatting of the text even
when the file is checked out to someone else. These style definition changes are reflected in the text once the
InDesign user updates the file.
•
In general, neither an InCopy nor InDesign user can change objects, such as text and applied styles, in locked
InCopy content. Some objects, such as character and paragraph styles, are only used by the content. For example,
you can’t change how a character style is applied to objects in locked content, but you can change the character style
itself, thereby changing the appearance of the text.
•
An InDesign user can change the margins and columns of the text content as well as the shape, location, and
number of text frames the story occupies.
•
An InDesign user can change the geometry and formatting of a graphics frame without checking out the graphic.
An InCopy user cannot change a graphics frame or any formatting on the frame. However, both InDesign and
InCopy users have to check out the graphics frame in order to modify the graphic itself (for example, to rotate or
scale it).
Best practices for working with managed files
Use the following practices to make sure that you work with the most up-to-date content and don’t overwrite someone
else’s work:
•
Store assignment files on a server where all team members have access. If team members don’t have access to a
server, you can create and distribute assignment packages.
•
When you create an assignment, a special folder is created to hold the assignment file and the content. Use these
assignment folders to maintain assignment and content files. They simplify managing the shared files across a
workgroup and help ensure that users open the correct files.