CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • November 26, 2010 at 2:06 pm #57915
    hyland b.

    Member

    I'd like to ask someone that I don't know to send me a file. A very busy someone. This is all I know:

    • Mac, prolly cs5, but could be 4 or 3. (I'm a Mac cs4)
    • 120-page catalog with lots and lots of photos.
    • I only want the text.
    • Ideally I'd like an ID file with all text frames and style sheets intact.
    • But I could make do with a .txt file.
    • They likely use InCopy (but I never have, nor do I have it.)
    • I don't need the exact final version that went to print.

    This is what I'm thinking / guessing / wondering:

    • Saving as a PDF (even the lowest res) would be a cumbersome file.
    • Is there a fast way to sever all of the image links?

    I'm all ears if ya got anything / anything better! tks!

  • November 26, 2010 at 3:05 pm #57916
    hyland b.

    Member

    Lordy, it just occured to me that it might seem as if I am planning to send the text back out to someone to stick into a doc. Heavens, no.

    • I am merely a proofreader to this client. They send me hard copies via messenger and I messenger them back. I work with editors, not the InDesign worker bees. (I get to work from home and the messengers are really hot, so I don't really mind all that much.)
    • This client is a large corporation. The department that produces catalogs, websites, collateral, etc. is entrenched in an Byzantine workflow; said department does not gleefully embrace technological advances.
    • I am a geek and I see all sorts of opportunities for improvement, starting with the accuracy of my proofreading.

    What I'll do with that text if/once I get it:

    • First I will make the master of the content that's useable for me — hell, even index cards would be an improvement.
    • Then, well… if I tell you any more of my plan I will have to kill you. ;)
    • Suffice it to say that if they think my proofreading is hot, the (unsolicted) and easily-implemented workflow I'm designing for them will knock their socks off.

  • November 28, 2010 at 3:57 pm #57924
    mckayk777

    Member

    From what I can read from you post PDF does seem to be the best way especially once you have done any alterations you can state what page and possition on page the alteration has been made, which makes it easier for your client to find the alteration.

    If all there images where on there own layer in indesign they could turn that layer off and then output it to smallest size this will only output only the visible layers leaving the photos behind.

    Plus with a pdf you can edit the text and then send the pdf back and they open it and see your edits.

  • November 29, 2010 at 2:31 am #57930
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I do a 120 page magazine and when I make the pdf for the web (lo-res) the file size is only 4 or 5 mb.

    I don't know who in their right mind would send you a 120 page document with all their styles and text in tact? I'm not sure what advantage having someone else's styles would be to you? As there is no naming-convention for InDesign styles, style names are made up by the individual indesign user and would be totally different from one person to another; along with that all the styles would have different fonts, sizes, leading, space before and after, justification and a plethora of other formats???

    I'm not sure what your goal is with your request? Sounds like you have an issue proofreading things sent to you?

    I work with an external editor and this is the workflow we have:

    Author sends in text in word files

    Editor rejigs authors work in word files

    Layout is made in InDesign

    Editor reviews layout from PDF and makes final adjustment with comments/queries made in Acrobat

    Author sees article with any queries from editor and addresses those

    Changes and queries made in InDesign

    All changes checked in-house with 4-eye review

    When product is ready it's editor revises the entire product ensuring all changes are implemented.

    Hope that helps.

  • December 1, 2010 at 5:53 am #57977
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    I think Hyland is asking how to get a tiny file with minimal work, given that the images are not required. I suggest making a PDF export profile in InDesign with compression set as high as possible (bicubic downsampling to 1 pixel per inch for all images, JPEG compression, image quality minimum). Send this to the Very Busy Person and ask them to use it to make the PDF (test it first!). That would do for on-screen proofreading, assuming you don't need to check the images (does it never happen that the caption doesn't match the image, or is it just not your job to check that?).

  • December 8, 2010 at 11:00 pm #58043
    hyland b.

    Member

    Ah! Exporting as a PDF-on-a-diet is a great idea. tks!

    Eugene, I know it sounds wacky… but I would have liked to see their typography specs. And I was also hoping to sniff out how their H&Js, and optical vs. metric is set up. The 1's need to be kerned so bad that you can drive a mac truck through 'em. I could have monkeyed around with the settings and then sent them simple instructions.

    And I'd like the text itself so that I can create a master doc of their products for my own use. They don't have a CMS or even an accessible repository of info on the merchandise. Ultimately, I'd like to build that for them.

  • December 13, 2010 at 6:23 am #58082
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    Glad I could help. And one other thing: if you already have all the fonts they're using (with exactly the same names), then you can tell the export profile not to embed the fonts in the PDF. That'll make a much smaller file.

  • December 14, 2010 at 2:16 am #58099
    Rhiannon Miller

    Member

    I see that the latest issue of InDesign Magazine suggests exporting as an IDML file, which removes all the image previews entirely. That way you'd get all the paragraph and character style information too. I should have thought of that myself.

• Author
  Posts