Betsy wrote:
I need a beginner explanation of how to manage all the elements that I bring in when creating an InDesign document. I am misplacing files, trashing elements that I shouldn’t, etc. My desktop is a mess because now I’m afraid to move anything. I need some kind of lesson that takes me through the housekeeping, storage, etc of the elements that go into my document.
You are not alone! This is a common problem for InDesign users. While you do not need to be obsessive about keeping track of your files for most InDesign work (creating DPS folios is an exception), it is certainly helpful to learn and practice a few fundamental techniques. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- When you import text files, they’re typically not linked, so it doesn’t matter where the text files on disk were. (Some people do turn on the preference that lets you link text and spreadsheet files, but I don’t recommend that to anyone but advanced users.)
- When you use File > Place to import an image, it is linked, so it is important where the file is on disk — if you move or delete the image, it breaks the link!
- You should try to avoid pasting bitmapped images into InDesign. It might be okay in some limited situations if you are creating onscreen-only documents (such as exporting to JPEG or SWF), but is not a good idea for print or exporting PDF documents. Vector artwork can be copy and pasted between Illustrator and InDesign, if you need to edit the vectors more in InDesign (but use file > place for normal importing of these graphics).
- If you place an image and later forget where it was on disk, you can find it by selecting it on the page, opening the Links panel (Command/Ctrl-Shift-D), and choosing Reveal in Finder (or Reveal in Explorer, on Windows) from the Links panel menu:
- After you work on a project for a while (especially after finishing it), you can use File > Package to pull together the InDesign file and all the linked images (and fonts, if you want) into a single folder structure. That can be really handy! Though note that this copies all those files, not moves them. Also, it does not grab images that are solely on the pasteboard; only those on the document or master pages.
- You can also copy a single image (or more than one) from its current location to someplace else by selecting it in the Links panel and then choosing Copy Image To from the Utilities submenu, inside the Links panel menu.
Besides these InDesign-related rules, you should probably keep track of your files in some reasonable set of folders. For example, I generally try to follow the “package” setup: putting one or more InDesign files inside a folder, then putting all the linked images inside another Links folder inside that main folder. There are no hard-and-fast rules, though.
Let’s hear from other InDesign users! What rules do you live by when it comes to keeping track of your files when producing publications?
This article was last modified on December 21, 2021
This article was first published on November 28, 2011
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