Reply To: Best Practices for InDesign Version control when using InCopy for writers?

Hi Austin, well first of all I don’t know why you’re using Assignment files (IDAP). Not necessary and adds to confusion and frustration. As I said above, just use a layout workflow. All the InCopy stories appear in the Unassigned Content category in the Assignments panel.

InCopy users then open the layout (INDD) locally from InCopy’s File > Open menu, because it’s in a shared, locally synced folder from OneDrive (or Dropbox or Google Drive). They scroll through the file in Layout view and check out the stories they need to update/edit. Multiple InCopy users can open and edit different stories in the same INDD file concurrently, even if the InDesign user has it open. That’s because the only thing they’re actually editing and saving changes to are the embedded InCopy stories in the layout, not the INDD file itself.

The only time you package an INDD file is when the publication has been signed off by all the stakeholders (or at least, all the editors). Then, the designer, after making sure all stories are checked in and up to date, selects all those ICML files in the Assignments panel and clicks the “Delete Link” trashcan icon at the bottom, turning the shared InCopy stories into normal InDesign stories.

Then they package it. And do with it what they will … archive it for example, or send it to their print vendor, or whatever.

AM