Collaborating with Remote Editors

Up until now we’ve been talking mostly about collaborating with network peers who have read/write access to the same shared folders as you. What about remote or mobile workers on either the InDesign or InCopy side of the assignment? Are you out of luck? If you were using InDesign CS2 and InCopy CS2, then, yeah, you’d be out of luck. You could generate and send assignment and story files, but there would be no check-in/checkout control and double-modification would always be a risk. This was a huge complaint from those who discovered Adobe’s best-kept secret (InCopy).

In my experience migrating many workflows, many writers and editors, to collaborative InCopy-InDesign workflows, those that include at least one remote or mobile worker outnumber those that have all design and editorial personnel in-house. The fact that Adobe’s LiveEdit Workflow was built entirely around the belief that everyone would have read/write access to the same central file location handicapped workflows that wanted collaborative efficiency, control, and freedom with InCopy and InDesign. Worse, because InCopy shows all stories in the assignment in a continuous interface, many editorial department recipients of INCA and INCX documents had difficulty with the idea that they needed to return multiple email attachments to the designer (see Figure 12.13). It looks like one document, so why do I have to send several documents? That confusion often led to only INCA assignment files being sent back to layout artists; of course, INCA files alone are useless to anyone. Additionally, using File > Open in InCopy showed both the INCA and INCX files to the InCopy user. Given the fact that Mac and Windows applications may hide many document filename extensions by default, the editors’ confusion was further compounded by having several similarly named files and no clear indicator of which they needed to select in the File Open dialog.

Figure 12.13 Opening an assignment file in InCopy presents a Story Editor view of all assigned stories inline for easy editing.

While building CS3, Adobe got hip to the fact that what it had wasn’t working for a great many people. Its response was assignment packages, single files that, like a ZIP or StuffIt archive, include multiple files compressed into one. In this case, the contents of the package are assignment files, INCX stories, and, optionally, linked image assets used by the layout in the assignment. As I alluded to above, assignment packages are ideal for remote workers, but they aren’t solely for remote workers. They also address the very real, very large problem of too many files confusing users and paralyzing the InCopy side of the workflow. Both InCopy and InDesign can open and work with assignment packages and send them to each other. InCopy users only have to deal with a single package file–InCopy will extract the INCA and INCX on-the-fly as part of the file-opening process and will recompress the files again after closing the INCP package. And, the act of sending a package to InDesign or InCopy users automatically checks out content to the recipient, preventing accidental double-modification by the sender or anyone else.

To create a package from within InDesign, begin by creating an assignment as usual and adding content. In the Assignment Options dialog, decide whether to check that option we skipped earlier, include Linked Image Files when Packaging. Including them allows InCopy users to see high-resolution images but increases the size of the package. Excluding them causes InDesign to generate and include low-resolution proxies that are fine for onscreen viewing and printing to desktop laser and ink-jet printers. I recommend the latter, especially if you intend to email the package. With the assignment and content created, choose Package for InCopy from the Assignments panel flyout menu. You’ll be prompted to name the new package. After you save the package, a cute gift box in InCopy-purple will appear beside the assignment name in the Assignments panel (see Figure 12.14). At the same time, the content in the packaged assignment will be checked out.

Figure 12.14 Packaged assignments are denoted by special icons.

You can send the package to your editorial colleague by FTP, email, or even pocket flash drive. If your plan is to email the package, save a couple of steps. Instead of choosing Package for InCopy from the Assignments panel flyout menu, choose Package for InCopy and Email. In one fell swoop InDesign will package up the assignment, pop open an email, and attach the package to the email. Fill in the recipient’s email address and maybe a friendlier message than “your assignment is attached,” and click Send. Now get to work on the next project while editorial takes care of writing, editing, and polishing the copy without burdening you.

On the other side, your editorial collaborator will receive the package by email. She should then save it to disk and open it InCopy. When she’s finished editing and it’s time to send the content back to the layout, she should choose File > Package > Return for InDesign and Email to generate and send an INDP package back to you (see Figure 12.15). Her InCopy package will lock down the content as checked out to someone else (you).

Figure 12.15 InCopy’s Package menu

When it arrives, you can either double-click the INDP or choose Open Package from the flyout menu on the Assignments panel. The package will marry up with the INDD layout, updating and checking in the assigned frames in that publication.

Instead of sending the package back to you, the InCopy user can send it to other InCopy users. That’s what the Forward for InCopy and Forward for InCopy and Email commands in the Package menu do. Either will create a new INCP InCopy package, lock and check out the content, and send it on to the next editor who needs to review the same content. That next editor will either send it back to you or on to the next editor in the chain for review and markup

Copy Before Layout

Up to this point, the way we’ve been talking, it may seem that everything, including the copy, begins in InDesign. That’s not necessarily true. Often that’s the case exactly–you design a frame-first layout or template and then build InCopy assignments from empty frames or frames filled with placeholder text. Just as common, however, are workflows that begin with editorial personnel writing first drafts and then you laying out those first drafts to build a document. How does collaboration and the LiveEdit Workflow fit into a workflow wherein copy is written before layout begins? Not too dissimilarly, as it turns out.

Here’s one common scenario:

1. A freelance writer writes his first draft in Microsoft Word and submits the DOC file to his editor.

2. The editor imports the DOC file into InCopy for initial editing and saves the document as a native INCX InCopy document.

3. Even as the InCopy document is exported back to a Word-compatible RTF document and sent to the writer for revision, the editor passes the first-draft INCX to the design department so that page allocation, illustration, and layout may begin.

4. The designer places the INCX document and begins page composition.

From this point, the workflow can progress along two possible routes:

1. You can place the INCX document as a linked asset and forgo assignments altogether. INCX documents are native InCopy documents. Functionally, they are identical to the INCX story files generated when content is added to an assignment–except they are not wrapped in assignments. There will be no check-in/checkout control via the Assignments panel in either application. Double-modification is prevented by the fact that, in a network environment, only one person at a time may open the file from the shared location. If all parties are not working from the same shared folder, there is no protection against double-modification of the copy. Additionally, unassigned INCX files do not include layout information or a layout preview. Switching to InCopy’s Layout view while editing such a story presents a blank page rather than the copyfit page. More importantly, because unassigned INCX files do not include bidirectional communication with InDesign, editors will not know if copy over- or undersets. The INCX remains in the custody of editorial personnel. When they change and save the file to a shared network folder, it is updated within InDesign like any external asset managed by the Links panel.

I don’t recommend this option because it is functionally no different than placing native Word DOCs. Editorial isn’t allowed the insight into how text fits into and looks on the page, and it will be up to you to verify their work after every revision, ensuring that copy hasn’t overset, cutting off the end, or underset, leaving large empty spaces. This negates several of the most important benefits of using InCopy in the publication workflow. You’re back to babysitting the page copy, and editorial is back to requesting proofs after every revision.

1. Instead of leaving the INCX document as a stand-alone linked asset, you place it the first time and then build an assignment around it. The assignment is then saved to a shared folder or sent as an assignment package back to the editor. The INCA then enables check-in/checkout, prevents double-modification, and gives the editor a window onto, and the ability to edit within, the laid-out page.

The downside to creating an assignment after beginning with an INCX is not a technological one but an habitual challenge. For everything to work, the editor must stop using his INCX file directly and switch to opening the INCA assignment or INCP assignment package. In fact, if the assigned version was saved to a different location than the original INCX, he must delete the original INCX. For some editors, these simple alterations to the familiar process of using the same story file from start to finish can be quite confusing, which leads to mistakes and frustration.

Keep in mind that the computer experience of some editorial people is limited solely to default, uncustomized installations of Web browsers, the corporate email client, and Microsoft Word. I’m not speaking derogatorily about writers and editors here (remember, I’m both as well as a designer). Rather, I’m pointing out the reality that editorial’s work demands much less interaction with, and knowledge of, technology than does production’s work. Technologically challenged personnel may save all their documents to a single location on their hard drives, leading to massively overcrowded Home (Mac) or My Documents (Windows) folders. They will therefore likely save the INCA or INCP to the same folder containing the original INCX, which, if they don’t delete the original INCX, will probably result in the wrong file being edited at some point.

If you opt to generate assignments after receiving first-draft INCX documents for initial placement–and I heartily advise that you do–be prepared to assist members of the editorial team who are not comfortable with technology. I recommend you create a numbered list of steps to take after the assignment has been delivered to them. Include in the list how and where to save email attachments (if you email assignment packages); how to locate and delete the original INCX; how to open the INCA or INCP, paying special attention to the fact that some editorial computers will not show the .inca or .incp filename extension; and, if using assignment packages, how to send the package back to you or on to the next editor. Print out these instructions for each editor, and suggest that each affix it to the side of his monitor until he’s gone through the new procedures a few times.

Collaborating with a Big Cheese

If the editor in chief, quality control, or other nondesign personnel needs access to edit the majority of stories in your publication, don’t bother sending assignments. Instead, send the InDesign document (or documents) itself. InCopy can directly open and save (but not create) INDD files. Then, the InCopy-using Big Cheese can check out and edit the contents of any frame in the document. The Big Cheese can also use the track changes feature in InCopy to record his or her changes, as well as to approve or reject copy changes made by other editors. Of course, the frames themselves cannot be altered.