Opening InDesign Files

Just like previous versions of InCopy, you can open entire InDesign documents (.indd) with InCopy. In fact, multiple InCopy users can open the same InDesign layout at the same time. The trick is that the InCopy user isn't really opening the InDesign file, but a temporary snapshot of the InDesign file. The only limitation is that even though multiple users can open the same InDesign file, only one user can check out a given story at one time.

Tip

When you open an InDesign layout with InCopy, you can only check out and edit stories that have been exported as InCopy stories and are managed as part of the LiveEdit workflow.

Opening InDesign files with InCopy is very useful because the InCopy user can see how her copy is interacting with the rest of the layout and can use InCopy's copyfitting features to ensure that her writing fits the allocated space on the page. However, opening entire InDesign files with InCopy can be a slow process because the files you're opening are probably relatively large files over a computer network. Imagine opening an InDesign document that contains an entire magazine, newspaper section, or book chapter when all you need to do is edit one story, headline, or caption. You'd be able to edit what you need, but opening the whole InDesign file would be overkill for a small text edit. If you have relatively simple files and a fast network, then opening InDesign files with InCopy might be a good solution, but most users should keep reading to learn about other ways for InDesign and InCopy users to share files.