I’ll talk more about using InCopy in a remote workflow with these cloud services later on in this post. That means these files have to sit in a production folder on the office file server, or in a shared folder synced to the cloud, like from Dropbox or Google Drive. Rule number one is that all designers and editors working on a particular InDesign layout must have read/write access to the same file-the InDesign layout (INDD) and the InCopy files linked to it.

InCopy basics: Linked stories, shared production folder What I and thousands of others have discovered is that as long as you know how to name a file and choose where to save it, you and your team can use this off-the-shelf software to transform your workflow. It’s currently priced at an easy-on-the-budget annual cost of US $59.00 per editorial seat. Initially released in 2000 for use only by expensive editorial systems and the resellers who supported them InCopy has also been available as a standalone product since 2005 (CS2!). You could set this up in 15 minutes after finishing this article for no cost at all, with free accounts on cloud sharing services and a 7-day trial of Adobe InCopy. People, this tedious nightmare does not have to continue! Consider using Adobe InCopy, the editorial partner for InDesign, and let your designers and editors work on the same InDesign layout concurrently. This process is repeated many times (the loop) until final sign-off, whereupon the designer sends it to the commercial printer. The designer takes the marked-up document(s) and implements the changes, then exports a “v2” for distribution, review, and more mark-up. The traditional, proofing round nightmare linear workflow: The designer exports a “v1” printout or PDF and people mark it up. The result, which we’re all familiar with, is you have designers struggling to flow and format the text in the layout, and editors having to markup paper or PDF proofs (sometimes many rounds), guessing what will fit, instead of making the changes themselves. Editors use Word, and designers use InDesign-two different planets, maybe even solar systems. That is, the people who write and edit the content do not use the software that is used to layout (and ultimately, print, or upload as a PDF) that content. One of the hardest things about putting a publication together has been around for literally decades: Editors are from Mars, designers are from Venus.

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