InCopy Workflow Posts

Sometimes you learn something that is new to you, but obvious to others. I compiled a list of things I have learned in the last year that I probably should have known.

Nothing spreads holiday fun like festive music. So raise a cup of cheer and hum along to everything you learned in 2008.

Here’s a very important warning for InMath users, and a software update.

We’re happy to announce that our new “sister” site, InCopySecrets.com, is live and on the air!

InCopySecrets.com provides news, links, tips, and techniques for people working in an Adobe InDesign/InCopy workflow: editors, writer, designers, and production staff and management.

Sarah wrote,

There’s a way to search for overset text in an InDesign file, but it’s not on the surface … that is, there’s no user interface for it, like a checkbox in

In an earlier post I presented a workaround for entering non-native language diacritics (like the grave accent in à la carte) by using InDesign’s built-in spellchecker, which can add them for you. It’s a slick solution, but it requires some set-up — you have to enter a word incorrectly and have InDesign correct it.

I recently learned of a better way to insert any difficult glyph into the text flow, correctly, on the fly: Peter Kahrel’s compose.jsx script for Adobe InDesign (Mac/Windows, CS2/CS3, donationware — download instructions are at the end).

We’ve talked about the usefulness of the Story Editor many times in the blog and in the podcast, but I’ve just learned something new about it, courtesy of an observant student in an InCopy class I taught yesterday. (Story or Galley view in InCopy is similar to InDesign’s Story Editor view.)

In InDesign, choosing Edit > [...]

Here’s a quick tip for changing the font of text quickly in all versions of InDesign and InCopy–and without ever touching the mouse.

Let’s begin by establishing two facts: First, CMD+T/CTRL+T opens or closes the Character panel/palette. Second, we know that typing into the Character panel’s Font Family field causes InDesign to try to match typed [...]

I field this question (see above) a lot — almost every day, in fact. That’s because there are plenty of “InCopy-curious” art departments in the world that use InDesign CS2. They’re not quite ready to move to InDesign CS3, or simply have no plans to do so, at least in this fiscal year… CS2 does everything they need to do.

The problem is that while Adobe recommends that InCopy workflow users keep InCopy and InDesign at the same version level, Adobe stopped selling InCopy CS2 back in April, when CS3 started shipping.

If you use Adobe InCopy — or you’re considering using InCopy alongside InDesign — I strongly recommend that you check out Anne-Marie Concpeción’s new title at lynda.com: InCopy CS3 + InDesign CS3 Integration. InCopy is a great editorial tool which has replaced MS Word in many departments, but until now it has been surprisingly difficult to get quality instruction and information about it. This video title is likely the most clear and helpful explanation of how InCopy and InDesign can work together that you can find without having a trainer come to your company for a day or two for customized training. (Of course, if you do need customized training, be sure to contact us for a recommendation.)

Remember that you can get a free one-week trial to Lynda.com if you’re not already a subscriber.