Working with large files

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    • #91435
      Joel Wilcox
      Member

      Hi,

      I’m still getting the hang of InDesign since I’m an editor and not a designer. I’m working with a 500-page file that keeps locking up my computer every time I make a change that repaginates it. Is the solution just to not work with a 500-page file? I’m typesetting a book by placing from a Word doc. Would it be better to break the Word doc up and make a book file?

    • #91448
      Bonnie Britt
      Member

      Do you have sufficient RAM to handle the different programs that are open?

      • #91450
        Joel Wilcox
        Member

        My computer’s specs are as follows:
        Late 2013 MacBook Pro
        2.6 GHz Intel Core i7
        16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
        NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB
        Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

        I would think that those specifications would be sufficient, but what do you think?

    • #91451
      David Blatner
      Keymaster

      If you have 500 pages of text, all threaded together in one long story, that will likely slow down InDesign. I would strongly suggest breaking up the story into smaller chunks (like chapter breaks).

      One easy option for doing this is to use the free StorySplitter script:
      https://creativepro.com/downloads/StorySplitter.jsx
      (You place your cursor in the frame where you want to break it and then run the script.

      I should write this up more clearly as a blog post… will do that soon.

      (You don’t necessarily have to break the document up into smaller InDesign docs and put them in a book, though that is what some folks do.)

    • #91454
      Joel Wilcox
      Member

      Thanks. I made a brand new document for just the first portion of the file, so about 60 pages of text. It still seems to be acting up with split stories, shorter document, and adjusted display settings for minimal drain. I’m wondering if it might have to do with the number of footnotes in the file. Can those slow things down if there are too many?

    • #91458
      David Blatner
      Keymaster

      I suppose it’s possible. But I’m guessing it might be something else. Try rebuilding your preferences. Here’s more ideas:
      https://creativepro.com/why-is-indesign-soooo-slow.php

    • #91474

      I feel your pain–I have no choice but to to have one large file for each job and everything linked text-wise.

      I’ve learned to speed things up a little.

      1) Turn off thumbnail view on your pages palette. I’ve found that the thumbnail view (especially on the actual pages in the palette) really slows things down.

      2) Set your preferences so any graphics will view as “typical.”

      3) In your preferences turn off the adding or deleting of pages when the document reflows. I’ve found it slows things down and it only take a few seconds if I get to the end and I have to add pages.

    • #92730

      If you are suffering from slow performance of InDesign file while working with large file then you should apply some tricks to make InDesign file fast.

      Set up InDesign’s Display Performance to Typical
      Minimize Live Preflight
      Turn Off Save Preview Images
      Turn off Live Drawing
      Turn Off Hyperlink Verification
      Turn Off Page Thumbnails

      For complete detail: https://www.filerepairtool.net/blog/6-tips-to-speed-up-indesign

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