Where Did DPS Go in CC 2015?
With every new version of InDesign, features large and small are added. But occasionally features are removed as well. Anyone seen the Position Tool or the Navigator panel recently? I didn’t think so.
Another case in point: InDesign CC 2015 does not (yet?) support DPS—that’s the old DPS, aka the Digital Publishing Suite. Don’t believe me? Check the File menu. No more Folio Preview and Folio Preview Settings. Then take a look in the Window menu. Gone are the Folio Builder and Folio Overlays panels. Well, technically, there is still a panel called Overlays, but it is a tad underwhelming at this point in time.
Personally, I would have gone with something with a little more pizzazz. Like…
Now Adobe has moved on to a new DPS: the Digital Publishing Solution. This is bound to be confusing for some folks, but apparently all other three-letter acronyms were taken.
All kidding aside, what we’ve seen so far of the new DPS is very exciting. I (along with all the other attendees at PePcon this year) got a sneak peek, and immediately starting drooling at the possibilities of the new DPS. In a brief live demo, it came across as forward thinking, easy to use, and gorgeous. I encourage you to read all about it and sign up for the public beta to get your hands on it.
Plug-ins Need Upgrading
In the meantime, if you need of access to the old DPS tools, don’t ditch that copy of CC 2014 just yet. If you haven’t already run the update, read Steve Werner’s article on how to avoid having CC 2014 automatically removed during the CC 2015 installation process.
Notice that earlier I said “InDesign CC 2015 does not (yet?) support DPS.” That “yet?” means that we currently don’t know if or when the “traditional DPS” plug-ins will be updated for CC 2015.
This is not that different than other, third-party commercial plug-ins: Whenever there is a new version of InDesign, virtually all plug-ins need to be updated. Scripts are a different matter; scripts sometimes break but often keep working from version to version.
It’s easy to think of the DPS tools as part of InDesign, but they’re more like third party plug-ins, where the “third-party” is the DPS team at Adobe. Just like the Acrobat team and the InDesign team are in different “silos” at Adobe, DPS and InDesign are very separate parts of the whole.
So, once again: Before you jump into CC 2015 (or any new version), first make sure your plug-ins will keep working… and if you use DPS, then this is even more important!
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Mike, We do know now. The old DPS tools will not be available at all in CC2015. For anyone that wants to continue using the old folio method, they must stick with CS6 through CC2014.
Bob: has Adobe explicitly said that anywhere? You know me, I always remain optimistic.
Discussed in depth in the DPS user forum.
Ah…a link would help: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7649544#7649544 Bob Bringhurst commented in the thread.
Even better: https://forums.adobe.com/message/7649662#7649662
You’re probably right, Bob, but just to be a stickler for precision, each of those comments are written in the present tense. Similarly, what I had seen was “this is the way it works at this time.” I haven’t seen Adobe come out and announce that those are dead ends and that they will not be updating the traditional DPS workflow for 2015 in the future. What I have heard, repeatedly, is that Adobe intends to continue supporting traditional DPS in parallel with the new DPS, at least for a while. However, it’s true that there may be no strong need for them to support traditional DPS in 2015, and so they simply won’t update those tools at all.
Seems pretty clear, David, but I wouldn’t complain about being wrong.
good afternoon
Excuse my English, I translate it with google.
I want to publish my ebook in Kindle and Kobo and seen in helping https://www.adobe.com/es/legal/general-terms.html adobe is not compompatimble with epub Idesign-CC-2015, KindlePluginForAdobeInDesign plugin (Beta) _v0.973 only applies to CS6
Do you know that you can do? Can you help me?
short answer: export EPUB from InDesign, convert EPUB to KF8/MOBI with Kindle Previewer, available from Amazon. Kobo will use the EPUB file. But, read all the documentation from Amazon. Ask on twitter using hashtag #eprdctn. See .
See epubsecrets.com
Funny isnt it? First we had CC 2014 InDesign in a early and a late 2014 (and a february 2015) version.
That latest version had animation support for FXL the first did not. Confused the hell out of people!
And now we have:
– (old) Digital Publishing Suite (DPS)
– (new) Digital Publishing Solution (also DPS!)
So they added 2014, and the new (I call it Flipboard app design) version DPS 2014 but the S suddenly means something else (forget the name Adobe Publishing by the way now).
To add to that confusion:
The ‘old’ DPS (Folio, Folio Builder) will be supported for a long time says Adobe, so that this kind of Folio apps continues te be seen the coming years as apps. That next to new DPS (Flipboard design) at the same time!
Ols DPS can be made by CS6, CC, CC 2014… but NOT by CC 2015.
However: CS6, CC and CC 2014 are able to produce the new ‘.article’ DPS 2015 format as well! So they can do both while InDesign CC 2015 can only do one!
And the file format with the name .article had already been taken a long long time by… Twixl! Twixl that is the alternative to DPS!
Makes you wonder if it isn’t time to fire some marketing guys over at Adobe…
Sigh…
I’m a graphic designer, not of htlm or css. Can I epug in InDesign and convert KF8 EPUB / MOBI with Kindle Previewer unused code?
you can install the previous Indesign CC (along with 2015) and use your DPS there, can’t you?
Keeps getting more interesting:
https://www.creativebloq.com/software/affinity-new-branding-61515327#null
The beta for Photo is a m a z i n g … fast as hell compared to Photoshop, refine edges for masks works WAY better than in Photoshop.
Designer already is the best out there (try zooming in Designer, no Metal, waay way faster than in Illustrator!) and now the promise of designer…
Could be a hit!
Thanks for the tip. I have just dowloaded the beta for Photo and also the trial for Designer!! Just waiting to see what Publisher is like………!
That should have read:
‘and now the promise of Publisher’ not Designer in the last sentence.
I wouldn’t mind if INDD2015 had an upgrade of DPS, but it doesn’t.
We’re being sucker punched by Adobe. The minimum cost, from what I’ve been able to discern, is $6,000 to $20,000 and up! Beta is free, but watch out for what comes next!! No SE version…
This leaves us DPS SE people without editing/update capabilities. No grandfathering, no legacy editing… just embarrassed/embarrassing answers to clients. (“um, oops, uh, sorry that I can’t continue to work on your job. Do you want your deposit back?”)
I called Adobe and tell me that it is for large enterprises, for designers and small companies have removed … amazing !!
Regarding original content authored in the new system, is it now searchable, or can be indexed? What about accessibility?
Great article, Mike !
With a clear warning, and a great suggestion: your Pizzaz rendition of the Overlay panel sure made me giggle as it scrolled into view :-) I think you’d be a far better “Experience Designer” than Johannes Henseler…
On a more serious note: we’ve all realized how lame it actually turned out to keep mimicking an old medium and its workflow from within InDesign (a folio like a magazine, or a book). It might still work for some publications, but a more modern approach would be to present content in a more article-centric way, and leave the bundling and distributing to those in charge with management and marketing. So the creation of folios is out of our business, at least as an InDesign project. When working in a publishing industry and company, creating interactive articles will be more important.
For those inclined to keep publishing a nice bunch of interactive screens (pages) as a wholly and well-constructed book or brochure: that’s what the ePub 3 FXL (and Publish Online) is turning out for.
I think it’s all making sense, gradually.
We’re all growing into this as we go…
Great comment Peter! And not just because you liked the improved Overlay panel ;) I too am very excited about the idea of article-centered publishing, and can’t wait to see how it evolves.
But from where, i can install older version of indesign (indesign cc 2014)…
please help..
In the CreativeCloud app, click on the Apps tab. Then on the right side there’s a filtering menu. By default it it says All Apps. Click it and choose View Previous versions. Click the Install button for InDesign and you will see a list of available versions, including CC 2014.
Well, I feel rather unlucky as I have CS5 and CC2015. From what I gather, CS5 doesn’t support Folio Builder, and CC2015 doesn’t currently support it…am I right?
Actually, if you have CC 2015 you can install the older versions you’re missing. Check out this post for the details: https://creativepro.com/install-indesign-cs6-cc-cc-2014.php
Just don’t try to install CS6 InDesign on OS X 10.10.x!
The folio builder now fails to upload articles, so you have to go back to 10.9.5 to use CS6 and DPS (old) tools.
Unless you jump into the subscription model and use CC 2014.
We have updated automatically to CC2015. Only now that I have to do an update in a folio I come to know that dps has been removed.
I had to actually google where to find the folio builder in Indesign, I thought I didn’t find it because it had been a while that I had worked with it. I’m just stunned. @Joshua, we’re in the same embarassing situation.
Hi Valerie,
My company is exploring other options to Adobe DPS and it turns out that there are several options. Some are Cloud-based (SaaS) and some offer panels that fit right inside of InDesign, so it’s still essentially InDesign but not the DPS modality. Another learning curve, but perhaps a more reasonable solution. And since App building is what they do, it’s less likely that they will be pulling the rug out from under us little people. SE is BACK!
I don’t feel right mentioning names here. I asked Siri.
I’m exploring the wonders of InDesign and want to do a magazine with all the cool features, though it seems I’m missing the Folio Overlay to do all these cool things! (Adobe CC2015) when will I be able to use this?? It’s really frustrating :)
And will there be tutorials following?
So if we wanted to create a simple portfolio app in indesign or photoshop, we have to pay now? Its not included in the Creative Cloud package? I want to do it as an individual designer. I want to create a simple IOS app that consists of no code and only design. How is this done as of right now? Does it cost money now? I’ve been doing research on this all day and from what I gather, you have to create a “Folio.” I don’t see any folio features built into the 2015 release and when I’m logged into the digitalpublishing.acrobat.com on my account, there is no option for creating a new “folio.” Someone please explain to me what is going on here and if we have to pay separately for this… Do only enterprise companies have to pay for it? What is going on here?
The Folios are still available but in stead of ‘building’ it in InDesign (as the panel was known in many versions), you gather the articles (now more generically referred to as “pieces of content”) in the online beefed up Digital Publishing “Solution” dashboard. Within this management tool, you’re still able to turn a handful of content pieces into a kind of folio (now called a “Collection”) and turn it into an app, but not for free anymore. It’s only available as part of a contract…
https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/2015/09/using-collections-browse-pages-in-dps.html
Adobe DPS kind of retracted themselves from the smaller use cases and customers. They completely overhauled the whole technical and marketing architecture behind DPS, catering much better for vivid titles and projects (as I wrote in an earlier comment above). Pricing varies, and not all enterprises are very happy with that. A large German publisher steered away from DPS and is now using “Purple” for their 60+ titles. But again, this tool is also focusing on larger projects and companies.
BTW, you can still use an older version of InDesign (until CC 2014) and create an off-line Folio and pass it from InDesign onto your tablet to test and show it in the Preview app.
Nevertheless, We, the People, the smaller but just as respected regular customers, are pretty well served (and i.m.h.o. much better off) with creating and spreading ePub 3 with Fixed Layout. It’s much easier, includes most of the DPS stuff, tosses in InDesign’s animations as well, and publishes for free, both as a normal accessible file (to be read with iBooks and Adobe Digital Editions) and also online, for web viewing. Go, enjoy !!
https://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-indesign-cc/epub-fixed-layout-interactivity/
If you really would like to create and publish one or a couple of apps, have a look at Twixl’s offerings. Their software can mimic the former DPS idea, but in a much more elegant and friendlier way.
https://twixlmedia.com/en/publisher/pricing
There is really no way to bypass the folio process and submit it my self to the AppStore? What would you do as a cc user not looking to spend enterprise prices? What do you think is gonna happen with comet? That program looks like it’s for phone apps or am I wrong and it’s for web only?
Paul: Comet is just for protoyping. They are not making apps. As for bypassing the folio process: No, because what you create in InDesign using the DPS tools does not actually create an app, so there is nothing to submit.
I actually made a phone call over to the DPS team at adobe and their response as to why this was done was there wasnt enough single end users submitting apps to the app store or doing any digital publishing at all. So therefore they felt to only make it available to enterprise companies who really have the need to make the investment… They did state that there are plans in the future to bring back the single user dps though, but wouldn’t give any worthy information regarding this. Dave, comet is used for prototyping.. What exactly do you mean? Can we make the UI’s and then transfer them into dreamweaver and make mobile friendly site, not exactly sure what the point of it is…
I’m just really upset because I was watching your tutorials on lynda.com dave and really wanted to get into digital publishing and now “BAM” its gone…
I can agree with what you learned by that phone call. That’s what I also heard from different sources as well.
But your efforts in getting a grip on it haven’t been useless. I think sooner or later many designers will be involved in creating such “articles” to be used in frameworks like DPS (or others). Their methods are much the same, their features are very similar. So keep an eye on publishers moving to digital the right way (in stead of slapping a PDF onto the screen). They need you !
geez I HATE these guys!…. it’s obvious Apple is applying their philosophy to adobe> push clients into THEIR game and trends, instead o letting people do their own thing
You’re getting it wrong, bumersindo.
People are moving to consuming digital publications, BIG TIME ! That’s the trend, and has always been a publisher’s quest: knowing who your customers are and what they do, building a profile, serving them with interesting and valuable information. And publishers really want to know how their online visitors and readers are using their products and services.
Paper and printed media didn’t offer the creator, publisher, advertiser, and consumer thorough ways to keep track of what’s going on with their delivered media, but the digital age does ! Can’t blame companies like Apple and Adobe to cater for that, and offer us proper tools to do just that.
Wake up and smell the roses, while the gardener tracks and analyses our behaviors…
And you’re invited to be in that game just as well.
FYI Overlays is now functional (as of Dec 22 2015) when you update your 2015 InDesign.