Utility Opens INDD Files in the Correct Version of InDesign in OSX

Without getting in the whole Mac vs Windows debate, one of the pluses for InDesign users on Windows is the ability to look at the file icon in Windows Explorer to tell what version of the program created it.

Unfortunately there’s no way to see this same information on a Mac. Every INDD file has the same display icon which is based on the last installed version. The two icons below represent a CS3 file and a CS4 file on a Mac.

Even using show info won’t tell you anything as the screenshot below clearly show. Both files are showing as InDesign CS4 files.

While double clicking the file in either operating system will result in the same thing…launching the most current version of InDesign, at least on Windows you can just right click the file and choose open with to pick the proper version of the program to open the file with. Of course you can do that on the Mac also but it’s not as easy to know which version that is.

The good folks at Rorohiko have come with a workable solution for this problem, a free utility called InDesignProxy. Once installed and cofigured you can create an alias anywhere you’d like (the desktop is as good a place as any) and then just drag your InDesign files onto the alias. InDesignProxy will then automatically launch the correct version of InDesign to open your file.

Download details as well as installation instructions can be found here.

As I move back and forth between Windows and Leopard I’m finding a few of these little things that bug me but this one at least has an easy solution.

Chris says:

November 29, 2008 at 2:00 am

>>one of the pluses for InDesign users on
>> Windows is the ability to look at the file
>> icon in Windows Explorer to tell what
>> version of the program created it.
Btw: Can anybody explain how that works with Windows?

Jochen Uebel says:

November 29, 2008 at 4:37 am

Here you find a german version of a script which is able to analyse an InDesign-file with which version it was created.

Bob Levine says:

November 29, 2008 at 7:27 am

As I understand it, the DLLs installed with InDesign allow the operating system to display the proper icons.

Dan Curry says:

December 1, 2008 at 7:57 am

I can’t wait to try this. As a prepress guy, I always want to open the customer’s file in the same version in which it was created and it usually involves guesswork and trial-and-error.

Thanks for the useful post!

Fritz says:

December 1, 2008 at 8:38 am

Creative Tech Tips also has a write up on this utility.

https://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/open-indesign-docs-in-the-correct-indesign/

they even credit Bob’s great review.

heavyboots says:

December 1, 2008 at 8:39 am

Ironically, through OS 9 Apple had a clear lead in this area via the resource fork model. You can see the remnants of that system by running “/Developer/Tools/GetFileInfo -t /path/to/file”, which will return “IDd4”, “IDd5”, etc. (Assuming that the file hasn’t passed through some process that whacked the resource fork off it!)

This looks like a fairly nice solution given the foibles of OS X. Cool find!

Craig Swanson says:

December 1, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Kris Coppieters just posted a new release of InDesignProxy 1.0.5, which now allows you to set the Mac Finder as the default to open all INDD documents when you double-click on them.

I understand he’ll be posting it on his site later this week. We’ve got a link to it on the CreativeTechs Tips blog.