User Guide

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ADOBE INCOPY CS2

User Guide

About read-only files

Once a content file becomes managed, it is considered read-only to all users in the workflow at all times, except to

the person who has checked it out. This is because the software creates a lock file (.idlk extension) when a user checks

out a content file, giving that user exclusive editing control. Read-only files have the following characteristics:

• An InCopy user cannot manually format the text in it (although if it’s been assigned character or paragraph styles,

an InDesign user can change the definition of those styles, thereby changing the formatting of the text even when

it is checked out to someone else). These style definition changes will be reflected in the text once the InDesign

user updates the file.

• In general, neither an InCopy nor InDesign user can change objects, such as text and applied styles, in locked

InCopy content. Some objects, such as character and paragraph styles, are only used by the content. For example,

you can’t change how a character style is applied to objects in locked content, but you can change the character

style itself, thereby changing the appearance of the text.

• An InDesign user can change the margins and columns of the text content as well as the shape, location, and

number of text frames the story occupies.

• An InCopy user cannot change a graphics frame or any formatting on the frame. An InDesign user can change the

geometry and formatting of a graphics frame without checking out the graphic. However, both InDesign and

InCopy users have to check out the graphics frame in order to modify the graphic itself (for example, to rotate or

scale it).

Getting started with shared content

User identification

All users in the workflow must have a user name. This identification reveals who has checked out a particular file,

makes this information available to other users, and notifies users that a file has changed; it’s also required in order

to check out a file for editing.

If you have already specified a user name and you want to change it, you must check in any content you have checked

out. This is because changing user identification during an editing session would forfeit your ability to edit content

that you have already checked out; it would be checked out to you under a different name.

User identification is application-specific; no single user can have multiple user identifications per application.

Note: The InCopy Notes and Track Changes features also use the specified name to identify the author of a note or a

tracked change.