User Guide

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Chapter 4: Working with InCopy
documents
Using an InCopy workflow
About InCopy workflows
Tight integration between InCopy and InDesign enables a workflow that lets writers, editors, and designers work
simultaneously on the same InDesign document, without overwriting each other’s work. The workflow system
allows users to check files out and in, thereby preserving file integrity.
InCopy users can view their content contributions within the context of layouts without installing InDesign. Using
InCopy, writers and editors can take full control of text, including typesetting functions such as applying formatting
styles (usually imported from InDesign), copyfitting, adjusting line and page breaks, setting hyphenation, kerning,
and so on. InCopy users can import graphics to enhance their stories, and make limited transformations on those
graphics, such as scaling and cropping. When the content is ready, InCopy can be used to update the document in
InDesign. In addition, InDesign users can share design updates with InCopy users, ensuring they are working with
the latest layouts.
Typically, a system integrator customizes the interaction between InCopy and InDesign, setting up and defining the
workflow system for the group. The workflow system controls file creation, synchronization (with the master server),
and viewing. InCopy and InDesign work with several different workflow systems, including the built-in system
enabled by the InCopy LiveEdit Workflow plug-ins for small workgroups. For specific details about your workflow
system, talk to the system integrator. For more information about the workflow enabled by the LiveEdit Workflow
plug-ins, see
“Sharing content” on page 124.
Methods of working on content in InCopy
Content is either a body of text that flows through one or more frames, or an imported graphic. There are four basic
ways to work on content in InCopy: open an assignment file, open a linked InCopy file, open an InDesign file with
linked InCopy files, or create a stand-alone InCopy document.
Open an assignment file created in InDesign
InDesign users can create an assignment file and populate it with pointers to selected frames, spreads, or documents.
This method lets the InDesign user associate related components (heading, body, graphics, captions, and so on), and
then assign them to different InCopy users for writing and editing. InCopy users open the assignment file (which is
much smaller than the InDesign file), and then work on only the components assigned to them. The live layout view
shows how their edited copy relates to the InDesign layout, without opening the entire InDesign document.
However, if the layout changes, the InDesign user must update assignments in order to notify InCopy users about
the changes. (For more information, see “About assignment files” on page 128.)