InDesign Viewer

[Deb_He...@adobeforums.com]

Is there a viewer for InDesign INDD files? Looking for a viewer that would open INDD files as a read-only without an InDesign program.

[boblevine]

InCopy, but $250.00 is a lot of money on a viewer. Of course it would be
a good excuse to move to an InCopy workflow.

Bob

[Bart_S...@adobeforums.com]

Try exporting as a PDF.

[Jim_...@adobeforums.com]

Other than InCopy and PDF, the last option is to have them install the 30-day trial.

[Deb_He...@adobeforums.com]

Looking for something other than PDF. I export to PDF for finish files, but was wondering if there is something out there for viewing the draft files, by a third party.

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

If the file is going to be read-only, anyway, why not use PDF? Are you leaving stuff on the pasteboard you want them to see?

You can enable commenting in the PDF, something that wouldn't be available otherwise.

Peter

[boblevine]

> You can enable commenting in the PDF, something that wouldn't be available otherwise.

Just to clarify that...The full version of Acrobat is needed for to this.

Bob

[Deb_He...@adobeforums.com]

Here is a little explaination on how a viewer would be used.

We use InDesign for creating a parts information catalog. Each page is a different file name.

Pages are consistently being changed to keep up with manufacturer's catalog number changes, Vendor changing hands, specification changes etc.

The personnel in our department may be working on the revisions of many pages at one time. Our new department head wants to be able to view our works in process, but all the InDesign licenses are being used.
Converting them to PDF, which is what we do once a page in approved for completion, while they are a work in process would mean exporting every time before closing the file. That way the department head can see what was done to each page that was worked on at the end of each day.

Any other suggestions?

We do have the full version of Acrobat.

[boblevine]

It may just pay to buy one license of InCopy for this. It'll pay for
itself in the time you won't have to take up creating new PDFs.

Another thing to keep in mind is that only one person can open an INDD
file at a time using InDesign but that doesn't hold true for InCopy.

For a bit more on that read this:

http://indesignsecrets.com/incopy-as-an-indesign-reader.php

Bob

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

I'm sure it would also be possible to script a closing routine that would automatically export the PDF. InCopy does sound like a better choice, though, or even buying one more ID license -- you don't need the whole suite.

[boblevine]

The ID license has several drawbacks. One, if the ID file is open you
won't be able to open the file; two, if you do open it, you could make
changes; and three, it costs more than InCopy.

Bob

[Deb_He...@adobeforums.com]

Thank you, Gentlemen.
With all this information, it looks like InCopy is going to work the best. The InDesignSecrets link really helped explain what InCopy does. I was unfamiliar with that program. Having the option of viewing a page by multiple users is also a benefit.

Thanks Again

[CCheski]

Here is a variation on the question asked in this thread:

Does InCopy have an export function similar to the one in InDesign, so
that highlighted text in an .indd file can be exported to another file
format?

Background: I am a website editor working in Dreamweaver. Exactly 11
times a year, I have to open InDesign files, extract the text
into .rtf files, and then copy and paste that rtf text into
Dreamweaver templates for publishing as HTML files online. (Posting
PDFs of the laid-out pages is not an option for us because of photo
copyright issues.) I work on a PC, but only our Mac users have
InDesign, so I have to sit at a Mac to do the extracting.

I can't really convince my employer to spend $700 on InDesign for
Windows for me because I use the program only about once a month. But
I could probably get them to purchase InCopy for me. So that's why I'd
like to know if InCopy will do what I want it to do.

If there were only some way to open indd files in Dreamweaver
directly!

Many thanks for any help.

Cynthia in Chicago