Sometimes what looks like simple questions starts something complicated... We are trying to manage multiple documents and want to create dynamic links between them. Half-a-day of googling and playing with an InDesign tryout version have not convinced me. If anything I'm more confused than yesterday! :D

This is what we are trying to do:

- We have multiple short documents (1-20 pages each) which are currently in a mix of Word and Pages. Each document corresponds to one 'exercise'

- From these documents we want to write 'books' (training manuals) incorporating various sets of exercises. Each 'book' will have a different cover, different bridging pages linking the exercises etc. Some books will be in A4 size, others in A5. They will also be different brands so the colour schemes for example will be different.

Our approach so far has been basic cut & paste (our standard book for example is a 140 page Pages document in A5) but this has led to horrendous version control problems. SO what I want is to link the basic documents (the exercises) so that when I update one of them, then all my 'books' can be updated automatically (or at least 'refreshed' in one command).

So far I have looked at the InDesign 'Book' feature (very basic, zero flexibility); InDesign linking files (I just don't understand it); and using InCopy alongside InDesign (seems like total overkill given that our exercises won't change that often).

Anybody with an experience of workflow/document updating want to suggest something simple for a very small business like ours?

Thanks! :)

From personal experience I find InDesign the best page layout software on the planet. There is a learning curve that goes along with it but it doesn't take long to set up your columns, text wraps and imported vector work or images. Quark is another page layout software you can look at but I've never personally used it.

Thanks iDev and welcome to ehMac-land !
I have started to learn InDesign (via lynda.com) and it's not the end of the world. Too many sub-menus where you have to stand on one foot while praying to the heavens and pressing cmd-alt-shift-f12...
The automation workflow doesn't work the way I wanted it so I will have a semi-manual one instead. Disappointing but c'est la vie.

Thanks! Ya there is a lot of drop downs and what not. 3 years later and I'm still learning new things it can do. Helps a lot too if you draw your layout before placing the text and photos in. Less intimidating than starring at a blank screen

Right now I am in the middle of publishing a 400 page map book for a client, the linking feature is invaluable! All the files are in pdf format; when they send updates to the files I just update the links to the changed maps and it will replace the data without having to reposition or change any other info in the file. With only having to do the layout of the book once, I don't have to worry about wasting time redoing the layout every time there is changes.

As for the Booklet printing, I use that every week to publish a 20-36 page book every week. It works well enough not to have to cough out over a $1000 for inposition software.

I should have also said... iTunes Podcasts... search indesign

It is probably not for you, but since you mention publishing a book and needing version control over various components, have a look at the following approach:

Cool Tools (http://www.apeth.net/matt/iosbooktoolchain.html)

Craig

I'm not familiar with your particular requirements but it sounds like these are internal documents. The easiest thing I can think of is HTML. It would solve your versioning problems and would be easy to update if you built it with some kind of CMS or Wiki. LInking problems solved.

PDF documents should also do the trick. Individual multipage documents can be bound together as booklets. You can mix sizes and they can contain links throughout. Updating them would require some kind of versioning control though...

Just of the top of my head

What I have decided to do is the following:

- Early draft of mini documents in Word or whatever
- Import into InDesign mini documents using a set of pre-defined styles (i.e. 100% of the text is styled). Minimise complexity at that level
- Create a master document for each desired output (page size A5 or A4, branding/colour, output device requirements). The master document has specific InDesign pages (e.g. cover page, section pages) as well as exactly the same style list as the mini documents. But the styles have different settings (e.g. font size, colour) and the styles are overwritten as the mini documents are imported

I decided against using the 'book' function of InDesign because I wanted more last minute control but I could have used it. Whenever a mini document gets modified then it has to be re-imported into the various master documents. That's the bit I couldn't automate without getting into scripting or additional software. I'll live with it...

I decided against using the 'book' function of InDesign because I wanted more last minute control but I could have used it. Whenever a mini document gets modified then it has to be re-imported into the various master documents. That's the bit I couldn't automate without getting into scripting or additional software. I'll live with it...

I do all the post editing/page replacement in the printer, if there is any changes to any files I just have to send the new changes over to the printer and edit right in the printer. It saves a ton of time. Took awhile getting used to editing in the printer instead of through the computer.