Operation Manual

323
XML
Last updated 6/15/2014
Open an XML file in InCopy
You can open any existing XML file in InCopy for editing and tagging.
Note: You can import Ruby used in XML files when the Ruby is compliant with the W3C standard Ruby definition and
uses the InDesign namespaces. InDesign uses the following namespaces.
xmlns:aid="http://ns.adobe.com/AdobeInDesign/3.0/_ver3.0"
1 Choose File > Open.
2 Locate and select the XML file you want to use.
3 Click Open.
Save an XML file as an InCopy story
You can save XML files as InCopy stories.
1 Open the XML file in InCopy.
2 Choose File > Save Content As.
3 Type the name and specify the location for the file.
4 From the Save As Type menu (Windows®) or Save As menu (Mac OS®), choose InCopy Document, and click Save.
Working with XML
Adobe InDesign CS5 is one of many applications that can produce and use XML. After you tag content in an InDesign
file, you save and export the file as XML so that it can be repurposed in another InDesign file or another application.
Similarly, you can import an XML file into InDesign and instruct InDesign to display and format the XML data any
way you want.
About XML
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a way to repurpose data in a file or automate the process of replacing the data
in one file with data from another file. XML employs tags to describe parts of a file—a heading or a story, for example.
These tags mark data so it can be stored in an XML file and handled appropriately when it is exported to other files.
Think of XML as a translation mechanism for data. XML tags label text and other content in a file so that applications
can recognize and present the data.
Gabriel Powell provides a video tutorial about using XML in InDesign at Creating a Basic XML-ready Template.
Extensible language
XML is considered an extensible language because individuals create their own XML tags—they can create one tag for
each type of information that they want to repurpose. XML tags don’t carry information about how data is supposed to
be displayed or formatted. XML tags are strictly for identifying content.
In InCopy , for example, you can create a Heading1 tag and assign it to each first-level heading in a document. After
you save the document as an XML file, the Heading1 content can be imported and put to use—by any application that
can read XML—as a web page, printed catalog, directory, price list, or database table.
InDesign is one of many applications that can produce and use XML. After you tag content in an InDesign file, you save
and export the file as XML so that it can be repurposed in another InDesign file or another application. Similarly, you
can import an XML file into InDesign and instruct InDesign to display and format the XML data any way you want.