Operation Manual

InCopy and InDesign

Last updated 6/15/2014

Note: Unlinking your own checked-out file removes it from the workflow and deletes the lock file from disk. You can re-

export the content and overwrite the file name without conflict.

❖ To unlink an InCopy content file, select the file (.icml or .incx extension) in the Links panel and choose Unlink from

the panel menu. Unlinking embeds the content into the document and removes the link to the InCopy file on disk.

To relink the file, choose Edit > Undo Unlink.

You can also unlink by deleting a frame, or using the InDesign Links panel to relink a content file to another file. You

can also select the story in the Assignments panel and drag it to the Trash icon.

Placing InCopy files in InDesign documents

Although a typical workflow begins in InDesign, where the basic layout and text and graphics placeholders are defined

and exported to InCopy, a different workflow can start with a stand-alone InCopy content file (.icml or .incx) that you

place in InDesign using the File > Place command.

Consider the following dependencies when you place InCopy content files in an InDesign document:

Styles If the InCopy text file has styles applied, they are added to the InDesign list of styles for the document. In the

event of a style-name conflict, InDesign overwrites the imported style with its existing style.

Layout You can create the basic layout geometry for the content in InDesign, and then create or import the text and

styles from a word-processing application. (Text files placed within InCopy are embedded in the InCopy document and

are not linked to any external file.)

Placing/Duplicating If you place an InCopy content file more than once, each instance of the content appears in the

InDesign Links panel, but they are all managed as one content file. The same is true for any exact copies of a content

file (by any means of duplication).

Note: f you copy and paste some, but not all, of the text in a managed InCopy content file, the result is a new content file

that is not connected to the original and has no link to any external file (InCopy or otherwise). The original and the pasted

portions can be edited independently of each other.

Updates/Management Once multiple instances of a managed content file are present in an InDesign document, they

behave as if they were open in two applications. For example, checking out one instance of the content file locks all other

instances so that you can edit only the checked-out instance. In this case, you would use the appropriate Update

command to refresh the other (open) instances of the content.