Open Native InDesing file format.

[Ruddi Hansen]

Affinity Publisher need to be able to open native InDesign file format Indd. 

We have over 2-300.000 InDesign files that, need to be open and saved in Idml "not going to happen"

And Publisher also needs to be able to export to Idml again. 

 

[Joachim_L]

Of course these below are not converting .indd and yes, exporting back to .idml would be nice.

What about this free script? https://redokun.com/resources/batch-convert-idml-file

Or similar for Mac? https://markzware.com/markztools/how-to-convert-indesign-cc-2018-files-to-idml-without-creative-cloud/

Edit: Unfortunately the free script does not save the .idml back to the folder of the .indd, if you use "Include subfolders".

Edited December 17, 2019 by Joachim_L
Added information

[fde101]

11 hours ago, Ruddi Hansen said:

Affinity Publisher need to be able to open native InDesign file format Indd. 

It is unlikely that this will ever happen.  INDD is an undocumented proprietary format that changes from release to release to the point that even Adobe came up with IDML as a mechanism for carrying files between versions of InDesign.

If you need to have those documents converted, convert them to IDML using one of the batch conversion scripts that are floating around before you ditch the Adobe software, then you will have the IDML files that are compatible with a handful of other programs, soon to include Affinity Publisher.

[Wosven]

15 hours ago, Joachim_L said:

Of course these below are not converting .indd and yes, exporting back to .idml would be nice.

What about this free script?

The best is to use and read Peter Karhel' script on his page.  (His site isn't available anymore but they are is a repository at another adress.)

 

If you want to run the script without needing to open the files beforehand, you need to copy the 2 files in the appropriate directory (on windows, for example: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CC xxxx\Scripts\startup scripts"). The script will be launched at the start of ID (don't forget to remove them once it's done).

Select [IDML], check "include subfolders", (and/or test options "ignore errors" and "overwrite existing files"), and  enter the path depending of your OS, and be carefull: by default, the script will enter automatically the same path as output folder: if you want the IDML to be in the same folder as the ID files, clear the output folder path.

 

Now, you can have a coffee or go to sleep, since I tested on 4 files (one directly in the path, 2 subfolders, files of 2..2M,  4.4M, 15M and 12M): it needed few minutes to process the files on my poor computer.

Remember to test first before doing this, and preferably, do it on a copy of your files.

 

[Joachim_L]

@Wosven Seems to be that the free script and your script are basically identical. But thanks for the detailed explanation and the hint for clearing the output folder.

[Wosven]

2 minutes ago, Joachim_L said:

free script and your script are basically identical.

It's usually better to check the original page/site of an app or script we download and use, since we can find more informations and comments… and for this one we have a donation button!

Another point: most ID scripts run on Windows or OS X, no need to have a different one (when created by skilled encoders like him).