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[IDML Implemented] How can I open Indesign (indd and idml) Files in Publisher?


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7 minutes ago, Whitedog said:

Honestly, no company could stay in business if they didn't upgrade their products from time to time. If you like CS4 then you'll have to stay with an OS that supports it. Many people do. I have a friend who really likes Photoshop CS4, for instance.

As for InDesign, the upgrades offer new features that many people need, like the ability to handle e-publishing. But compatibility issues will bite us all in the butt eventually. That's why I'm interested in Affinity Publisher. It's already a 64 bit app. So is InDesign CS, but it's $140 a year. So I'll stick with InDesign CS6 as long as I can.

Totally agree. As I'm in the business of selling ads - each week - for 'subscriptions' - billed monthly and 90 percent of my clients run yearly.  Can't do it without them for sure.  If they paid me a one time BIG chunk I'd be gone after a bit.  Holidays and parties the first year or so.  Then death.  So truly I do agree with updates, upgrades or even subscriptions. But I do believe in better breaks for use on more computers within a company, plus far lower rates than Adobe charges.  YEAH i know, what do i know about how much work it takes to design and build software?  But what I do know that if there is a steady income of funds coming in every month and the rate is low enough to make it a true NO BRAINER then the millions more that may use your software (which takes the same work (nearly) to build no matter if you have one user or a million) Go for the million.  Make a dollar off one million people not one million off one person. 

Either way - subscription or buy with upgrades - it can work out about the same price if you upgrade on every version.  This does keep the software company on their toes a bit more as they would want to have better features in the upgrade model.  Subscription they could fall asleep.  Holidays, parties, forgotten.... kinda like what Quark did. Even though they were upgrade model. 

Truly I think Adobe has done a great job. Much better than Quark to this day in my opinion. I know it's what you get used to. like Mac or PC, Apple or Android. Everyone is different. I come from the very first Mac ever so I am hungry for that simple, very simple yet powerful and amazing feeling it was to start up the computer - not know ONE THING about computers and just go into MacPaint and draw a picture. It was WOW.  We can make ads on this thing !!!!!! Saw that right away. Dot matrix not great but still amazing. We got away with it. Shrinking things to print business cards a bit sharper. Wacko designs with Typestyler. 

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8 hours ago, BLKay said:

That must be because Affinity is British.  I've been there and the people were far more polite than even Canadians. Last time I was in the U.S. in Oregon and Washington State the people were so amazingly polite and friendly.  I hate to give credit to Trump but the American's I suggested this to agreed they were trying not to be like him. So Trump is making America polite again. I hope I didn't break any posting rules here. I apologize if i did. haha 

LOL, as a Brit it makes me smile that you think we're all really polite (I wish it were true). I'm really appreciative at just how supportive both other users and the tech team are on this forum. No question, seems to be too obvious and feedback / feature requests appear to be genuinely listened to. It really feels like a community, and long may it last!

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It is really great to actually see Affinity personnel here and actually answering questions.

Years ago I was evaluating moving to RoboHelp from another help app because it had some unique features ... which unfortunately did not work properly. That is when I learned no Adopey employees ever did anything in the forum. After no response in the bug tracker I gave up. Learned  valuable lesson.

So to the Affinity reps - while it may be painful at times it tells even non-posting readers that Affinity actually listens and responds.

I only occasionally post, but I read almost daily in email notifications and here.

Potential customers see and appreciate the engagement. I certainly do.

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On 11/30/2018 at 2:53 AM, Whitedog said:

If you like CS4 then you'll have to stay with an OS that supports it. Many people do. I have a friend who really likes Photoshop CS4, for instance.

I love my CS3. It's so simple! Clean, easy to use. Everything is just there and works and is self explanatory. When I downloaded the QuarkXpress 2018 demo a week ago I couldn't even figure out how to start a book project. I gave up after 15 minutes, moved the whole thing into the paper bin. Unfortunately CS3 doesn't support retina displays, plus I don't have a portable license. My CS3 is basically sentenced to live and die on my MacBook Air 2011.

Will start with a book cover project on my new MacBook Pro in Affinity Publisher beta tonight. Really looking forward to it.

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8 hours ago, appuser99 said:

I love my CS3. It's so simple! Clean, easy to use. Everything is just there and works and is self explanatory. When I downloaded the QuarkXpress 2018 demo a week ago I couldn't even figure out how to start a book project. I gave up after 15 minutes, moved the whole thing into the paper bin. Unfortunately CS3 doesn't support retina displays, plus I don't have a portable license. My CS3 is basically sentenced to live and die on my MacBook Air 2011.

Will start with a book cover project on my new MacBook Pro in Affinity Publisher beta tonight. Really looking forward to it.

You can move (reinstall) CS3, but it's a whole lot of trouble. As for supporting a Retina display, in InDesign you can scale up your document's onscreen image without affecting the actual scale of the document. I do this all the time because I am visually impaired and cannot easily read 12 point type. Still, rather than spending the time to learn a new version of InDesign, switching to Affinity Publisher is probably a good idea. You'll still have a lot to learn but it's probably a better investment of your intellectual and financial resources.

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Just to say that I'm another possible Publisher user with 20+ years of Indesign legacy files (currently using CS6), most important of which is an academic journal. Every printer I deal with works from PDF now so I don't need an idml-compatible export, but I really, really don't want to have to re-create all those documents. 

I note the possibility of import from PDF, but the next big MacOS upgrade will break the CS6 apps (are you seeing increased interest recently?) so I won't be able to go back to CS6 to create a PDF for import in a couple of years.

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54 minutes ago, aizome said:

Just to say that I'm another possible Publisher user with 20+ years of Indesign legacy files (currently using CS6), most important of which is an academic journal. Every printer I deal with works from PDF now so I don't need an idml-compatible export, but I really, really don't want to have to re-create all those documents. 

I note the possibility of import from PDF, but the next big MacOS upgrade will break the CS6 apps (are you seeing increased interest recently?) so I won't be able to go back to CS6 to create a PDF for import in a couple of years.

Of course you won't have to upgrade to that CS6 incompatible version of OS X right away. It's a question of what that OS has to offer compared to what it takes away. One way to preserve access to 32 bit apps will be to create a secondary boot volume with the old OS for use with those apps while upgrading your main system to the latest OS. The most efficient way to do this is to use Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion to create a virtual version of an older iteration of OS X. It's normal, of course, to use those apps to install Windows, but for some time now it has been possible to install OS X, as well as Windows and Linux. You can run Parallels and Fusion in a coherence mode where you don't see the Windows desktop. In that case apps in the VM appear to be running right in OS X, or in this case, your current version of OS X. This might do for people who want or need to retain access to CS6 or earlier.

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On 8/30/2018 at 2:19 PM, Gabe Logan said:

Is it possible to open indd files? How?

Not even Adobe can always open indd files. Then why does Serif have to be able to do it? That's why there are interchange formats (formerly inx, now idml). Sure APub will be able to open idml files later, but the results will not be better than Adobe itself. You have to check the results carefully.

I would be much more interested to know if APub will also have this unpleasant incompatibility between new and older versions. I always found this very annoying with InDesign.

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1 hour ago, abfdesign said:

I don't know if this has been answered, but one way is to export your InDesign file to high res PDF. Then you can open within Publisher. Seems to work okay.

You can open the PDF, it looks ok and and you can edit the text, but the ex-indd high res PDF I opened in Publisher opened at the wrong size: pages c. 50mmx70mm instead of 210mmx297mm, and I can't find a way to correct that.

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You may have problems with pdf's generated from InDesign if they are Printed as pdf vrs Exported. Recently I had a slew of InDesign generated pdf files that were not editable in any program because the font's did not embed in a way they could be edited. Characters missing, leading issues, character spacing errors, text blocks scrambled and not continuous. Adobe seems to be blocking many new fonts from Typekit from being fully embedded. I any case I highly recommend testing first before you retire the old files. There is a good chance that some may need to be recreated anyways.

As far as Affinity having the import option for InDesign it is highly unlikely, Affinity is not going to even import PagePlus files which leaves many of us stuck. I wish they would reconsider and come up with a converter or import option. Marketing wise it would make the transition to Affinity line or products more enticing but with the lack of legacy support they will simply lose a good portion of their customer base that have legacy files they need to access. 

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9 minutes ago, Pixelplucker said:

As far as Affinity having the import option for InDesign it is highly unlikely, Affinity is not going to even import PagePlus files which leaves many of us stuck. I wish they would reconsider and come up with a converter or import option. Marketing wise it would make the transition to Affinity line or products more enticing but with the lack of legacy support they will simply lose a good portion of their customer base that have legacy files they need to access. 

Hi Pixelplucker,

I think your comments gives a misinformation about Serif's commitment on this topic.  If you read TonyB's last response he indicated that Serif will consider the PagePlus file importer utility but on the proviso that all planned features are first implemented.  This decision makes sense from a business perspective. 

Remember, at the end of the day, Serif is a business and not an NGO.  The question becomes, "What is the business driver to prioritise the implementation a PagePlus importer utility to the detriment of a feature-rich Affinity Publisher app with a potential to bring additional revenue to Serif?".  I am sure the developers and other Serif staff don't go to work daily because they have a charitable heart and don't expect a salary in return.   

In my humble opinion, if one considers the percentage of potential purchasers of Affinity Publisher users with legacy PagePlus files (and I mean no disrespect here)  in comparison with potentially new customers whose requirement is  dependent on a feature-rich application for their ever-demanding productivity needs,  it doesn't make business sense to retro-fit a legacy application file importer at the expense of potential revenue gain.  I would take exactly the same approach if I were in Serif's shoes.

The issue here is that Serif hasn't ruled out the PagePlus importer utility.  Only that, again, retro-fitting a legacy application file importer is not their topmost agenda which I completely support.

I think Serif staff and developers deserve our commendation for the outstanding work that they are doing rather than people randomly nailing them to the cross without proper consideration.  Yes, the PDF export of PagePlus files and import into APub may not be an ideal solution but at least it's a workable workaround in the mean time.

Just remember that it may be easy to code but to write a software that altogether works well requires real commitment and talent and I believe the Serif staff are doing very well in this light.

That is just my two cents worth ;)

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21 hours ago, Whitedog said:

One way to preserve access to 32 bit apps will be to create a secondary boot volume with the old OS for use with those apps while upgrading your main system to the latest OS. The most efficient way to do this is to use Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion to create a virtual version of an older iteration of OS X.

My partner is running Windows in that way, so I'd thought of that; I've also thought of keeping an old machine around to dedicate to CS6 apps, as I once did for OS9. But those are stopgap measures even if the gap is a couple of years0. I'll look at Quark again (switched to indd back in the 1990s), and consider sticking with Indd via subscription. But I'd rather support someone other than Adobe. 

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My experience with changing DTP Page layout software.  

No import is every going to be perfect.  I import Quark files to InDesign every week.  Fonts over-run text boxes etc. Keep in mind InDesign took over Quark even though the import was not perfect. Of course the import was not the only reason Quark lost. 

That said, my transfer from Ready,Set,Go to InDesign was done in the following way.  If any of you are in my situation which was thousands of files and hundreds of clients. 

1. In APublisher make your new magazine  - format - template - master or whatever you call it.  It's not that hard in my case. (I've already done one and it took about an hour or two)

2. Make PDF's of al your current ads in CC. If you have many difficult designs with some text changes then delete some text or the parts that change if you like. 

3. Place the PDF ads into your magazine - or ad file -  If there are major changes then re-layout each ad, issue by issue.  This will make the work load a bit easier to take. Soon you'll have all your ads done in APublisher. 

4. Remember, if you like the HEMI in your Dodge it's very difficult to put it into your Ford.  Sometimes starting over lets you learn the new software faster. Plus we all hope that Affinity possible comes up with some features Adobe would never think of. Speedy features you can't live without.  Not to mention what we really all are coming here for is NO subscription and affordability and updated software that works with new OS's and computers and dropbox etc.  You may just have to sacrifice somethings to get the good things Affinity is offering. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

FWIW: I designed a staff box in InDesign and then decided to move the publication to APub. I didn't want to rekey all the text, so I just did a select all and copy in Indesign. Then, I went to the box in APub just to paste in the text. To my surprise, the text came in all formatted and the paragraph styles imported, too. Nice surprise. Maybe this is part of the planned ID import feature that Affinity just isn't publicizing yet. Anyway, made my work easier today. FWIW. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/29/2018 at 3:08 AM, Fixx said:

CS5 works in Mojave just as well as in High Sierra (or Sierra, from where I upgraded direct).

Really?  There's a great deal of conflicting info on the web about this.  Many complaints from folks who upgraded and can't run it.  Any thoughts on why it worked for you?  I've been reluctant to move to Mojave from High Sierra as a result.

What's certainly clear is that CS5 won't run on the next MacOS, which will drop support for 32 bit apps.  IND CS5 is 32 bit, I believe, which is why I'm exploring Affinity Publisher.

For simple documents, the PDF import seems to work quite well for IND docs that were exported using the Adobe PDF presets (e.g. high quality print).  Not so good for complicated documents, though certainly much better than nothing.  I have a 62 page ebook: here's a sample page.  On some pages the headers were recognized; on others, like the attached screen shot, it merged the header and the part of the first column of text. 

Because the header was merged with the initial text, first column right margins weren't preserved.  New text wanted to flow even with the right margin of the header, not the column. Text chaining wasn't preserved either, though it's pretty easy to restore.  For minor edits, this is good enough to fake it.  Not so good if I wanted to do a major revision to a section where pagination needed to change.

From my perspective, importing from an IDML file is much less useful than INDD.  I guess I could go through and try to save many of my legacy documents in IDML before moving on.  But my concern is what to do if I needed a document after I've made the jump to a later MacOS, and can't load Indesign to create the IDML file.

Screen Shot 2018-12-27 at 11.08.31 AM.png

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I've read all the apologists about a 'maybe later' IDML import. Unfortunately I (and a couple of other book designers I spoke to) don't want to keep 2 tools around for publishing: it's inefficient. And, for us, the single missing feature in Publisher is an import feature for documents created in the software against which Serif is trying to compete (and against which they actively market with their 'no subscription' mantra).

Serif know who their competitors are. For us to accept that they failed to position themselves as a viable upgrade is silly. Few professional designers can afford to make a wholesale change to their workflow without the ability to reuse and update old projects.

To head things off at the pass: I did attempt to import a few PDFs but the imports were quirky at best - and unusable in many instances. Orphaned lines of text within paragraphs, odd page sizes, unlinked text frames...basically impractical for anything beyond a flyer or poster. And doing a copy/paste from INDD is fraught with possible problems - such as the day INDD stops working with MacOS (and that day is coming).

I completed 5 book projects since Affinity released Publisher and could not, in good conscience, produce any of them in a software that may not make it into widespread production. Affinity must set Publisher up to directly compete with INDD and part of that is the ability to import--and create--interchange formats. 

I updated the beta again today in hopes the IDML import feature would have been implemented since the last time I looked. After a test I ultimately deleted the app.

I'll look at it again when Serif announces IDML import functionality (with a comparable interchange export functionality). Hopefully CS6 won't stop working with a future Mac update or I'll be going back to Quark (who added IDML import late last year). If I incur the significant one-time cost to move to Quark I will have little reason to consider Affinity Publisher for a very, very long time.

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On 9/2/2018 at 7:02 PM, kirknurse said:

"Dead in the water" is a bit melodramatic. I constantly have state this, alternative does not mean competitor. Never once have the good people touted their software as a feature to feature replacement of Adobe's products. Goals and objectives are different in very organization, they may just be looking for a piece of the pie not the whole  bakery. There are many many persons in the field that it will suit their needs just fine. Frankly expecting a $50 (US) one time purchase software to match a $600(US) Per year subscription base feature for feature is a tad unrealistic.

 

PDF's are mainly used for output and transport to a printing facility. This was stated by Adobe quite clearly. If you want to save all settings, you should save in the appropriate format. This goes for the Affinity trinity as well. If you convert, some settings are lost!

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On 12/5/2018 at 5:26 PM, Pixelplucker said:

You may have problems with pdf's generated from InDesign if they are Printed as pdf vrs Exported. Recently I had a slew of InDesign generated pdf files that were not editable in any program because the font's did not embed in a way they could be edited. Characters missing, leading issues, character spacing errors, text blocks scrambled and not continuous. Adobe seems to be blocking many new fonts from Typekit from being fully embedded. I any case I highly recommend testing first before you retire the old files. There is a good chance that some may need to be recreated anyways.

As far as Affinity having the import option for InDesign it is highly unlikely, Affinity is not going to even import PagePlus files which leaves many of us stuck. I wish they would reconsider and come up with a converter or import option. Marketing wise it would make the transition to Affinity line or products more enticing but with the lack of legacy support they will simply lose a good portion of their customer base that have legacy files they need to access. 

Because of the newly adopted file format.

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13 minutes ago, CraigB said:

I've read all the apologists about a 'maybe later' IDML import. Unfortunately I (and a couple of other book designers I spoke to) don't want to keep 2 tools around for publishing: it's inefficient. And, for us, the single missing feature in Publisher is an import feature for documents created in the software against which Serif is trying to compete (and against which they actively market with their 'no subscription' mantra).

Serif know who their competitors are. For us to accept that they failed to position themselves as a viable upgrade is silly. Few professional designers can afford to make a wholesale change to their workflow without the ability to reuse and update old projects.

To head things off at the pass: I did attempt to import a few PDFs but the imports were quirky at best - and unusable in many instances. Orphaned lines of text within paragraphs, odd page sizes, unlinked text frames...basically impractical for anything beyond a flyer or poster. And doing a copy/paste from INDD is fraught with possible problems - such as the day INDD stops working with MacOS (and that day is coming).

I completed 5 book projects since Affinity released Publisher and could not, in good conscience, produce any of them in a software that may not make it into widespread production. Affinity must set Publisher up to directly compete with INDD and part of that is the ability to import--and create--interchange formats. 

I updated the beta again today in hopes the IDML import feature would have been implemented since the last time I looked. After a test I ultimately deleted the app.

I'll look at it again when Serif announces IDML import functionality (with a comparable interchange export functionality). Hopefully CS6 won't stop working with a future Mac update or I'll be going back to Quark (who added IDML import late last year). If I incur the significant one-time cost to move to Quark I will have little reason to consider Affinity Publisher for a very, very long time.

Use the tools you need, it doesn't mean Publisher isn't good enough for other people.

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