RobGil Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 I've got loads of old InDesign documents (Mac) that I made years ago, and want to know if Publisher can open these? Or if it can import them so I can continue and update them in Publisher. I was hoping this should work as Affinity Photo opens Photoshop documents. I couldn't find any information about it on the website. Thanks in advance for any help, Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted August 28, 2019 Staff Share Posted August 28, 2019 Hi RobGil, Welcome to Affinity Forums No, Affinity Publisher doesn't support native .indd files. We hope to provide support for InDesign IDML files later in an upcoming version which should help if you still have access to InDesign. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobGil Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 Thanks, and thanks for the answer MEB. Then I sadly have to wait for the upcoming version before I buy it. I have Affinity Photo since it came out and will soon buy Designer (that can open old FreeHand files - which was my favourite vector program). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palatino Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 16 minutes ago, MEB said: We hope to provide support for InDesign IDML files later in an upcoming version which should help if you still have access to InDesign. Because I have only a few old InDesign files, I don't care about the import function. Just out of curiosity: Does Affinity need Adobe approval or even their cooperation for the function, or is the interface "public"? Quote Thanks to DeepL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 13 minutes ago, Palatino said: ... Just out of curiosity: Does Affinity need Adobe approval or even their cooperation for the function, or is the interface "public"? The interface is not public. But there are ways of "reading" files with programming tools which give some clues as to what is in them and how they are put together. That is a very big job, rather like decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs without a Rosetta Stone. Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palatino Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 That's what I had in mind. Adobe won't be interested in supporting the escape of its customers. jmwellborn 1 Quote Thanks to DeepL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwellborn Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 3 hours ago, RobGil said: I've got loads of old InDesign documents (Mac) that I made years ago, and want to know if Publisher can open these? Or if it can import them so I can continue and update them in Publisher. I was hoping this should work as Affinity Photo opens Photoshop documents. I couldn't find any information about it on the website. Thanks in advance for any help, Robert In the interim, if you still have an active version of InDesign, you could export your old files as PDFs. You can then import the PDFs into Affinity Publisher, where you can definitely edit them. It takes a bit of preliminary work to get rid of various and sundry quirks, but it is absolutely worth it in my opinion. I have already reworked a few 300-500 page books in Publisher and love it. Dratted if I was going to pay a monthly toll to access my own books!! I hope you will give Publisher a try. Mark Oehlschlager 1 Quote 24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6. Photo, Publisher, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.3. MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6. Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1. iPad Pro 12.9 2020 (4th Gen. IOS 16.6.1); Apple pencil. Wired and bluetooth mice and keyboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 The IDML format is documented. They are zip files containing a folder structure of .xml files. Kinda just like PagePlus files... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobGil Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 1 hour ago, jmwellborn said: In the interim, if you still have an active version of InDesign, you could export your old files as PDFs. You can then import the PDFs into Affinity Publisher, where you can definitely edit them. It takes a bit of preliminary work to get rid of various and sundry quirks, but it is absolutely worth it in my opinion. I have already reworked a few 300-500 page books in Publisher and love it. Dratted if I was going to pay a monthly toll to access my own books!! I hope you will give Publisher a try. Thanks jmwellborn, I was just wondering if that (pdf's) was a way to work around it, I will definitely give it a try, will buy Publisher in a few months ahead. I have InDesign on an older iMac, but could never agree to Adobes newer subscription system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 14 minutes ago, RobGil said: Thanks jmwellborn, I was just wondering if that (pdf's) was a way to work around it, I will definitely give it a try, ... There is a script for ID that can walk through a folder structure and convert ID files to IDML & PDF. It provides someone like yourself the best of all worlds in that you can initially use the PDFs and once Serif rolls in its IDML import, you can switch to it. The script is by Peter Kahrel. http://www.kahrel.plus.com/indesign/batch_convert.html jmwellborn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pšenda Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 5 hours ago, RobGil said: Then I sadly have to wait for the upcoming version before I buy it. You do not have to wait for the purchase - the update will be free of charge (according to MEB, I expect it will be implemented in version <2). jmwellborn 1 Quote Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301 Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155. Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155. Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobGil Posted August 28, 2019 Author Share Posted August 28, 2019 22 minutes ago, MikeW said: There is a script for ID that can walk through a folder structure and convert ID files to IDML & PDF MikeW, thanks a lot for the Peter Kahrel link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmwellborn Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 46 minutes ago, RobGil said: Thanks jmwellborn, I was just wondering if that (pdf's) was a way to work around it, I will definitely give it a try, will buy Publisher in a few months ahead. I have InDesign on an older iMac, but could never agree to Adobes newer subscription system. | also kept my older iMac with InDesign CS-6 on it, just in case I needed anything not yet PDF’d. Recently I cranked it up and opened InDesign. UGH! I am reminded now that actually I always hated it. So clunky, compared with the satiny smooth Publisher, Photo, and Designer. Quote 24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6. Photo, Publisher, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.3. MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6. Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1. iPad Pro 12.9 2020 (4th Gen. IOS 16.6.1); Apple pencil. Wired and bluetooth mice and keyboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franklin Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Same boat - have CS5 Indesign and would love to be able to export into Publisher, but not sure that converting to PDF files would give me the ability to manage newspaper pages for a local community newspaper, and replace/update information on the pages each week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 4 minutes ago, Franklin said: Same boat - have CS5 Indesign and would love to be able to export into Publisher, but not sure that converting to PDF files would give me the ability to manage newspaper pages for a local community newspaper, and replace/update information on the pages each week. The current APub beta has IDML support. It still needs work, but it will get better over the beta cycle and at each release. It will prove better than using pdfs at some point...and likely is fine now for certain IDML files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eallengd Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Yes you can open inDesign in Affinity Publisher. I've been doing it all morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobGil Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 16 hours ago, eallengd said: Yes you can open inDesign in Affinity Publisher. I've been doing it all morning. Congrats! But I assume you're opening pdf files made with InDesign, and not their native indd files? If so, please tell how you do it, thanks! Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 27, 2020 Staff Share Posted March 27, 2020 Hi RobGil, Affinity Publisher doesn't support native INDD files. What it does support is IDML files (since v1.8). You can now export your project from Indesign as IDML (Adobe InDesign Markup Language File) and open them in Affinity Publisher. Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobGil Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 4 hours ago, MEB said: What it does support is IDML files (since v1.8). You can now export your project from Indesign as IDML (Adobe InDesign Markup Language File) and open them in Affinity Publisher. Great news! You said earlier it was coming in a future update, and now it's here, so big thanks MEB ! Stay safe! Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted March 27, 2020 Staff Share Posted March 27, 2020 You're welcome Robert 😊 Take care too! Unbelievable times... Quote A Guide to Learning Affinity Software | Affinity Quick Reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogdan Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Hi, Very good progress with IDML! Still, I hope that .indd file format will also be available at one point. At work we have thousands of indesign files and if Publisher cannot open them we will still be dependent on the adobe software to export to IDML when needed. Can't wait to switch fully to affinity, so much better than the adobe stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 36 minutes ago, Bogdan said: At work we have thousands of indesign files and if Publisher cannot open them we will still be dependent on the adobe software to export to IDML when needed. It is unlikely that .indd files will ever be supported. If you want to make the switch, and are worried about the .indd files you have being needd someday, you should probably just convert all of them to IDML now. (Which, from what I've read, can be done with a script, so it's simple to do.) Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogdan Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said: It is unlikely that .indd files will ever be supported. Why do you think so? The photoshop format is readable in Affinity Photo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 2 minutes ago, Bogdan said: Why do you think so? The photoshop format is readable in Affinity Photo... The Photoshop is at least partly open (documented). The .indd format is proprietary, and undocumented. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 1 hour ago, Bogdan said: Hi, Very good progress with IDML! Still, I hope that .indd file format will also be available at one point. At work we have thousands of indesign files and if Publisher cannot open them we will still be dependent on the adobe software to export to IDML when needed. Can't wait to switch fully to affinity, so much better than the adobe stuff. https://markzware.com/products/idmarkz/ Is the only non-script means of .indd conversion without needing ID installed. Currently Mac only but a Windows version is being developed. As far as I know, the only layout application available that can directly open .indd files without ID is Viva Designer version 10. VD has long had the ability to open/save .idml files (in most respects, the best conversion). The .indd format being opened is new to VD version 10 and isn't yet as robust/capable as its .idml capabilities but with 5 or so updates dealing with this capability since version 10 was released, it's gotten better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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