3 reasons you should use InDesign books
It’s that time of year. Your boss has asked you to update or recreate the biannual publication for your organization.
Whether it’s 30 pages or 400 pages, publications can be an extremely daunting task.
If you’re working in the realm of publishing or have been asked to create a large publication, you are probably already aware of Adobe’s InDesign software. If not, InDesign is made for creating and formatting all types of print designs from flyers to brochures, and magazines to full-length books. It’s a powerful tool for creating professional documents and it’s the industry standard for good reason.
However…
Unless you’ve had extensive experience with the software, you may not know just how easy and helpful it is to use InDesign book files to work with complex, multi-chapter publications across teams of designers and editors.
This widely-known but little-explored feature comes in handy and can help streamline long-format publications for your business in three specific ways.
1. multiple designers can work on a single project with InDesign books
The overarching benefit to using an InDesign book file is that every chapter or section is its own InDesign file, but they are linked together into a book collection.
Because every chapter is its own separate file, multiple designers can work on a single book at a time; making changes to multiple chapters or sections simultaneously for faster document creation and editing without any file-version mix-ups. This also saves you time and computer power.
Plus, each chapter file can be exported separately and reviewed in sections as the larger book is completed, making editing and designing a more streamlined process. When you’re done, you can export all of the files as a single, seamless document ready for publication.
2. InDesign books allows for style sources and synchronization
This “Synchronize” feature is a designer and editor’s dream.
You can apply changes across an entire book by setting a “Style Source” and choosing which aspects of that file should be applied to the linked book chapters.
Creative Director decide everything needs to be blue instead of green?
Editor wants to change fonts used in certain situations?
Client decided to remove an entire section?
No problem.
The software will filter through the documents and make the selected changes for you in seconds. If you’re unhappy with the outcome of a synchronization, simply resync the documents with different selections.
Best of all, the style guide file doesn’t even have to be a final part of the book. It could be a much shorter document — a true style guide that only contains the bare necessities of needed changes. Simply drag and drop the document into the book panel, synchronize, and delete it once you’re done!
3. you can eaily number pages and drag-and-drop for organization
Remember that drag-and-drop feature? It comes in handy in more ways than one.
You can rearrange, add, and remove chapters while the software automatically updates the page numbering across the entire book.
No more copying and pasting large sections of a document to move it around and having to deal with an avalanche of edits throughout the document afterward!
InDesign books and YOU
We love using InDesign book files to simplify the complex process of publishing. It makes it easy to organize and tackle those long documents with laborious edits. If you’re looking for a way to up your publication game and shorten project timelines - this tool is for you!
Ready to start using InDesign to streamline your next publication? Confused about how to use InDesign books? Set up a consultation call with us and we can talk with you about whether or not this process is the right choice for your next big project!
