Opening layouts in Smart Connection for InCopy

InDesign layouts can be opened directly in InCopy. This makes it possible to see placed articles within the designed layout, check-out a placed article and work on an article from within the page.

This article describes the following actions:

• Opening layouts
• Checking-out articles from an opened layout

Opening layouts

InDesign layouts can be opened in the following ways:

• By opening the layout directly
• By opening an article that is placed on the layout

Opening the layout directly

Opening a layout directly can be done by double-clicking the layout in the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel. Because no articles are checked-out during this process, all placed articles appear dimmed in the Layout tab and the Galley and Story tabs are not shown.

Figure: A layout opened directly in InCopy. No articles have been checked-out yet so all appeared dimmed and the Galley and Story tabs are not shown.

Opening an article that is placed on a layout

A layout can also be opened by opening an article that is placed on it. Do this by double-clicking the article in the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel. This will:

• Check-out the article and open it in the Galley and Story tabs
• Open the layout on which the article is placed in the Layout tab

Note: If the article is placed on more than one layout you will be asked to choose the layout that you want to open.

Figure: A layout opened in InCopy. One article has been checked-out: it appears un-dimmed while articles that are not checked-out appear dimmed.

Take note of the following scenarios:

Scenario 1: An article is opened that is placed on the same layout as an already opened article

Outcome:

• The article components of the newly opened article are added to the window or tab of the already opened article.

• In Story/Galley view, article components of the first opened article are displayed first, followed by those of subsequently opened articles. The article names are displayed in the following ways:
• Combined in the window title bar or tab (separated by a comma)
• Separate in the title bar for each article component in Story or Galley view, on the far right-hand side.

Scenario 2: An article is opened that is placed on a layout other than the already opened article

Outcome:

• The Story, Galley, and Layout tab for that article are displayed in a different window or tab than the already opened article.

Checking-out articles from an opened layout

Once a layout is opened, placed articles can be checked-out from it by doing the following:

• Place the text cursor anywhere in the article and choose Smart Connection > Check Out Article

Updating layout content when opening a placed article

Depending on the way Smart Connection is configured by the system administrator, one of the following will happen when opening an article that is placed on a layout:

• Only the latest saved version of the layout and that of the article is loaded. This is the default behavior and keeps the loading time to a minimum.

• The latest stored version of all content that is placed on the layout is loaded. To make this work, the system needs to be configured by the system administrator.