Working with Sticky Notes in Smart Connection

When Smart Connection is installed in InDesign or InCopy, Sticky Notes can be added to an InDesign layout as a way of leaving short messages to other users of Smart Connection and Studio, for example about changes or corrections that need to be made to the content of the page.

This article describes in detail how to work with Sticky Notes in Smart Connection for InDesign and in Smart Connection for InCopy.

Figure: Sticky Notes on a layout in InDesign.

How it works

Working with Sticky Notes is done when viewing a layout in Normal viewing mode (View > Screen Mode > Normal).

Sticky Notes consist of the following components:

• A Sticky Note icon in the Tools panel. This is used for placing a Pin on the layout.
• A Sticky Note pin on the layout. This indicates the location on the layout to which the Sticky Note is related.
• A Sticky Note. This contains the message.
• A Sticky Note panel. (Not available for Smart Connection CC 2017 and any other higher version of Smart Connection for Adobe CC. (See see how to check the version of Smart Connection that is installed.) This panel contains the messages of each Sticky Note and various tools for working with Sticky Notes.

Adding a Sticky Note

Step 1. In the Tools panel, select the Sticky Note tool.

Figure: The Sticky Note tool in the Tools panel of InDesign (left) and InCopy (right).

The mouse pointer changes to the Sticky Note cursor.

Step 2. Click once on the layout where you want to create the Sticky Note.

The text cursor is automatically placed inside the text area of the Sticky Note.

Troubleshooting: creating a Sticky Note is not possible

To use the Sticky Note tool, make sure that:

• You have been given sufficient access rights by your administrator to use the tool.
• The layout is saved to Enterprise.
• You are logged in to Enterprise (unless you are working on a layout that has been taken offline).
• The document is not opened as Read-only.
• The InDesign Screen Mode is not set to Preview, Bleed, Slug, or Presentation mode.
• You are not working in the Story Editor.
• You are not editing an Adobe annotation (see Windows > Editorial > Notes).

Step 3. Type your message.

Step 4. (Optional) Click the Status button in the to left corner of the Sticky Note and choose a status from the list:

• None
• Accepted
• Rejected
• Done

Step 5. (Optional) Click and drag the pin to a different position.

Showing or hiding Sticky Notes

To hide one or more Sticky Notes or their pins, do one of the following:

• Double-click a pin.

• Click the Close icon in the top right corner of a Sticky Note.

• Use the options in View > Sticky Notes:
• Show/Hide Pins and Notes
• Show/Hide Sticky Notes

Working with Sticky Notes

Working with Sticky Notes such as replying, repositioning, editing, copying their content, and deleting them should be self explanatory and is not covered in this article.

For all actions to work fully and properly though, make sure that:

• The layout is saved in Enterprise.
• You are logged in to Smart Connection (unless you are working on a layout that has been taken offline).
• The layout is not opened as read-only.
• You have been given sufficient access rights by your system administrator.
• The layout is viewed in Normal viewing mode (View > Screen Mode > Normal).
• Deleting a Sticky Note or a reply can only be done when the Sticky Note or reply has been created by yourself.

Other notes:

• Sticky Notes cannot be printed or exported to PDF.

Using Offline Mode

• For InCopy: When logged out from Enterprise and opening an offline article, the Sticky Notes functionality is not available. This means that new Sticky Notes cannot be created and existing Sticky Notes cannot be edited.

• For InDesign: When logged out from Enterprise and opening an offline layout, any Sticky Note that is already part of the layout will appear as read-only and cannot be edited.

As soon as you log in to Enterprise, these Sticky Notes will automatically become available and will be synchronized with any changes that may have been made by other users during the time that the document was offline.

It is possible to add new Sticky Notes to the offline document while logged out of Enterprise.

When working offline, newly created Sticky Notes will display the name “Local User” and will have the default yellow user color. When logging in to Enterprise, the user name and color will be automatically updated.

The Sticky Note panel

Info: This panel is not available for Smart Connection CC 2017 and any other higher version of Smart Connection for Adobe CC.

Tip: How to check the version of Smart Connection that is installed.

The Sticky Note panel provides an overview of all the messages in all Sticky Notes that are placed on the layout. From the panel, messages can be sorted, filtered, edited and replied to.

Accessing the panel

Choose Window > Extensions > Sticky Note.

Sending and Receiving Updates

When broadcasting is used, any changes that you or other users make to Sticky Notes (such as creating new Sticky Notes, repositioning Sticky Notes, replying to messages, and so on) are processed in the following ways:

• InDesign users will receive the Sticky Note changes immediately after the InCopy or Studio users save their work through a Save Version or Check-in action.

• Studio users receive an “Update Available” message in the Publication Overview window as soon as other users save their work through a Save Version or Check-in action. They then have to reload or refresh the window to see the changes.

• InCopy users needs to do an “Update Geometry” action or re-open the layout to receive the Sticky Notes changes from InDesign or Studio users after they have saved their work through a Save Version or Check-in action.