Smart Connection for InCopy contains many features and options. However, not all of them are used on a daily basis.
Use this article to learn more about the main features and about how to get started when you are new to Smart Connection for InCopy.
Logging in
When using Smart Connection, you are working on files that are stored in a central system (known as Enterprise Server). This system also controls to which files you have access and what actions you can perform on them. The first step therefore is to log in to the system using the credentials that you have received from your system administrator.
The process for logging in depends on how Enterprise Server is configured: with or without Single Sign-On (SSO) implemented.
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Note: Single sign-on is a process that automatically logs you in to an application or system by using credentials that you entered when logging in once to an authentication provider that manages your user credentials. Once logged in to that authentication provider, each subsequent log-in to an application that is connected to that provider is automatically handled by that system. This drastically reduces the number of times you manually have to log in on a daily basis. |
The dialog box that is used for logging in to Enterprise appears automatically when starting up InCopy. It can also be accessed by choosing Smart Connection > Log In...
You will be guided through the process by various messages that appear on screen. Follow the steps until the process is completed.
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Notes: When logging in to Enterprise with SSO support:
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How the process works
In order to fully understand how Smart Connection works it is important to be aware of some of the processes that are used.
Checking files out and checking files in
Creating a page in a magazine or newspaper involves the cooperation of many different people such as copy writers, layout designers, editors, and so on.
Checking-out
It is important that when one person works on a file that another person is not able to also open that file and make changes. To prevent this from happening, all files are stored in a database and only one person at a time is allowed to open a file for editing: a process referred to as 'checking-out a file'.
Checking-in
As long as a user has a file open for editing, others cannot make changes to the content of that file. Only when the user saves the file back to Enterprise (a process referred to as 'checking-in a file') can another user open that file for editing.
Article components and Element Labels
A story will typically consist of different parts such as a header, an introduction and the story itself. In Enterprise, these parts are called 'components' (or sometimes 'elements'). An article that contains these components is called a 'multi-component article'.
Each article component is represented by a separate frame on the layout. To better indicate which frame is going to be used for which purpose, a label can be assigned: the frame that will contain the headline can be labeled 'header', the frame that will contain the story can be labeled 'body text' and so on.
This way, the copy writer knows exactly what type of content to write in that frame and the layout designer knows what style to apply to that component.
Smart Connection shows you these labels for each frame when viewing the article in the Layout tab with in 'Normal' screen mode selected (View > Screen Mode > Normal).
Figure: An article with multiple components. Each component has a specific Element Label assigned.
Stories and Dossiers
In Enterprise, each story is represented by a Dossier. Seen from a Smart Connection point of view, a Dossier acts as a folder in which all required content is stored: the article containing the story, images, videos, reference material and so on.
For more information, see Working with Dossiers in Smart Connection.
Access Profiles
Smart Connection is driven by a system in which rules are set up that control which features and options of Smart Connection and InCopy you can and cannot use.
The purpose of this is to make sure that only those users who are allowed to make changes to files during the various phases of the production process can make these changes, while all other users are prevented from doing so.
These rules are stored in so-called 'Access Profiles' which in turn are linked to your user account.
It may therefore be that you will not be able to use certain features such as applying character styles or paragraph styles, selecting fonts or font styles, editing Sticky Notes or any of many other features when working on files that are stored in Enterprise.
Depending on how the system is set up, you might even find that you can edit a file as long as it is part of the production process, but that as soon it is ready for publication that you are not allowed to edit it anymore.
Note: These restrictions do not apply when working on articles that are stored outside of Enterprise.
For a full overview of all features (by area) which can be controlled by an Access Profile, see Access Rights for Smart Connection for InCopy.
Your Smart Connection Environment
Smart Connection and Enterprise are highly configurable systems. It is therefore more than likely that the version of Smart Connection that you are using has been modified by your system administrator to suit your company’s workflow as best as possible.
These modifications can affect the terminology used, the way dialog boxes look and perhaps even the text in messages that might appear. Additional customizations might also have been implemented, adding extra functionality that is either not covered in the Online Help articles, or they change the behavior of the described features.
When in doubt, contact your system administrator.
The main Smart Connection tools
When using Smart Connection, you will be mostly performing the following tasks:
- Locating files in the database that you need to work on
- Editing articles
To assist you with these tasks, the following panels are available:
- The Smart Connection panel
- The Dossier panel
The Smart Connection panel
The Smart Connection panel is your main link to the files that are stored in the Enterprise database. You use the panel to search for the articles you want to work on.
Accessing the panel
The Smart Connection panel displays automatically after signing in to Enterprise, but can also be accessed by choosing Window > Smart Connection > Smart Connection.
For more information, see Using the Smart Connection panel in InDesign or InCopy.
The Dossier panel
Apart from using the Smart Connection panel to locate Dossiers, you can also use one of the following dedicated Dossier panels:
- The Dossier panel (static version). This panel shows the content of a particular Dossier.
To access this panel, double-click a Dossier in a panel.
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The Show Dossiers panel. This panel shows all Dossiers that a particular file is part of.
To access this panel, right-click a file and choose Show Dossiers.
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The Show Dossiers and Layouts panel. This panel shows all Dossiers that a file is part of and all layouts that it is placed on.
To access this panel, right-click a file that can be placed on a layout (such as an article, image or an Excel file) and choose Show Dossiers and Layouts.
For more information, see Working with Dossiers in Smart Connection.
Setting preferences
Before you start using Smart Connection you might want to set some preferences, for instance setting the size of fonts in the Smart Connection panel for optimum readability.
Options that you would typically change would be the font size of the text shown in the Smart Connection panel.
Figure: The Smart Connection preferences.
Accessing the preferences
- MacOS: Choose InCopy > Preferences > Smart Connection...
- Windows: Choose Edit > Preferences > Smart Connection...
For more information about setting the Smart Connection preferences, see Smart Connection preferences.
Searching for files
The default method of locating files is by using the Smart Connection panel in Browse mode. As the name implies, this method makes it possible to browse for files by choosing specific locations such as a combination of a Brand, Issue, Category, or Status.
Step 1. From the Search menu of the Smart Connection panel, choose Browse.
Lists appear containing the Brands, Issues, Categories and Workflow Statuses that you have access to.
Step 2. (Optional) Make a choice from one or more lists.
Step 3. Click Refresh.
Note: When making a choice from the Workflow Status list, the panel is automatically refreshed.
Any found files are shown in the panel.
Note: When no files are displayed, either none met the criteria or you have not been given sufficient access rights to view the files.
For more information, see Searching and locating files using Smart Connection.
Opening articles and layouts
You can open articles as well as layouts in InCopy.
Opening the layout makes it possible to see how the article is placed on the page in relation to the other content, and also makes it possible to edit the article directly on the page.
Use one of the following methods:
- In the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel, double-click an article or right-click an article and choose Open.
- Open a layout on which the article is placed by double-clicking the layout in a panel, place the cursor anywhere in the article and choose Smart Connection > Check Out Article.
The article is checked-out and ready for editing. You can edit the article in either the Galley tab, the Story tab or even in the Layout tab.
When using the Galley or Story tab, you will see each article component displayed separately.
Figure: When working on an article in the Galley or Story tab, each article component (here 'head', 'intro', 'byline' and 'body') is shown separately.
Note: When multiple articles are opened, their components are all shown in the same Galley or Story tab: first all components of the first article, then the components of the second article, and so on.
Opening articles without a layout preview
The downside of opening a layout is that this can cause longer wait times because a lot more information needs to be processed.
As an alternative, articles can also be opened without loading the layout information. The layout tab will then only show the formatted text.
Figure: An example of opening an article with and without design information. On the left the Layout tab of an article opened with design information (zoomed out): the layout tab shows the formatted article (here shown undimmed) as it is placed on the layout. On the right the Layout tab of the same article but now opened without design information: each article component is now displayed on a separate page.
To open an article without design information, do the following:
- Right-click the article in the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel and choose Open without Design.
Note: When opening an article without design information, write-to-fit information is not available.
For more information, see Opening articles in InCopy using Smart Connection.
Saving and closing articles
When it comes to saving articles it is important to be aware of 2 distinct differences in the way you can save them:
- Saving an article by pressing Cmd+S (Mac OS) or Ctrl+S (Windows), or by choosing File > Save only saves the article on your local system; it does not save the changes to the Enterprise database.
- Saving the changes to the Enterprise database can be done in various ways but the most common one is to check-in the layout. This will close the article and save all your made changes to the database.
Checking-in an article and closing it
Step 1. Open the article that you want to edit and make your changes.
Step 2. Place the text cursor in any of the article components of the article that you want to check-in.
Step 3. Choose Smart Connection > Check In... .
The Check In dialog box appears.
Step 4. Enter all details and click OK.
For more information about all ways of saving articles, see Closing or saving an article using Smart Connection for InCopy.
Working with file names
When creating or editing an article, image, Dossier, or any other type of file or object, be aware of the following restrictions:
- The name cannot be longer than 63 characters
- Some characters are not allowed
For more information, see Restrictions for naming files in Smart Connection.
Logging out or quitting
When logging out of Smart Connection or quitting InCopy, any panel settings are saved so that you can make use of these settings the next time you log in, even when doing so from another system.
- To log out:
- Choose Smart Connection > Log out.
- To quit InCopy:
- Choose File > Exit or use the keyboard shortcut
Note: When logged in to Enterprise Server with SSO support, logging out of Enterprise in InDesign will not log you out of the authentication provider.
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