Working with Dossiers in Smart Connection

In Enterprise, a Dossier represents a story. All files that are related to the story are collected in the Dossier. These files include reference material such as articles and images as well as the files that are needed to publish the story. In a print workflow these are the InDesign layouts, InCopy articles and images.

A Dossier is represented by a blue folder and can be expanded or double-clicked to view its contents.

Figure: The Smart Connection panel showing multiple Dossiers, one of which is expanded to view its contents.

In a typical workflow, a Dossier is the starting point for locating the file that you want to work on in InDesign or InCopy. However, you can also create Dossiers from scratch and add files to it.

This article describes how to work with Dossiers in Smart Connection for InDesign and in Smart Connection for InCopy.

• Accessing a Dossier and its contents
• Creating a Dossier
• Adding files to a Dossier
• Removing files from a Dossier

Accessing a Dossier and its contents

Accessing a Dossier and its contents can be done in various ways, using either the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel.

Each method has a different outcome and choosing which method to use depends on what you want to do at that time. To explain these methods, we'll show them twice: once grouped by action and once grouped by result.

By action

The following table shows the results of performing a particular action. The working of these depends on the version of Smart Connection that is used (see How to check which version is installed).

By result

The following table shows which action to perform to get a specific result. The working of these depends on the version of Smart Connection that is used (see How to check which version is installed).

Workflow

As can be seen from the above overviews, various panels can be opened in different ways. Depending on what you want to do and what you are currently working on, open one or more panels at the same time to have quick access to the files you need to work with.

Viewing Dossier content

To view the content of a Dossier in a panel, do one of the following:

• When using the Smart Connection panel, choose Show as List as well as Show Hierarchically from the panel menu and expand a Dossier.

• Viewing thumbnails: When the content of the Dossier panel is shown as thumbnails, and multiple Dossiers are shown in the panel, the Dossier filter can be used for selecting the Dossier for which the thumbnails should be shown. (Requires Smart Connection 14.3.1, or any higher version of version 14.3. See How to check which version is installed).

Filtering the Dossier panel

The content of the Dossier panel can be filtered by file type, Workflow Status, and Dossier.

Dossier panel behavior

When a Dossier panel is created, it is not added to the Window menu or the panel menu. When closing the panel it is also removed.

Selecting a placed file on the layout from the panel

Info: This feature is only available in InDesign and requires Smart Connection 14.3.0 for Adobe CC 2019 or any higher version of Smart Connection 14.3.

A layout can contain many placed files on multiple pages. Quickly navigating to a file that is placed on the layout that is currently viewed can be done by doing the following in the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel:

• Right-clicking a file and choosing Go to Placement.
• Left-clicking a file while holding down Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Cmd+Shift (macOS) on the keyboard.

The frame is now selected on the layout and where applicable brought into view.

Panel examples

The following images show examples of the various panels and their states as described above.

• Dossiers viewed in the Smart Connection panel. The content of the top Dossier is expanded.

• The Dossier panel showing the Dossiers that the currently viewed layout is part of. The name of the panel is 'Dossier'. Here, the layout is part of 2 Dossiers.

• The Dossier panel showing the Dossiers that the currently viewed layout is part of and the Dossiers that the files that are placed are part of. (Requires InDesign and Smart Connection 14.3.0 for Adobe CC 2019 or any higher version of Smart Connection 14.3.) The name of the panel is 'Dossier'. Here, a layout is opened that is only part of one Dossier; an image is placed on the layout which is also part of another Dossier. Both Dossiers are shown.

• The Dossier panel showing the content of a specific Dossier. The name of the panel is the name of the Dossier.

• The Dossier panel showing all Dossiers that a layout is part of. The name of the panel is the name of the layout followed by [Dossiers]. Here, the layout is part of 2 Dossiers.

• The Dossier panel showing all Dossiers that a file that can be placed is part of and all layouts that the file is placed on. The name of the panel is the name of the file followed by [Dossiers/Layouts]. Here a file is placed on one layout and part of one Dossier.

• The Dossier panel in thumbnail view, with a status and Dossier selected for which files need to be shown. (Requires Smart Connection 14.3.1 for Adobe CC 2019, or any higher version of version 14) The name of the panel is 'Dossier'. Here, a layout is opened that is part of multiple Dossiers, and all files in status 'Draft' that are in Dossier 'Kayaking' are shown in thumbnail view.

Creating a Dossier

Creating a Dossier can be done in the following ways:

• When saving a file to Enterprise:
• In InDesign: When saving the layout to Enterprise or when creating an article or an image
• In InCopy: When saving the article to Enterprise

• Based on one or more selected files in a panel

Creating a Dossier when saving a file to Enterprise

Step 1. Do one of the following:

• In InDesign:
• Bring up the Check-in dialog box or the Save Version dialog box for a layout.
• Convert an image frame to an Enterprise image by selecting the frame and choosing Smart Connection > Create Image...
• Convert a text frame to an InCopy article

• In InCopy:
• Bring up the Check-in dialog box or the Save Version dialog box for an article (see Closing or saving an article using Smart Connection for InCopy).

The Check-in dialog box appears.

Step 2. Enter a name and set the properties for the file.

Note: See also Using duplicate file names in Enterprise 10 and Invalid file name characters in Enterprise.

Step 3. From the Dossier list, choose New Dossier.

Figure: The 'New Dossier' option in the Dossier list.

Step 4. Click OK.

The file is saved in Enterprise and added to the Dossier.

Creating a Dossier based on one or more selected files in a panel

Step 1. Select one or more files in a panel such as the Smart Connection panel or the Dossier panel.

Note: The selected files can be of any type except other Dossiers. It is also possible to select files that are already part of another Dossier.

Step 2. Right-click any of the selected files and choose Create Dossier... from the context menu.

The Create Dossier dialog box appears.

Step 3. In the Name box, enter a descriptive name.

Note: See also Using duplicate file names in Enterprise 10 and Invalid file name characters in Enterprise.

Step 4. Set the rest of the properties for the Dossier and click OK. The Dossier is created and the selected files are added to it.

Adding files to a Dossier

Adding a file to an already existing Dossier can be done in the following ways:

• By using the Smart Connection panel
• When saving the file

Using the Smart Connection panel

Do one of the following:

• In the Smart Connection panel, drag one or more files onto a Dossier
• Select one or more placed files on the layout and drag them onto a Dossier in the Smart Connection panel

Note: Make sure that the files that you are dragging are all stored in Enterprise, otherwise the file cannot be added.

• Open a layout (in InDesign or InCopy), right-click a Dossier and choose Add Current Document to Dossier

Saving the file

Step 1. Do one of the following:

• In InDesign:
• Bring up the Check-in dialog box or the Save Version dialog box for a layout.
• Convert an image frame to an Enterprise image by selecting the frame and choosing Smart Connection > Create Image...
• Convert a text frame to an InCopy article

• In InCopy:
• Bring up the Check-in dialog box or the Save Version dialog box for an article (see Closing or saving an article using Smart Connection for InCopy).

The Check-in dialog box appears.

Step 2. Enter a name and set the properties for the file.

Note: See also Using duplicate file names in Enterprise 10 and Invalid file name characters in Enterprise.

Step 3. From the Dossier list, choose an existing Dossier.

Figure: Various existing Dossiers in the Dossier list.

Step 4. Click OK.

The file is saved in Enterprise and added to the Dossier.

Removing files from a Dossier

Step 1. Display the Smart Connection panel in List View mode (as opposed to Thumbnail View mode).

Step 2. Click the expander in front of the Dossier from which the file needs to be removed so that all files in that Dossier are visible.

Figure: A Smart Connection panel viewed in List View mode with one Dossier expanded.

Step 3. Select one or more files.

Step 4. Right-click any of the selected files and choose Remove from Dossier.

A message appears, asking to confirm the action.

Step 5. Click Yes.

The selected files are removed from the Dossier.

Step 6. (Optional) Click Refresh to update the content of the Dossier.