Creating an InDesign Article for export from InDesign to a Digital article in Studio

This is step 2 of 3 of Exporting an InDesign layout to a Digital article in Studio.

In this step, one or more InDesign Articles are created, each containing the content that needs to be exported.

Figure: An InDesign Article in the Articles panel.

Creating the InDesign Article can be done manually or automatically.

Creating the InDesign Article manually

In this method, one or more InDesign articles are created manually. Use this method when specific parts of the layout (such as stories, adverts, and so on) need to be turned into separate articles.

The steps for creating the InDesign Article depend on the version of the InDesign PrintToDigital script that is used.

Info: Use the filter to only show the steps for one version: All versions Studio 11.109 or higher Studio 11.108 or lower

Steps for Studio 11.109 or higher

Note: This requires the InDesign PrintToDigital script 1.0 build 31 that is shipped with Studio 11.109, or any higher version.

Step 1. Access the Articles panel: Window > Articles.

Step 2. Create one or more articles and do the following:

• Give each article a unique name.
• Add all frames to each article that need to be exported, and arrange them in the right order.

Note about why the order should be changed: During import, the text from the InDesign Article will be converted to components of a Digital article. This is typically done by using a template. Any text that cannot be matched to a component in the template will be added to the end of the Story in the order it is arranged in the InDesign Article. It is this order that you can control here.

Steps for Studio 11.108 or lower

Note: For Studio 11.108 or lower (using the InDesign PrintToDigital script 1.0 build 24 or lower), only one article at a time can be exported.

Step 1. Access the Articles panel: Window > Articles.

Step 2. Create a new article and do the following:

• Name the article PrintToDigital.
• Add all frames to it that need to be exported and arrange them in the right order.

Note about why the order should be changed: During import, the text from the InDesign Article will be converted to components of a Digital article. This is typically done by using a template. Any text that cannot be matched to a component in the template will be added to the end of the Story in the order it is arranged in the InDesign Article. It is this order that you can control here.

Creating the InDesign Article automatically

In this method, all exportable content is turned into a single InDesign Article in one action. Use this method when only one article needs to be created.

Step 1. Create the InDesign Article by choosing Print to Digital > Prepare article.

A new InDesign Article is created in the Articles panel containing:

• All text that was assigned for inclusion
• All images that are placed on the layout

The following name is used for the article:

• For Studio 11.109 or higher (using the InDesign PrintToDigital script 1.0 build xx or higher):
• The name of the layout.

• For Studio 11.108 or lower (using the InDesign PrintToDigital script 1.0 build 24 or lower)
• PrintToDigital

Step 2. (Optional) Re-arrange the text components in the correct order.

Note about why the order should be changed: During import, the text from the InDesign Article will be converted to components of a Digital article. This is typically done by using a template. Any text that cannot be matched to a component in the template will be added to the end of the Story in the order it is arranged in the InDesign Article. It is this order that you can control here.

Tip: You can also change the order of the components later in Studio through drag-and-drop.

Important: After the InDesign Article is created, it can happen that additional frames are added. When these frames have content that also needs to be exported, remember to also add these frames to the InDesign Article. Do this by adding the frames manually or by deleting the existing InDesign Article and creating a new one.

Troubleshooting

The text frame on the InDesign layout does not appear in the export

Make sure that the text frame is included in the InDesign Article.

After the InDesign Article is created, it can happen that additional frames are added. When these frames have content that also needs to be exported, remember to also add these frames to the InDesign Article. Do this by:

• Adding the frames manually to the InDesign Article
• Deleting the InDesign Article and generating a new one (note that you will lose any changes that you may have made to the order of the article items)

InDesign Article items created by the Create InDesign Article option do not follow the reading order

This is a known issue for which there is currently no solution. Manually adjust the order of the items.

The export of the InDesign Article becomes slower every time it is executed

This is caused by memory leaks in InDesign's Javascript engine. Restart InDesign to resolve this issue.

Next step

Continue with Exporting the layout.

Revisions

• 19 January 2022: Added information about creating multiple articles.