Working with Dossiers in Studio for InDesign and InCop

In Studio for InDesign and InCopy, 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 Studio panel showing 4 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 Studio for InDesign and in Studio 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 Studio 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 will 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.

By result

The following table shows which action to perform to get a specific result.

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 Studio 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 Studio for InDesign and InCopy 16.3.0, or any higher version of version 16. 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.

Filtering by file type

The Dossier panel can be filtered to show all types of files, or by one or more file types only such as only layouts, articles, and/or images.

The method of filtering the panel is identical to that of the Studio panel: bring up the menu by right-clicking anywhere on an empty space at the top of the panel, or choose Filter from the panel menu.

Note: Dossiers are always displayed, even when they are empty.

Filtering by Workflow Status

The content of the Dossier panel can be filtered by using one or more filters at the top of the panel. Which filters are available depends on the version of Studio for InDesign and InCopy that is used (see How to check which version is installed).

The following table shows the various filters, how they work, and in which versions they are available.

Filtering by Dossier

When viewing the Dossier panel in Thumbnail view (panel menu > View 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.

Displaying related Dossiers

When the Dossier panel is opened, the panel shows the Dossiers that the currently viewed layout is part of, as well as the Dossiers that all placed files are part of.

This can be useful to quickly navigate to a different Dossier, but when many files and their related Dossiers exist, the list of Dossiers can become very long and the overview in the panel can be lost.

The panel can therefore be set to show or hide related Dossiers by accessing the panel menu and doing one of the following:

• Select Show Related Dossiers. In this default setting, the panel shows the Dossiers that the currently viewed layout is part of, as well as the Dossiers that all placed files are part of.

• De-select Show Related Dossiers. The panel now only shows all Dossiers that the layout is part of, and hides all Dossiers that placed files are part of.

Example: A layout is part of Dossier 1. Articles and images are placed on the layout which are part of Dossiers 2, 3, and 4. When Show Related Dossiers is selected, Dossiers 1 to 4 are shown. When Show Related Dossiers is not selected, only Dossier 1 is shown.

Note: The system administrator can configure which setting is default, and can also prevent users from setting the option themselves. When the latter is the case, the option in the menu is grayed-out.

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

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 Studio 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 Studio 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. 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 is part of one Dossier.

• The Dossier panel in thumbnail view, with a status and Dossier selected for which files need to be shown. 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 Studio Server:
• In InDesign: When saving the layout to Studio Server or when creating an article or an image
• In InCopy: When saving the article to Studio Server

• Based on one or more selected files in a panel

Creating a Dossier when saving a file to Studio Server

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 Studio Server image by selecting the frame and choosing WoodWing Studio > 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 Studio 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 Studio Server. and Invalid file name characters in Studio Server.

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 Studio Server 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 Studio 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 Studio Server. and Invalid file name characters in Studio Server.

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 Studio panel
• When saving the file

Using the Studio panel

Do one of the following:

• In the Studio 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 Studio panel

Note: Make sure that the files that you are dragging are all stored in Studio Server, 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 image stored in Studio Server by selecting the frame and choosing WoodWing Studio > 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 Studio 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 Studio Server. and Invalid file name characters in Studio Server.

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 Studio Server and added to the Dossier.

Removing files from a Dossier

Step 1. Display the Studio panel in List View mode (as opposed to Thumbnail View mode) by doing the following:

• In the Studio panel menu, choose Show as List.

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 Studio 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.