Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature (outdated)

The process of placing articles on a layout in a print publication is a time-consuming process, even when a template-based workflow is used. Manually placing each article and adjusting it to make sure that its content fits its place on the layout is a repetitive task that takes up a lot of time.

The AI Layout Automation feature in Studio greatly improves this process by analyzing the available space on the pages of a layout — based on preconfigured blueprints and article shapes and taking already placed articles and advertisements into account — and providing suggestions on how and where the available articles and their images can best be placed to fill the pages.

Adjustments to these suggestions can then be made, and when satisfied with the result, the command can be given to have all articles automatically placed.

The end result is a layout with articles placed on it, identical to how this would be done manually, but now done much more quickly and much more efficiently. All that is left to do is some final copyfit tweaking.

This feature is mainly designed for newspapers but can also be used in magazines for pages with a newspaper-like layout structure.

How to automatically place articles this way in Studio is described in this article.

The concept

Although the working of the Layout Automation feature is relatively easy to understand and use, it is based on various concepts. These concepts are explained in Automatically placing articles in Studio using the AI Layout Automation feature - the concept.

Note: It is recommended to be familiar with these concepts and it is assumed here that this is the case.

Requirements

To make use of the Layout Automation feature, the following is required:

• WoodWing Studio and WoodWing Studio Server running in WoodWing Cloud
• Issues with no Editions defined; Editions are currently not supported
• Adobe InDesign 2024 or higher with Studio for InDesign and InCopy installed
• Adobe InDesign Server 2024 or higher with Studio for InDesign and InCopy installed
• Studio 11.204 or higher (specific version requirements are indicated per feature where applicable)

Before you start

For the feature to work with optimal results, some preparation is required. It is assumed that the Layout Automation feature has been fully set up and prepared for you. This includes having pages with their folio and any articles and adverts already placed.

Verify that the following is also done and change this where needed:

• The articles and their related images have all been placed in the same Dossier.

• No Editions are defined within the Issue; Editions are currently not supported.

• The articles to place on the layouts are in the same Brand, Issue, and Category that the layout is in.

• A sufficient number of images are available as planned to be added to an article.

• The components in each article have been tagged with the correct Element label to indicate the type of content that the component contains.

• The following properties of each article have been set:
• Priority. This indicates to the Layout Automation feature if the article must be included, should be included, or if it would be nice if it is included. It is defined by a number:
• 1. Must have
• 2. Should have
• 3. Nice to have
• Story type. This indicates the type of the story: lead, secondary, third, or filler. The type is directly related to the Article Shape that the Layout Automation feature will use. It is defined by a number:
• 1. Lead story
• 2. Secondary story
• 3. Third story
• 4. Filler story
• Planned number of characters. For planned (and still empty) or unfinished articles, set the number of planned characters of all 'body' components as a measure of the article size. When the article is finished, set it back to zero (using the Properties panel or dialog for that article) so that the actual character count is used.
• Intended number of images. The number of images that should be placed with the article.*
• Intended number of quotes. The number of quotes that should be placed with the article.*
• Intended page. The number of the page on which the article should be placed.*
• Genre. (Optional) Set the Genre that the article should be part of.

* This is an intention: the Layout Automation feature may deviate from this.

• The word and character count for an article should closely match its type so that copyfit issues are avoided as much as possible. In other words: when an article is to be used as a small filler, it should probably not contain 1500 words. On the other hand: an article with a relatively low number of words or characters could still act as a lead story with a large image, taking up a lot of space.

• When the Layout Automation places content on a layout, it does this on a dedicated layer named the 'PLA InDesign layer'. When this layer does not yet exist, it is created automatically. The layer should not be used for other purposes.

The Layout Automation dialog

Working with the Layout Automation feature is done by using the Layout Automation dialog. It is accessed by right-clicking a layout anywhere in Studio and choosing Open Layout Automation....

It consists of the following components:

A - A Preview pane showing the pages and the blueprints that the Layout Automation feature has chosen for them, and the articles that have been placed and their shapes. Hover the mouse pointer over a title to see the title in full in a tooltip.

When an area is striped, it means that it is filled with a special (requires Studio 11.215 or higher).

Figure: In this preview, a weather report is treated as a special, as indicated by the striped area.

B - A list of articles that can be placed on the layout.

- A Refresh button is available to refresh the list.

- A filter option is available to filter the list based on a custom query.

- A Pin is shown for articles that are already placed on the layout (requires Studio 11.212 or higher).

C - The properties of each article. Some of these can be manually adjusted. See the table below.

D - An Update button to update the preview in the Preview pane. This is typically done after making changes to the list of articles and their properties.

E - A list of Placement Presets with which the way the Layout Automation algorithm fills a page can be influenced (requires Studio 11.216 or higher).

F - A Compose pages button to start the process of creating shapes on the layout and placing articles in them based on the current settings.

Tip: Drag the divider between the Preview pane and the list of articles up or down to change the size of the preview.

The following properties are shown for each article:

Property	Remarks
Words	The total number of words in all article components that are marked as a 'body' component. It is not the number of words of all components, and does therefore not match the total number shown for example in the Print editor in Studio. Which article components are treated as 'body' components is determined during the configuration.
Characters	The total number of characters in all article components that are marked as a 'body' component. It is not the number of characters of all components, and does therefore not match the total number shown for example in the Print editor in Studio. Which article components are treated as 'body' components is determined during the configuration. The value that is used is one of the following, indicated by an icon: The planned character count. When a value higher than zero is set in the 'Planned number of body characters' field for an article, this value is used as a measure of the article size. This is done for planned (and still empty) articles and for unfinished articles. The actual character count. The actual character count is used as a measure of the article size (as opposed to the planned character count that can optionally be set, see above).
Priority	The priority that placing the article should have over all other stories of the same type, as set initially in the properties for that article: Must. Indicates that this article must be placed on the layout. This makes is certain that the article is placed. Should. Indicates that the layout should be placed on the layout. This makes it highly likely that the article is placed. Nice. Indicates that it would be nice if the article is placed, but if not then that is fine too. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value.
Story type	The type of story, as set initially in the properties for that article. The type chosen is directly related to the Article Shape that the Layout Automation feature will use. Lead. A lead story. This could be any story, including an article with a low number of words and characters in combination with a large image. 2nd. A secondary story. 3rd. A third story. Filler. A filler story. This is typically an article with a low number of words and characters. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value.
Genre	(Optional) The Genre that the article should be part of. Changing this can be done in the properties for the article.
Images	For Studio 11.210 and higher: Two values are shown (x/y). The first value is the intended number of images that are aimed to be placed. The second value is the actual number of images in the Dossier that the article is part of. The number of images that are aimed to be placed with the article is initially set in the properties for that article. Note that this is an intention; the Layout Automation feature may deviate from this. When a value is chosen, that value is what the Layout Automation will aim for (it can still be deviated from). When a hyphen is chosen, Layout Automation aims for any number smaller or equal to the actual number of images in the Dossier. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value. For Studio 11.209 and lower: The number of images that should be placed with the article, as set initially in the properties for that article. Note that this is an intention; the Layout Automation feature may deviate from this. When a value is chosen, that value is used. When a hyphen is chosen, the Layout Automation feature is free to decide the number to use. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value.
Quotes	For Studio 11.210 and higher: Two values are shown (x/y). The first value is the intended number of quotes that are aimed to be placed. The second value is the actual number of quotes in the article. The number of quotes that are aimed to be placed with the article is initially set in the properties for that article. Note that this is an intention; the Layout Automation feature may deviate from this. When a value is chosen, that value is what the Layout Automation will aim for (it can still be deviated from). When a hyphen is chosen, Layout Automation aims for any number smaller or equal to the actual number of quotes in the article. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value. For Studio 11.209 and lower: The number of quotes that should be placed with the article, as set initially in the properties for that article. Note that this is an intention; the Layout Automation feature may deviate from this. When a value is chosen, that value is used. When a hyphen is chosen, the Layout Automation feature is free to decide the number to use. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value.
Page nr (Aim)	The number of the page on which it should be aimed to place the article on, as set initially in the properties for that article. Note that this is an intention; the Layout Automation feature may deviate from this. When a value is chosen, that value is used. When a hyphen is chosen, the Layout Automation feature is free to decide the number to use. Hover the mouse pointer over the field to change its value.
Page nr (Actual)	The page number on which the article is going to be placed, as determined by the Layout Automation feature.
Exclude	This indicates that the article should be excluded from the process and should not be placed. Select it to enable it. Notes: The Preview pane only shows the pages of the layouts that have been selected; not all pages for all layouts of the Brand, Issue, and Category combination. Articles that are aimed for pages that are not in these selected layouts are automatically set to the Excluded status. Clearing the status will have no effect; they will not be included in the process. For articles that are already placed (as indicated by the Pin icon next to their name), the Exclude check box cannot be selected. (Requires Studio 11.212 or higher.)

Filtering articles

When the Layout Automation dialog is opened for the first time, by default all articles that can be placed on the layout and that belong to the same Brand, Issue, and Category combination of the layout are shown.

The list can be further filtered by selecting a Custom Search above the list.

When a Custom Search is selected, it is automatically set the next time the dialog is opened for the Brand and Category combination until the Custom Search is removed for that combination.

Spreads versus single pages

Info: This feature requires Studio 11.213 or higher.

When a layout is initially planned as a spread in the page planner, it might be that by the time articles need to be placed on it, single pages should be used instead.

To make a spread act as single pages, do one of the following:

• In the Layout Automation dialog, click the Page settings icon in the preview pane of the layout, and from the menu that appears, choose 'Single page'.

• Before accessing the Layout Automation dialog for a layout, enable the 'Handle spreads as single pages' option in the Properties panel for the layout.

Note: This setting is managed on a layout level, not on an individual spread or page level. Toggling the setting for the layout affects all spreads on that layout.

Alternatively, if the 'Handle spreads as single pages' option for a layout was enabled and the layout needs to be treated as a spread when working with it in the Layout Automation dialog, choose 'Spread' from the Page settings menu.

Placing articles

Placing articles on all the various pages within a specific section of a publication is typically done by a dedicated person such as a 'Chief print'. The steps are as follows:

Step 1. Make sure that any article that should be treated as a special (such as a weekly column or a weather report) is already placed on the layout before the layout is opened in the Layout Automation dialog.

Step 2. Anywhere in Studio (including in the Publication Overview application), select the layouts that you want to place articles on using the Layout Automation feature, right-click one of them, and choose Open Layout Automation....

The Layout Automation dialog appears.

At this point, the Layout Automation feature is scanning the pages in the layout, and generates a proposal for placing the articles. The proposal is based on the available blueprints, Article Shapes, article properties, and already placed articles and adverts, as well as all pages of all other layouts in the same Brand, Issue, and Category combination.

The result is shown in the Preview pane.

In theory, the proposal can be accepted and the pages can be composed based on the current settings.

Step 3. If no changes need to be made, click Compose pages. Continue with the text after step 6.

In practice, it is likely that you want to make some adjustments.

Step 4. (Optional) Click Refresh to get the latest list of articles for the section that the layout is part of.

Step 5. (Optional, requires Studio 11.216 or higher) Choose a Placement Preset from the list if the algorithm should focus on a specific aspect such as copyfitting, the placement of images, a balanced placement, and so on.

Step 6. (Optional) Select a Custom Search to reduce the number of articles in the list.

Step 7. Update one or more of the following settings for an article (see the table above):

• Planned number of body characters
• Priority
• Story type
• Genre*
• Number of images
• Number of quotes
• Page number to aim for
• Exclude the article

Step 8. Click Update to let the Layout Automation feature update the proposal based on the updated settings.

The preview in the Preview pane is updated.

Step 9. When happy with the proposed result, click Compose pages.

The dialog is closed and the system starts the process of placing the articles on the layouts. A notification is shown when this is completed.

Step 10. (Optional) When needed, resolve any copyfit issues by editing the articles in Studio or by using Studio for InDesign and InCopy, or by tweaking the layouts using Studio for InDesign.

Tip: In Studio, use the AI Copyfit feature to quickly resolve copy fit issues in various ways.

Revisions

• 29 June 2026: Marked the article as 'outdated' and added information about this to the introduction.
• 28 May 2026: Updated step 5 in section 'Placing articles' with notes about the functionality of Studio 11.219.
• 13 May 2026: Added section 'Requirements'.