Can I transfer settings from one indesgn project to another?

Question

I am working on a (full color) newspaper - This is my first issue - taking it over from another design company which could be backing up future issues so I'd like to keep my settings exactly as theirs were (I have the last issue InDesign file) so that when they do have to layout the paper again there'll be no confusion.  Thanks!

Answer 1

You can probably delete all but the front page, and perhaps one inside spread (depending on how the master pages are set up). I personally would set up a newspaper using a single page master for the front page, and a two page master for a the basic inside pages, possibly some additional masters for alternate column arrangements if there are any in  use, and so forth. Masters should have the page headers and other "static" content (you might, for example, have masters for section pages like Metro, Editorial, Sports, and so on so you don't have to set all of that stuff up each time), but that doesn't really mean much. The way I work and the way others do things can vary widely. I worked for a newspaper once that used the same file week after week, dleting the stories and ads that weren't going to run, then adding the new content. In my opinion that's a workflow that always ends in disaster with the edition melting down at deadline, but it's pretty common.
One of the best things you could do for yourself is invest in some training. If you like online training, Lynda.com is probably the the best you'll find for ID. Sandee Cohen's Visual Quickstart book is about the best you'll find for a beginner written text. Real World InDesign by David Blatner et al is the best advanced book I've seen (and I 've looked at a lot of texts -- I taught ID at the college level for a bit).