Get a PDF when opening original InDesign File (CS4) to update it.

Question

I need to update an organizational chart MONDAY MORNING if I want to look really smart at my brand new job I started last week. The problem--I have located the orginal file that was created in InDesign CS4 by my predecessor. When I double click on the name to open the file I get a PDF. I cannot edit it very well and in in the time frame I will have to do it. Besides, I need to edit the original documnet. How do I do that? I did not create the origianl so do not know if there are locks etc. I need to figure this out before tommorrow at 6am or it will not look good for me...So far I have been blowing them away. Can't start looking stupid this week when I looked so smart last week! If I can't figure thei sout..I amy have to figure out hwo to correct teh PDF...which as a rememeber form a past experice is nasty and takes much longer. Thank you.

Answer 1

Kitti-girl's Mom wrote:
The extension is an InDesign extension and the fact it was in a folder
titled by the predecessor as "In Design Files." I click it and get eth PDF.
If you double click it in Finder or Windows Explorer and it quacks like a PDF, then that's what it is. The operating system is ignoring the extension and opening it with the correct application; Acrobat here.
This may be an intentional sabotage, or an inadvertent mistake, perhaps caused by the previous worker who had deleted the original ID file and thought that perhaps renaming it as PDF would cover the problem.
In Acrobat or Reader, File > Properties > Description will tell you the application that made the PDF. The Additional Metadata button may tell  you who made it - or at the login name of that user. These won't fix anything, but may help you find someone with more info, like the named person.
With your experience, it might be most efficient to place the document into a blank InDesign file on a master page if it's only a single-page document, or on the document page, then create a new layer on top of that, lock the PDF layer, and use it as a template over which you re-draw and re-type what you need to reproduce it. It's possible that a table was used to create the original - if so, create a table in a text frame atop the PDF, and resize columns or rows, and merge or split cells, etc, as needed.
To view your progress, hide the PDF layer by poking the eye of its layer in the Layers panel.
As mentioned, PDF2ID is a commercial product that can do the conversion. I believe there's either a free trial download or they'll convert your file for free to show off its strength.
[EDIT]
It's possible that the PDF was made by converting a chart from a dedicated charting application, even something like PowerPoint or the equivalent in the free OpenOffice (aka NeoOffice on Mac.)
Naming it .indd might also have come from inadvertently including it in a batch file rename operation.
Message was edited by: peter at knowhowpro
[/EDIT]
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices