InDesign CS3 - CS4 compatibility and backwards compatibility

About to purchase InDesign CS4 for the PC. A colleague in the non-profit association I will be sharing projects with uses CS3 on a Mac.
Are there any issues with us exchaning InDesign files from CS3 -> CS4 and from CS4 -> CS4?
Regards
Ian

CS3>CS4...usually no problems, you can use InDesign´s native file format indd. You may have some difficulties with fonts if you transfer files from Mac to Win or vice versa. Specially with some older non-open-type fonts. You can´t use same font with both OS, so you must have own versions for Mac and Win. And they will not always match perfectly.
CS4>CS3 works if you export your file to INX format. You will face some problems if you have used CS4 features that doesn´t exsist in CS3... and of course you may have issues with fonts too but that´s not really because of indesign. You will have same font issues with other softwares too, if you transfer files between Mac and Win.

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Programatically determine installation location for InDesign CS3, CS4, CS5, AND CS5.5 (Windows)

We build plug-ins for all versions of InDesign from CS3 and later, for Windows and Mac.
To deploy our plug-in(s) on Windows, we use InstallShield, which has a somewhat complicated mechanism to locate InDesign.exe and determine its version so we know which plug-in(s) to install, but basically, the location is determined (via the RegLocator table in InstallShield) based on this registry setting:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\InDesign.exe
This has been working fine for all versions of InDesign since CS2. However, that location is apparently no longer set by the InDesign CS5.5 installer. So, we need to find some other way of programatically locating InDesign CS5.5 with our installer.
I've searched the registry of a machine with InDesign CS5.5 installed, and there are other registry entries related to InDesign, but those entries are not set by earlier versions of the InDesign installer. Ideally, there would be a registry setting, or some other reliable marker we can use to locate the InDesign installation, which is consistent across all versions of InDesign (at least back to CS3).
Using the registry setting is something we came up with on our own via trial-and-error, since, as far as I know, there is no documented way to locate the InDesign installation folder. (Our Mac installer uses a simpler mechanism to locate InDesign by the application name and version number.)
I find the apparent lack of documentation on this a bit ironic, since just about every other aspect of the SDK and the methods for creating InDesign plug-ins is extremely well documented, expect for the last final bit one needs to know to get to the promised land of actually deploying a carefully crafted plug-in to customers' machines. (This seems to be true of the Acrobat SDK as well.) However, I could have just missed the relevant documentation, in which case, please point me to it.
So, is there a recommended way to programatically locate the InDesign installation location on Windows? How are other people doing this in their installers?

Hi Dan,
this is the InDesign plugins SDK forum, you need the installer forum....
Just kidding. I use a really hacky piece of VB to install my plugins while I'm developing...
here's the bit which works out the folder depending on which version I'm compiling for.
That gives you the gist anyway, and I imagine that most installers are going to do more or less the same thing, except they'll have short cuts ways of getting it.
There's probably a better way, but this works for me...
    Private Function DiscoverApplicationFolderFromName(ByRef strApplicationName As String) As String
        Dim strApplicationSignature As String
        Dim strDefaultPath As String
        If (g_strCreativeSuiteVersion = CREATIVE_SUITE_5) Then
            ' special case for CS5, because a debug machine might have CS5 or CS5.5 or both installed.
            ' plugins built with the SDK for 5.5 will not run in CS5 apps
            strApplicationSignature = strApplicationName + ".Application." + CREATIVE_SUITE_55
            Dim strInCopyPath = DiscoverApplicationFolderFromSignature(strApplicationSignature, "")
            If (strInCopyPath <> "") Then
                g_strCreativeSuiteVersion = CREATIVE_SUITE_55
                Return strInCopyPath
            End If
        End If
        strApplicationSignature = strApplicationName + ".Application." + g_strCreativeSuiteVersion
        strDefaultPath = "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe " + strApplicationName + " " + g_strCreativeSuiteVersion + "\" + strApplicationName + ".exe"
        Return DiscoverApplicationFolderFromSignature(strApplicationSignature, strDefaultPath)
    End Function
    Private Function DiscoverApplicationFolderFromSignature(ByRef strApplicationSignature As String, ByRef strDefaultPath As String) As String
        Dim strApplicationPath As String = DiscoverApplicationPathFromCLSID(strApplicationSignature, strDefaultPath)
        If (strApplicationPath = "") Then
            Return ""
        End If
        Dim strDirectory As String = Path.GetDirectoryName(strApplicationPath)
        ' Get rid of the trailing Debug because this depends on whether we install the Debug or Release version first or second.
        ' It will be added on again if we're using a Debug Configuration
        Dim strDebugTag As String = " Debug"
        If strDirectory.EndsWith(" Debug") Then
            strDirectory = strDirectory.Substring(0, strDirectory.Length - strDebugTag.Length)
        End If
        Return strDirectory
    End Function
    Private Function DiscoverApplicationPathFromCLSID(ByRef strApplicationSignature As String, ByRef strDefaultPath As String) As String
        Dim strApplicationPath As String = strDefaultPath
        Try
            Dim strKey As String = strApplicationSignature + "\CLSID"
            Dim regKey As RegistryKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(strKey)
            Dim strGUID As String = regKey.GetValue("")
            regKey.Close()
            If IsRegistryVirualized() Then
                strKey = "Wow6432Node\CLSID\" + strGUID + "\LocalServer32"
            Else
                strKey = "CLSID\" + strGUID + "\LocalServer32"
            End If
            regKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey(strKey)
            strApplicationPath = regKey.GetValue("")
            regKey.Close()
        Catch ex As Exception
            LogMessage("FAILED DiscoverApplicationPathFromCLSID: " + strApplicationSignature)
            strApplicationPath = strDefaultPath
        End Try
        Return strApplicationPath
    End Function

File size comparisons, InDesign CS3, CS4 and CS5?

Hi, all.
It seems there was a trend for several major releases where each time Adobe released a new version of InDesign and InCopy, average file sizes grew by 20% or so from the old release to the new release, at least back in the older CS days. Has this trend continued, such that file sizes in CS4 are substantially larger than file sizes from CS3, and CS5 files are substantially larger than those from CS4?
Adobe, of course, wants to keep writing functionality that will keep the user community coming back to buy in to upgrades. The added functionality sometimes comes at a cost beyond the price tag. If file sizes are larger in a newer version, then page saves over a network or to a database are likely to be slower, and user productivity takes a hit while users are waiting for files to be saved.
Has anyone done any testing to build the "same" page in multiple versions of InDesign to understand what the effect is on the file sizes? I'm specifically interested in the file sizes between InDesign CS3, CS4 and CS5. To be meaningful, the test page would have to be at least moderately complex, with a couple of photos, multiple text elements and so forth. By "same," the page wouldn't take advantage of new functionality in newer versions but would be saved as a native page of the current version, though the file sizes may be bloated by the new functionality like it or not.
If you've done any testing along these lines, I'd like to hear more about it.
Thanks.
Mark

The overall structure of ID's files have been exactly the same for -- as far as I can see back -- CS. No change at all, in there.
There have been significant additions to the 'global' spaces; stuff like InCopy user data, table styles, object styles, and cross references. Each of these add a major chunk of data to each file, whether you use it or not, plus a few bytes per object (again, whether you use them or not -- ID also needs to know where you did not use them, that's why). I think these might be the main source of 'global' file size increase (a single object style in one of my files, for example, eats up a healthy chunk of 11,482 bytes).
For the rest, all new stuff like 'span columns' is a handful of bytes per paragraph style. Tracking changes may very well double the size of text runs -- but 1 character takes up 1 byte of storage (plus perhaps some overhead of indicating its 'tracking' status). Any single measurement unit always uses 8 bytes at least (for example, the left inset for a column span -- even if it's not used, or set to 0pt).
I think we're talking about a couple of K's here (oh -- perhaps a max of a hundred or so), in a file format that has been designed around the concept of "disk pages", each 4K big, meaning that sometimes adding one single character to a text box increases the file size by 4 K.
Your idea of comparing the size of a file created in CS3 against the same saved as CS4 and as CS5 is certainly feasible -- I might try it some time, just to confirm it's purely the extra 'new objects' data that accounts for the size increase and to confirm my guesstimates of the number of Ks involved.

Indesign cs3 for table and figure

In Indesign cs3 for table and figure automation scripts
Tables - auto align and place near citation
Figures - place near citation with caption
Its urgent

ok, well, you may want to ask a question, rather than just stating what you need to do. also, people are helping you for free, so writing it's urgent won't get you very far.

Book Adobe InDesign CS3/CS4 SDK Programming by Kris Coppieters

Hi there, I would like to ask if anybody knows whether Adobe® InDesign® CS3/CS4 SDK Programming Book by Kris Coppieters is available as ebook, since I could find only printed version on Lulu.com. Thanks for your help

Hi Maciej,
No, I've never released my book as an ebook. Not sure if it would be worth the effort - it's an awfully small market! I have my book up on Lulu primarily for my own use, as course notes that I use when I run an InDesign SDK training session - so I can quickly print some nice quality handouts for my students.
Cheers,
Kris

Booklet issues with InDesign CS3 on Mac, and Xerox WorkCentre 7655 booklet maker

I'm having several booklet making issues I'm hoping someone can help me with.
I am on a MacPro, OS X Leopard, InDesign CS3. We have a Xerox WorkCentre 7655 that has booklet making capability. The network server is a PC with Microsoft 2003 server on it.
The booklet I am making uses two 11x17 trays - one for cover stock for the cover and one for regular 24 lb paper for the insides. The layout is single pages rather than spreads - spreads did not work at all.
From InDesign using the printer, the cover pages come out backwards and mirror image. The inside pages are upside down and on only half the page. I did not not InDesign file/booklet because that seemed to create even more problems with the Xerox booklet settings, and I don't know how to try InDesign booklet and not the Xerox settings.
I tried making a pdf and printing booklets from that. On the Macintosh, I can't figure out how to tell it the pages are 11x17 so it keeps giving me an error that the printer is waiting for 8 1/2 x 11.
I actually did get the booklets to print properly using the pdf file and a PC, but any gray graphics came out lilac. The text was black, and the covers were the correct colors - only the inside graphics were the wrong color.
I hope this makes some sense - I really need help. I've tried everything I can think of. I spent a lot of time with Xerox 1st and 2nd level support, and they have washed their hands of this. So I'm posting here hoping someone has some ideas.
Any other information anyone might need for this issue? Thanks so much.

I have a similar machine configuration and have had many issues printing to an HP 9500mfp. Pages rotate, mirror, 2-sided both print on same side. I've lost the "bookletmake" function. Jobs will not recognize paper trays (meaning I have to manually tell it which paper tray holds the tabloid stock). I've tried using the "Page Setup" dialog box to no avail. On occasion, I can get some of the features to work with a pdf printing from Acrobat. Sometimes, that doesn't work either - never with any kind of predictability. Printing to the HP 4700 is more reliable. I've downloaded the updated "Leopard" compatible driver from HP, but it fixed no issues. When I tried contacting tech support for HP, the replied that this is an OS issues and not with equipment, leaving me SOL.

InDesign CS3 - placing PDFs and the Crop To option

Hey, y'all. Still an old-schooler using InDesign CS3 (meanwhile, the person in the adjacent cubicle gets CS4, and she's not primarily in production or art...how is this fair?) Anywho, here's my dilemma...
We receive PDF ads from our clients and we ask that they stick to a page size of 8.125 x 10.75 cropped, with an additional .25" of bleed on each edge (for a total of 8.625 x 11.25). Often, the client sends us an AI file or PDF with the artboard set to the crop area. No matter how I set the "Crop To" in the Place PDF window, it never extends past the Illustrator Artboard, so I can't get the bleed.
So, apart from opening up the PDF/AI in Illustrator and changing the artboard to our bleed dimensions (8.625x11.25), is there anything I can do? I was thinking that I could change the "Crop To" settings in InDesign? Or, is there a way I can change my bleed settings within Illustrator?

Thanks for the tip, Luke. If it's PDFs, I can usually overcome it, as the other Crop To options (bleed, media, artboard, crop) can sometimes get me the full artboard, although different clients send me different stuff, so that's handy to know.
AI files...well, until I can upgrade to CS4...

Indesign CS3 - copy paste and export problem

When I try to copy text in Indesign CS3 and paste it in Word 2007 - or even in notepad - nothing happens. Pasting works fine when I stay in Indesign, but not when I try to paste it in another application.
So I tried to export text to RTF (selecting text, export to rtf, give a name als save), but no file was created.
Pasting text from another app. into Indesign just works fine.
Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?
Thanks for any advise.
(Windows Vista, Dell 9200, 4 MB memory)
L.L.

I solve this problem in windows XP using the Phaedra's first optimistic tip and worked fine to me.
When I tested the IDcs3 in another profile it was clear that the problem is not in the program, but in permissions or another detail in the user config.
To simplifly my life, I create a new user account "MIGUEL2" in Windows as admin powers. With this new account I "reboot" my oldest ("MIGUEL") account to user mode. Restarted windows and, with "MIGUEL2" I reset the privileges to "MIGUEL" to admin user.
Now I can export txt and rtf files from IDcs3. ;)
You can skip the last step and work only with the new account or just work as user, not admin...
Really weird. Why this happened? I don't know... but I'm happy that was too simple to solve...
Best wishes
Miguel Leite

Reinstall and reregister InDesign CS3, Acrobat 9 and Photoshop 7

I just lost my Dell Latitude Laptop and my office Desktop computers, thanks to Sandy. Now I must reinstall Adobe Indesgin CS3, Acrobat 9 and Photoshop 7; as well as Windows XP and MS Office Pro 2003. What can I do to make the re-registrations of these products go smoothly, i.e. not take a week?

Not sure what you are trying to say. You need to properly reinstall them. Downloads can be found here for most legacy products:
Direct Download Links for Adobe Software
Activations can be reset by calling support. there is no need to re-register. If you did once, all the info is on your Adobe account already.
Mylenium

Captivate CS3 / CS4 Compatability

Hello,
I work in a mixed environment. The organization I provide eLearning to uses an organization-wide Captivate CS3 license and I use CS4 to create the content. I haven't had to ensure the content I create crosses version lines so I was wondering: Is Adobe Captivate CS4 backwards compatible with CS3 or is there a way to make CS3 read a CS4 file?
I can't force them to change the version of Captivate they are using but if I can make it possible to use the content I create, that would be great!
I really don't want to go back to using CS3. I loved it but I like CS4 a lot better now. If only they would see that too....

Hi again
Yes. But not without a few hickeys.
I have Captivate 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the same PC. While my version 4 seems to work okay, I have problems editing and working with audio in version 3. (I still do a lot of work using version 3).
Cheers... Rick
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CS3/CS4 Compatibility

Adobe sales maintains that CS4 files can be saved to CS3. I've seen posts here asserting this is not possible, and I cannot see how it would be possible (no CS3 Save as option). Can anyone explain why Adobe sales would say this is possible if it is not? If it is possible, can anyone say how?
Thomas

Hi again
Yes, well, ummm, we have ALL grown to love the support area of many companies. The company that catapulted me to unemployment was known at one point for having decent support. But well, let's just say that the company didn't want to spend the money it takes to do that properly.Their view of Support was always equated to $$$. Humans were reduced to simple "Heads" or "Seats". All they cared about was how much more quickly they could get callers off the call. How can we reduce head count. How can we reduce the number of seats that are required.
Heck, even when done properly it's really luck of the draw. One call may result in connecting with someone that totally solves all your issues in short order while the next connects you with someone that just wants a paycheck. They view the job as simply a means to subsist and really don't care much more than what it takes to keep them out of trouble.
I'm not sure what is up with Sales. It certainly sounds as if they are badly misinformed. At least on this issue.
Cheers... Rick
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A book file in InDesign CS3 (.indb) - Mac and PC - crashing issue

Several months ago, I posted that when I indexed a 300-page book with lots of chapter, generating the index crashed InDesign. This happened initially on a PC running Windows XP home. When I took the book to a Macintosh, it happened also.
One thing I had done, and I don't know if this makes a difference, is changed words that already had index tags attached to them.
It has been several months since I've tried this - I've been waiting until this book was completely written before trying again.
Since this happened, I've also tried to synchronize styles and that also crashed InDesign. Before the index 'broke', both generating the index and synchronizing styles worked like perfectly - amazing functions of InDesign and makes working with a book much easier.
Now the book is ready. I stripped all of the index codes from the entire book using search and replace, and then the first time I tried to open the Index window, it crashed again.
When it recovered, there was a message that 5 of my 24 documents in this book may be damaged.
So I tried opening the indb file, opening the Indexing window, THEN opening the book files and it crashed. I was able to get the error message this time: An exception unkown software exception (0xc000000d) ocurred in the application at location 0x78138aa0. Click OK to terminate the program.
When InDesign came back up, I closed the Index window and was able to open all of the book's files with no problem.
My questions are:
1 - Is there any way to find out where/how those files are damaged?
2 - Does anyone know what may cause an Index generation or style synchronization to crash InDesign - and then not fix the problem?
3 - Could this be something other than the index, and how do I figure out what it might be?
This book is now 374 pages in 24 documents, and I don't think there is a way to go backwards in the InDesign process at this point.
I'm not sure how clear I'm being with all of this, but the book is to go to the printer Monday and I can't index it.
I'd appreciate any help I can get.
Thanks so much,
Marcy

Just to add to Eugene's recommendation. Q2ID is worth every last dime of the $200 it cost.
I just upgraded to the latest version when I received 25 Quark files to convert for an iPad app. Even for early Quark files that InDesign can open, it does a better job.
BTW, it's also worth noting here that Adobe cannot legally have InDesign open anything later than Quark 4.x files due to the encryption used in Quark 5 and later files. Quark is too dependent on Markzware for XTensions to go after them.
Bob

InDesign (CS3, 5.5 and 6) chrashes while opening a P65

Hi there,
grey hairs aproaching here: I have a near to ancient P65 file. InDesign won't open it, it crashes during the loading process (table attributes?). That happens even after opening it in PageMaker and saving a new copy. Since it's a quite complex document I'd like to avoid rebuilding the whole thing.
Is there any way to get InDesign to open it? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Chris

Try converting the tables to tabbed text in PM. If you get it open, you can change them back in ID.
To be perfectly honest, though, for a complex document that's throwing errors the odds of a really good conversion are not great and you may find yourself rebuilding from scratch anyway.

Indesign cs3 automatic cut and paste footnotes from one doc. to another

Dear Indesign Scripters,
I making a digital copy of the BIble. The Bible is divided into chapters and verses. Each one of my verses has a footnote reference (thanks to Jongware).
Example:
5Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her. 6 The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her. 7 The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.
the footnotes read thusly:
86:5
86:6
86:7
I have in a seperate document alll the fotnotes that I have been cutting a pasting from the one document into the main Bible text footnotes
86:5. Shall not Sion sa...
86:6. Writings. He alone can ...
86:7. The dwelling, &c. Heb. "the...so how can I tell Indesign to take the footnotes from one document and plug it in the footnote reference in the other document?
If that makes sense?
thanks for the help.
Dan

Do not use cut and paste. Flag the photos you want to moe and then select the event you want them in and add flagged photos to selected event
LN

Indesign CS3: Variable content and Excell

Hello everyone!
I need to create an A5 spread booklet that contains price lists and product specifications. (see example.) The content will be available in different languages and for different regions.
The content on the left is always the same, the content in the tables on the right is variable. (Price differences between Canada, Germany, France or even North- and South France etc.)
I'd love to be able to "data merge" the content into the tables. But I do not how to combine datamerging and Tables. Heck I'm not even sure if that's the preferred way of doing things.
Another kicker, I don't always know the amount of rows/columns needed beforehand.
Example:
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee108/BiefstukFriet/voorbeeldautomatischtabelcontentaan.jpg
I reckon there is no need for reinventing the wheel. Can you guys to help me out?
Thanks!
Jaime

I´ve delved into XML and have written the code shown below.
I've been able to import all the data into a bunch of replicated text frames using tags .
But I've been unable to repeat the process with Tables. On top of that, when adding a Tag to text in a table, a couple of new Tags are created, like "Cell", "Story" and "Table". I'm not sure what use they are, as they're not listed in my XML code.
Is it not possible to populate a table in this manner, or am I missing something?
<?xml version="1.0″ encoding="UTF-8″ standalone="yes"?>
<Article01>
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        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 1</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 4</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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        <ArticleNumber>GH0215</ArticleNumber>
        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 5</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 6</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 7</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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    <ArticleData>
        <ArticleNumber>GH0218</ArticleNumber>
        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 8</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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        <ArticleNumber>GH0219</ArticleNumber>
        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 9</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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    <ArticleData>
        <ArticleNumber>GH0220</ArticleNumber>
        <Description>Lely Bla Bla Bla XX 10</Description>
        <Price>20.000</Price>
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InDesign CS3 - CS4 compatibility and backwards compatibility

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