InDesign CS5 and InCopy CS3

Question

I work at a weekly newspaper, and we have been using and InDesign/InCopy workflow for several years. The Reporters use InDesign CS2 (never did get around to installing the CS3 upgrades we bought because at first the computers they use wouldn't handle it, and after the computer upgrades got done all around, no one ever bothered). After the stories are written, the editor reviews them in InCopy, then releases them to the page designers who are now working in InDesign CS3 as part of Standard and Premium Suites.
We are considering upgrading to InDesign CS5, but absolutely NONE of the reporters or the editor needs (or will ever use) the listed improvements included in InCopy CS5. Since there are nine InCopy products in the office, and as everyone knows the economy sucks - especially for PRINTED NEWSPAPERS these days, we really hate to have to upgrade just for upgrades sake.
I have downloaded InDesign CS5 trial to check if our CS3 files will open and work in it, after reading an article published in the Washington Newspaper, a publication put out by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, reported that one of the state's newspapers happily upgraded to CS5 and had a nightmare of problems just opening their CS4 files. This has my editor very nervious about us upgrading. So... I'm testing it out, and I can't place, then open and edit our CS3 Incopy Files. I get a message that says "this story needs toa be converted to "InCopy Document" format to edit it. I've saved it in InCopy CS3 to both incx and incd formats, and both receive the error. Has Adobe made simple InCopy files incompatible with InDesign? I can import files from just about everywhere BUT InCopy??? The Sister Program?
Please advise a simple work around, or I'll bet our upgrade is totally put off.
Daria Lacy
The Reflector

Answer 1

Bob,
I have to feel that you aren't really reading my posts. While I did mention that our reporters and editor lessentially use InCopy for a word processing program, I did specifically mention in my last post that we use the program for exactly what it was originally intended, for reporters to write and edit, for designers to layout the text, and for writers/and or correction people to get into the files and fix problems - up until the last minute, so yes, we do need to use InCopy, in the manner we were told it was developed for. We don't use it for viewing layouts - that's what InDesign is for.
PLUS, none of our reporters have time, inclination or need to view the layout as it appears in InDesign. If they did, we'd get InDesign for them. They are busy investigating and writing stories, they don't have time to learn even the basics of layout, and frankly, they don't even want to. The one single reporter that is interested has learned some of the basics of InDesign, but she doesn't use it on a regular basis, and dosn't need or want to view the pages. She does need and want to edit a story occasionally even after it's been placed into the layout, but she want's to view it as the same copy she wrote, so she can do it quickly, not as a page layout she has to hunt thru it and every other story on the page to find the problem.
I don't mind Adobe stopping selling older versions - don't blame them at all on that one - if you're buying a new product - go buy the latest and greatest. If the version didn't matter, you wouldn't have to worry if about matching your other versions and you wouldn't need to find an old version. But why BUILD IN obselecense in a PART of a system within just a couple of years. We're using CS3 InDesign, yes, but we bought it just shortly before they came out with CS4. If we'd known when the release would be (we don't track the industry close enough to be checking on when release dates are "expected" to be) we'd have probably waited the 4 months and upgraded to that. But time wise, we haven't had the CS3 THAT long, so I don't go along with the "two versions back is too old" theory.
I'm afraid I don't quite see why the text fit would change from one version to another when the fit is based on font, text size, etc. And that doesn't change, Times Roman, 10.5 point on 10.7 leading...  And as far as split/span/balanced column features and mutiple page sizes - those aren't going to affect our work flow at all. All we need is the ability to write text, and edit that text from other desks besides the designers, as well as the designers being able to open the file to fix headline size in InDesign.
As for the reporters getting the trial version and trying it out - did you miss where I mentioned that we provided CS3 to all of them, and pretty much none of them bothered to load it onto their computers??? They don't want any bells and whistles. They want to keep going as they are going.
If they wanted to go to the latest and greatest - it'd wouldnt' be an issue - but they don't need or want it, why should they be forced to upgrade just for the sake of upgrading?
And that also brings up the issue, when we buy those 7 versions that aren't going on computers with InDesign (and the whole rest of the Standard and Design Suites) who wants to bet me that it's gonna take more hard drive space, more ram, and there's a huge potential that it ain't even going to fit on their computers and still leave room for it to think?
And just one other though - just because backwards incompatibility is a fact of life in today's programs - does that make it good or right?
What this basically means, with no specific NEED for the designers to upgrade to InDesign CS5, and the requirement that if they do we'll have to upgrade not only the reporter's versions of InCopy AND most probably, their computers, we will probably put off upgrading and wait another year and a half for CS6.
Daria