Print Mulitple, Unrelated InDesign Files plug-in/script

Does anyone know of a plug-in or script that allows you to print unrelated, multiple InDesign files? Using a book does not work as each InDesign file has it's own print settings.
I'm looking for something similar to Zevrix's Batch Output, but for only the print feature. It allows you to print each InDesign file with the last print settings used for that file.
I greatly appreciate any help. Thank you.

I suspect you might get some help over in Scripting, if it can be done.
http://forums.adobe.com/community/indesign/indesign_scripting

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You can place them (linked) into a new Illustrator file and print from there.
The original files will need pdf compatability.

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Dear team,
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Dim Pages=IndDoc.Pages
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Pages.Move(InDesign.idLocationOptions.idBefore,IndDoc1.Pages.LastItem)
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Access indesign files using a script

> If you want to do it as a learning exercise, however, one can
> understand that.
Particularly since that's now what I want to do myself. I make one ID
file with "His name's Tom.", "His name's Dick." and "His name's
Harry." on three lines, and another file similarly with "Her name's
Mary.", "Her name's Betty." and "Her name's Sue." "Tom" and "Sue" have
the character style "Client" applied. So how to script the extraction
of the "Client" names and write them to "clients.txt" on the Mac
desktop? I'm now trying to do that with AppleScript. It seems very
basic and shouldn't take long.

Shane Stanley wrote:
>> (1) I couldn't get theFile set to "clients.txt" on the desktop.
>>
>> set theFile to (document file "clients.txt" of folder "Desktop" of
>> folder "Home" of folder "Users" of startup disk of application
>> "Finder")
>
> That's a Finder reference, but you're not in the Finder here.
Durn!
> Just use a colon delimited path, or something like:
>
> set theFile to ((path to desktop) as text) & "clients.txt"
I did try to do that, but apparently I did something - several things -
wrong. I remember I did get a colon-delimited path to work, but then
I couldn't get the names to copy to it right.
What is path to desktop other than text?
>> (2) I couldn't figure out how to get the script to append to the end
>> of the had-to-be-chosen "clients.txt" file rather than replacing its
>> contents.
>
> write theNames to theFile starting at eof
Oh, I thought eof was something specially in the Scripting Guide menu
script. Trying again, whatever...
Not yet, I'm afraid. The previous script still works:
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS4"
set find text preferences to nothing
set change text preferences to nothing
set applied character style of find text preferences to "Client"
set theFinds to find text
set theNames to ""
set theFile to choose file
repeat with j from 1 to (count of theFinds)
set theNames to theNames & item j of theFinds & return
end repeat
open for access theFile with write permission
write theNames to theFile
close access theFile
end tell
Only adding "starting at eof" it should still work... and it does.
But I'm anticipating trouble when I (again) add your line in place
of "set theFile to choose file"... Actually I pretty much know it's
not going to work, since I directly copied the line before - so why
don't I try the colon-delimited version this time:
set theFile to " Great Royzito:Users:Home:Desktop:clients.txt"
Right?
But no, this gives exactly the same error alert as your line,
that it can't make the string into type file. And then afterward,
oddly, if I run it again it says "Adobe InDesign CS4 got an error:
File Great Royzito:Users:Home:Desktop:clients.txt is already open."
So the string apparently serves to open the file, but not to write
to and/or close it. What do you make of this? Something else that
broke or is different in CS4, perhaps?
The file seemed to close only when I quit all applications and
force-quit the Finder. Is there a better or quicker way to do it
than that?
Thanks,
Roy

TIFFs won't print from my InDesign file

I'm printing proofs from my InDesign document, and all my other linked graphics print, but any TIFFs will not. I've tried different printers and it's the same. Any ideas?

OK, so do I want to make a copy of the folder, the "language" folder, like I've selected in the screen shot attached? And then I save that, rename it and place it somewhere else; then do the key command method to replace my InDesign preferences? Sorry, I'm not tech savvy and get nervous doing anything that I fear could really screw things up.

[CS2][JS]Access indesign files using a script

Scripters help.
Can javascript access files then look for a character style then write its content to a text file as well as its page number where it was located?

Hi charles darwin,
Try something like this:
//ExtractByCharacterStyle.jsx
//An InDesign CS3/CS4 JavaScript
//Extracts all of the text in all open documents
//by a specified character style name, then writes
//the text and the page number to a tab/return delimited
//text file.
main();
function main(){
if(app.documents.length != 0){
var myDocumentArray = new Array;
//Make a list of open document names; we'll use this later to refer to the documents.
for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < app.documents.length; myCounter ++){
   //If the document doesn't contain any text, don't add it to the list.
   if(app.documents.item(myCounter).stories.length != 0){
    myDocumentArray.push(app.documents.item(myCounter).name);
if(myDocumentArray.length != 0){
   myDisplayDialog(myDocumentArray);
function myDisplayDialog(myDocumentArray){
var myDialog = app.dialogs.add({name:"Extract Text"});
var myCharacterStyleNames = app.documents.item(0).characterStyles.everyItem().name;
with(myDialog.dialogColumns.add()){
with(dialogRows.add()){
   with(dialogColumns.add()){
    staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Character Style:"});
   with(dialogColumns.add()){
    var myCharacterStyleDropdown = dropdowns.add({stringList:myCharacterStyleNames, selectedIndex:0});
var myResult = myDialog.show();
if(myResult == true){
var myCharacterStyleName = myCharacterStyleNames[myCharacterStyleDropdown.selectedIndex];
myDialog.destroy();
myProcessDocuments(myDocumentArray, myCharacterStyleName);
else{
myDialog.destroy();
function myProcessDocuments(myDocumentArray, myCharacterStyleName){
var myDocument;
var myArray = new Array;
for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < myDocumentArray.length; myCounter++){
myDocument = app.documents.item(myDocumentArray[myCounter]);
try{
   myDocument.characterStyles.item("myCharacterStyle").name;
   myExtractText(myDocument, myCharacterStyleName, myTextFile, myArray);
catch (myError){
   alert("Something bad happened.");
//Now sort the entire text file by page number.
var myArray = myArray.sort(mySort);
var myTextFile = File.saveDialog("Save text file as");
//If the user clicked the Cancel button, the result is null; do nothing.
if(myTextFile != null){
//Open the file with write access.
myTextFile.open("w");
for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < myArray.length; myCounter++){
   myTextFile.writeln(myArray[myCounter][0] + "\t" + myArray[myCounter][1]);
myTextFile.close();
//This sort feature sorts text references by their page.
function mySort(a, b){
if(a[1] > b[1]){
return 1;
else{
if(a[1] < b[1]){
   return -1
else{
   //If the two entries are on the same page, sort alphabetically.
   if(a[0] > b[0]){
    return 1
   else{
    return -1;
function myExtractText(myDocument, myCharacterStyleName, myTextFile, myArray){
var myFoundItem, myTempArray;
var myCharacterStyle = myDocument.characterStyles.item(myCharacterStyleName);
app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
app.findTextPreferences.appliedCharacterStyle = myCharacterStyle;
var myFoundItems = myDocument.findText();
if(myFoundItems.length != 0){
for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < myFoundItems.length; myCounter++){
   myTempArray = new Array;
   myString = myFoundItems[myCounter].contents;
   myPage = myFindParentPage(myFoundItems[myCounter].parentTextFrames[0]);
   myTempArray.push(myString);
   myTempArray.push(myPage);
   myArray.push(myTempArray);
function myFindParentPage(myParent){
switch(myParent.constructor.name){
case "Page":
   myParentName = myParent.name;
   break;
case "Spread":
   myParentName = "Pasteboard";
   break;
case "Application":
   myParentName = "";
   break;
case "Character":
   myFindParentPage(myParent.parentTextFrames[0]);
   break;
default:
   myFindParentPage(myParent.parent);
   break;
return myParentName;
Thanks,
Ole

We have an applescript that will batch print InDesign CS6 files from a folder to a laser printer using an InDesign print preset. The script does not work in OS X Yosemite. The script errors out with the print preset. Any thoughts?

tell application "Finder"
activate
set thefolder to choose folder with prompt "Select a Folder with InDesign Files to be Printed" as text
set thePath to thefolder as text
set the selected_items to every item of folder thefolder
if the selected_items is {} then
beep
display dialog "Please select a folder with InDesign files before running this script." buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1
end if
repeat with aFile in selected_items
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS6"
activate
with timeout of 600 seconds
set user interaction level of script preferences to never interact
open aFile
tell document 1
tell print preferences
set active printer preset to "Catalog Pages"
set page range to all pages
end tell
print without print dialog
close saving no
end tell
end timeout
--might need this delay
--delay 10
set user interaction level of script preferences to interact with all
end tell
end repeat
tell application "Finder"
activate
display dialog "Batch Printing is complete!" giving up after 5
end tell
end tell

Hi
After I put a small delay in as shown, your code ran fine, tested on about twenty ID files, using ID CC 2014, OSX 10.10.2
tell document 1
delay 0.5 -- delay added
tell print preferences
set active printer preset to "Catalog Pages"

IS it possible to print image name/Path in a different layer in my existing indesign file??

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Hi Tom,
I'm pretty sure the IPTC data gets completely consumed inside an Adobe
PDF file, even if the original images have this metadata or extended
data (XMP) information. In other words, they do not make it through.
Try downloading a copy of Enfocus Pitstop - I know you can link to an
original authoring document (InDesign/Quark) through the CertifiedPDF
route but you cannot display the image name?
This is an interesting topic.
Jon

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My CS 3.0.1 will not open InDesign files created in 2008. It says a plug-in may be missing. I did have a computer crash since I last opened it. I've tried changing the extension to inx, but that doesn't work. I cannot get the file to open. Can someone help?

The OP is using CS. He/she could be trying to open CS2 or later.
Simply changing the file extension will do know good and only an INX exported from CS2 will work.
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Hello, Our indesign file keeps crashing and we need to go to print today. We use CS6. Please help!

Ok - we're going to need a few more details.
Operating System - Windows or Mac?
Version of CS6 - are you fully patched to the latest version (Help>Updates)?
Do you use any 3rd Party Plugins (Help>Manage Extensions and look for 3rd Party Plugins)
At what point does it crash? How are you exorting/printing?
What file type or action are you doing when it's crashing?
Common Troubleshooting tips
Troubleshooting 101: Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/526991
File Crashing on Output - printing/PDF/other

How to place tif file through a script in an indesign document?

how to place tif file through a script in an indesign document?

Emanuele:
it works if i just run a script....
but since i have been using a gui to do some functions, this place command is not able to place the output tif file back into the document

Script to merge 2 Indesign files on alternating pages

Hello
I have created a data merge document for a book I am writing (Luckily I already had everything in Excel) . I created a template with the style headings and graphics frames positioned and sized exactly where I wanted them.My master page had repeating elements etc.
Loved the process and it worked beautifully. It literally saved me a weeks worth of formatting and inserting graphics work. However the file basically created the Left hand page ONLY of a 2 page spread.
My understanding from studying tutorials on data merge is that they can only create ONE page output altho I know you can change it to 2 page spreads afterward.
The second data merge created a file what would ideally be the right hand page of every spread.
This is a reference/encyclopedia type book with each 2 page spread a distinct entity devoted to a subject
I need to join the 2 files together.
The first file would be the left hand or EVEN page
The second file would be the right hand or ODD page.
The document is 350 pages.Each page is the same size,margins and subject matter but with different headings and graphics
(Dragging pages would be too tedious and I have had problems with ID crashing. Don't want to go there again)
I did read an answer by Dave Saunders ( 9. Nov 1, 2008 5:03 PM (in response to Al Ferrari) Re: Script to interleave two InDesign files of equal page counts )
Would that work do you think?
I have ID CS4 6.0 running on windows vista.
I have ZERO scripting experience but I can follow directions.
Is there any way, scripting wise, I could (or should) accomplish this?
Thank You in Advance for any help
Lauren

My understanding from studying tutorials on data merge is that they can only create ONE page output altho I know you can change it to 2 page spreads afterward.
That isn't true. Data merge can be done with many pages. See my response to this post:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3909894#3909894
In response to the OP's script request, i can't be of any help.
What i'm hoping is that after reading how to make a data merge with both left and right hand pages from the post i've linked, that the data could be merged again... assuming there was little (or no) post-processing of the file after the merge was performed.

InDesign File "Stuck" Printing 2-Sided

I opened an old Indesign (I think CS3) file this morning and converted it to CS4. Whenever I attempt to print the document, it does so as 2-sided even though the print dialog 2-sided option is off. I am on a mac running 10.6.3 with an HP printer.
Turning the printer on/off, re-starting the mac, printing other documents (including Indesign documents) 1-sided, saving the file under a different name, turning 2-sided on/off, and changing other print dialog options (e.g. thin border) seem to have no effect on the problematic file - it consistently prints as 2-sided. I finally cut and pasted all content into a new document and now have complete control again over whether the document prints 2-sided.
It seems as though there is some printer setting stored within the Indesign file that that I cannot modify. I don't recall how I last printed that particular Indesign document under CS3. Other other CS3 documents that I suspect I would have printed 2-sided are converted to CS4 with the current default printer settings AND with no adverse effects when I print them
This clearly isn't a big deal because after wasting a ream of paper (some sarcasm), I've resolved the problem. However, it is so weird that I am curious as to whether any one else has seen this.
Marilyn
P.S. I use InDesign daily, have been using CS4 for over a year and have not had an problem. I am a bit suspicious of the mac 10.6.3 upgrade I got this week 'cause in claimed it would "increase printer reliability"...

I suspect it is more of a problem that Mac OS 10.6.3 introduced to InDesign. The print driver hasn't changed. InDesign I now know "carries" print presets with its files that are persistent and has one of the more complicated interfaces with the OS for printing.
I did figured out I could use the Property List Inspector to look at the print settings used for the last job printed. I can produce dumps from the inspector from various jobs and us File Merge to compare them. Doing so I noticed that Text Edit files (whether printing 2-sided or not) all contain a key called PMCustomPaper that is explicitly set to false. New InDesign document using the Default InDesign Print Preset doesn't set PMCustomPaper to true or false. If I create an InDesign Print Preset from a file that successfully prints 2-sided, I can use that Print Preset to "fix" InDesign Document to print 2-sided. The Property List Inspector for such print jobs has PMCustomPaper set explicitly to false.
I also look at the output of a Property List Inspector dump from the InDesign document I have that was "stuck" printing 2-sided. It too has PMCustomPaper explicitly set to false, but has has very different keys for what I believe controls printing duplex. These keys stay set in the file despite changing the InDesign printer dialog to turn 2-sided off. I suspect these keys are left over from an older HP driver or an older Mac OS release.
Seems a little ridiculous to have to go though Acrobat or find old InDesign programs that have the proper settings to get InDesign to print properly now.
(I doubt 2-sided is the only problem - I suspect it's just the first one I've run across.)

Printing issues from InDesign CS4 pdf file

Good morning,
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My colleagues in graduate school experienced the same with their files and the output bureau's rasterized the pdf file in Photoshop where it printed out with good resolution. Shouldn't this be resolved first in InDesign rather than rasterizing the file?
I appreciate any help and insight you could offer myself and my colleagues.
Thank you, Kathryn

The printing service uses Acrobat 8 Pro and HP large format printer. My InDesign CS4 document is in the color mode of RGB and color type as Process. I saved it as a pdf file using the standard settings as follows: Preset: High Quality Print, Standard: None and Compatibility: Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3). Are there options I should be paying more attention to when creating the PDF file? Also, I was reading up on Peter Spier's response links.
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Thank you for your help.
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Indesign file won't open native CS5 file, gives me "missing plug-in or being used?

I've tried to open both a CS4 and CS5 file from another designer, and it gives me a message "InDesign may not support the file format, a plug-in that supports the file may be missing, or the file may be open in another application." (which it is not) I've downloaded the update, but still no luck. Any ideas?

Are you sure it's an InDesign file? How did you get the file?
Bob

Print Mulitple, Unrelated InDesign Files plug-in/script

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