Automation in InDesign CS3

Soilworker

Active member
I'm looking for an automation solution for content proofing in InDesign CS3 (or outside InDesign if not cost prohibitive).... one that will allow me to set up one master page in one document with all the necessary marks and info and will allow me to select a group of PDFs to feed into the document and print one at a time... or something along those lines if that makes any sense.

I tried looking for plug-ins but the plug-in page for CS3 is blank on the Adobe site and searching the web didn't really yield anything useful. The only other thought I had was to try and come up with an Automator action set but I'd have to build that myself from what I've read thus far.

Anyone have any thoughts? I'd be open to stand alone apps as well if one even exists as long as it's not too expensive.

Thanks,
Soilworker
 
Re: Automation in InDesign CS3

Look into Indesign scripts instead of plugins. There are lots of scripts out there. Sorry I can't remember the name, haven't used it for a while, but there is one common script for automatically placing pdfs in Indesign. Already your process is sounding very specific so you will probably have to do something custom at some point, perhaps a combination of scripts and hotfolders.
 
Re: Automation in InDesign CS3

Well, I'm sure that can be handled by AppleScript, ask the folks at www.macscripter.net
In the meantime, you can use the AppleScript code below (not sure this is what you need though), it will prompt you to choose a single or multipage PDF and place every page (including marks and info) in a new InDesign page.
Then you can print the needed pages from InDesign.

Just copy the code, paste it in Script Editor, compile and run.

--Script by Colorblind, tested with Acrobat 8 and InDesign CS3

tell application "Finder"
activate
set mypdf to choose file with prompt "Choose the PDF you want to place in InDesign" as string
open file mypdf using application file id "CARO"
tell application "Adobe Acrobat Professional"
activate
set b to get crop box of page 1 of active doc
set w1 to item 3 of b as integer
set w0 to item 1 of b as integer
set h1 to item 2 of b as integer
set h0 to item 4 of b as integer
set PDFheight to (h1 - h0) / 72
set PDFwidth to (w1 - w0) / 72
set pagecount to count every page of active doc
set idh to PDFheight & " i" as string
set idw to PDFwidth & " i" as string

end tell


set idpage to 1
set pdfpage to 1

tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
activate
set mydoc to make document
tell document preferences of mydoc
set facing pages to false
set page width to idw
set page height to idh
set pages per document to pagecount

end tell
repeat pagecount times
set page number of PDF place preferences to pdfpage

-- the "crop PDF" parameter can be changed to the following: crop content/crop art/
--crop PDF/crop trim/crop bleed/crop media/crop content/crop art/¬
--crop PDF / crop trim / crop bleed / crop media

set PDF crop of PDF place preferences to crop PDF

set mypdfpage to place mypdf on page idpage of mydoc
set idpage to idpage + 1
set pdfpage to pdfpage + 1
end repeat
end tell
end tell
 
Re: Automation in InDesign CS3

Looks like this will send me in the right direction. I agree that I'll have to do something custom to get what we really want but this is a great start. Thank you!!! I'd love to have someone build the script for me but seeing as one of my goals for the year is to learn scripting etc for such purposes I think the boss lady will tell me to figure it out myself.

Can you recommend any good resources for learning scripting?

Thanks,
Soilworker

Edited by: Soilworker on Mar 19, 2008 3:58 PM
 
Re: Automation in InDesign CS3

You may want ot try Auto Lay Up by Harold Shields. Works great for random images opens an ID doc or Quark doc places images, labels them with serever and folder info, date and time etc.
 

PressWise

A 30-day Fix for Managed Chaos

As any print professional knows, printing can be managed chaos. Software that solves multiple problems and provides measurable and monetizable value has a direct impact on the bottom-line.

“We reduced order entry costs by about 40%.” Significant savings in a shop that turns about 500 jobs a month.


Learn how…….

   
Back
Top