InDesign Package Quesiton - why do i get files like this?

[Jayhawkmike]

I have a mystery that I can't get figured out. From time to time, I have clients send me InDesign files that are packaged but not in a way that is organized into folders like "document fonts", links, etc. Instead, I get the documents loose all in one folder. Everything is there, but not "packaged" into folders. Why is that? How do they achieve this? Does this happen to anyone else?
Not a big deal as everything is there, but still wonder why it isn't organized.

 

[Nkazy]

I would guess that they are zipped on a Mac and unzipped on a PC.

 

[DCurry]

Sounds like maybe they are using Flightcheck to gather the job's components rather than InDesign's built-in Package feature. With FC, you can have it make subfolders or not.

 

[michaelejahn]

Marksware Flight Check...

Marksware Flight Check...

Sounds like maybe they are using Flightcheck to gather the job's components rather than InDesign's built-in Package feature. With FC, you can have it make subfolders or not.

yes, this would explain how you could even get different "collections" from the same person.

FlightCheck Job Info | Markzware

 

[mattbeals]

If they are using the FlightCheck collect feature, which they should, or the InDesign package feature, which they should if nothing else, then you should be receiving:

JobName folder
InDesign doc.indd
Fonts
Font1.otf
font2.ttf
Links
Link1.psd
Link2.tif
instructions.txt

Otherwise I would suspect that they are creating their own folder.

 

[Tech]

Our prepress aggregates files with Flightcheck. The only logic is to group and collect all layout components into same folder. Whereas Indy does it with one layout = one collect folder. Either way, I see no real advantage. Manually grouping images and fonts is as easy as drag-n-drop anyway, and if you do it right, links are preserved.

 

[mattbeals]

There should be an option to collect all the fonts into a fonts folder, same thing with links. I don't have FC on my PC but I do know that it was an option available for many, many, many years.

 

[DCurry]

If they are using the FlightCheck collect feature, which they should, or the InDesign package feature, which they should if nothing else,...

Matt - I'm curious as to why you think people should use FC's package for ID rather than ID's built-in. I'm guessing it would be because FC can check for more things?

 

[mattbeals]

It can definitely check more things than InDesign can, it's also faster. Never mind all the other formats and information that you can collect. There is probably more detail in the preflight reports than some people want to see. But I'd rather have all the info and pick through to find what is meaningful rather than not have it and never see it.

Markzware is a funny company. They have had, and still do have, very innovative products. Look at Flightcheck Workflow ( Flightchecking and preflight software review ). It's a bit older than that but pretty far ahead of its time. FlightCheck online? Hmm... someone has something oddly familiar... FlightCheck Studio as well. A plug-in for InDesing/Quark that could live preflight the document (using the same core technology as FlightCheck Pro/Designer/Server)? In some ways various companies are now dipping into ideas that Markzware came up with years ago. Where do you think Adobe got the idea for live document preflighting? They pretty much killed Markzware's product FlightCheck Studio. Sometimes they're too far ahead of the market. Or the market is just that far behind them.

Yes, I have been, am and will be a Markzware fan. I started with them way back when FC was first released, 1995 I think it was, and have used their tools ever since. I love all my vendors though.

 

[DCurry]

Flightcheck lost me a few years back - it was behaving unreliably with collecting fonts. Can't remember the version or the specific problem, though. It's been too long.

For most people's needs, ID's built-in preflight and package features work just fine, without having to pony up more dough for FC (sorry Michael!)

 

[Tech]

Flightcheck lost me a few years back - it was behaving unreliably with collecting fonts. Can't remember the version or the specific problem, though. It's been too long.

For most people's needs, ID's built-in preflight and package features work just fine, without having to pony up more dough for FC (sorry Michael!)

I still see the random missing font collection with FC. The same can be said with Indy. My real problem with FC is that most people simply don't know what they are looking at when the result is on the screen. What is the point of crying wolf when a 200ppi bitmap image is used at 50% screen as backdrop? When our prepress does this it drives me insane...dude, take a look at the image before hunting me down with the evil eyes!

 

[mattbeals]

There was a field for reporting the effective resolution.

 

[seratne]

One of the advantages of Flightcheck is that it will collect links in linked files (it will grab the PSD files that are placed in an Ai doc that's placed in an Indd doc).