Creating an editable proposal template in something other than word

[John J Rambo]

Hi, Im a designer for a web design company. I need to create a template document for proposals for the design company I work for that can be edited by the project managers. I been playing about with word 2007 and I have found its totally horrible at creating anything with graphics embedded.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Maybe I could do something with indesign or an editable pdf? I need to create the document to make it easily editable for someone with experience of word.

thanks in advance guys...

 

[davedee65]

Hi John

If poss it would be helpful to see an example of what you're trying to achieve.

Cheers
D

 

[John J Rambo]

Hi John

If poss it would be helpful to see an example of what you're trying to achieve.

Cheers
D

Hi Dave,

I actually dont have anything done yet, but its basically an A4 document that will look awesome, ya know, like its actually come from a design agency but it needs to be edited by people without design skills.

 

[davedee65]

Is it just the text that they will need to be able to edit or the whole thing, graphics etc? If you go down the InDesign route, then you're reliant on the others having copies of the same and knowing how to use it! If you use PDF's then again they will need to have Acrobat Pro installed and to be honest editing is a bit of a nightmare other than making comments/mark-ups etc.

What about Pages, similar enough to Word but a bit more graphically minded, or Keynote/Powerpoint?

D

 

[Hansr]

Hi Dave,

I actually dont have anything done yet, but its basically an A4 document that will look awesome, ya know, like its actually come from a design agency but it needs to be edited by people without design skills.

This is a bad idea on so many levels my brain hurts

 

[MisterMe]

This is a bad idea on so many levels my brain hurts

Perhaps, you should try to think of ways in which this is a good idea. In just the few minutes that I have read the posts and written this response, I have come up with zero (0).

 

[bluetooth]

The problem is, is that if you work in a large office using a program like InDesign or making an editable .pdf is likely not feasible because the office (other than the design department) will likely be Windows/PC based and they are not going to license InDesign to a bunch of computers just so they can edit a "quote" or "proposal".

The problem with making an editable .pdf is that the vast majority of office workers are not familiar with editable .pdf's and you will need to teach each one how to use it. Plus, as already mentioned, each computer will have to have Acrobat Pro installed on it. At least this was the situation when I tried using editable .pdf's for proofs, it did not work out. It is good if you work with people who are Mac savvy or can pick things up easily but for a lot of people (at least in my experience), they had no idea how to edit a .pdf even with Acrobat Pro installed (nor did they care to learn).

Try this site here anyways, there are various " Sales Quote" type templates that are Microsoft based that will allow you to run them across your company with the ease of anyone being able to edit the document if need be.

They are pretty basic but some are not all that bad looking and could likely look half decent if cleaned up a bit. Most have spots already allocated for your logo to just be inserted et. Doing your own creative or unique design in InDesign would be ideal but again, in a large business setting where people need to be able to edit the document, it just really isn't practical.

Microsoft "Sales Quote" Templates

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/results.aspx?qu=quotes&ex=1&ck=1&av=all

 

[MisterMe]

The problem is, is that if you work in a large office using a program like InDesign or making an editable .pdf is likely not feasible because the office (other than the design department) ...

This is what the mark-up tools in Acrobat Pro are for. Your office workers can mark-up the PDF and then email it to the design department. The professionals can then use InDesign to make the changes.

Let me put this delicately. Your office workers are neither designers nor typesetters. Giving them the ability to edit PDFs that go directly to the printer would create more disasters than you can possibly imagine.

 

[lucidmedia]

Adobe Indesign for you and Adobe InCopy for the person writing the proposals.

You can define a document and the editor can modify the text in context without being able to modify the design. You may have to do some final copyfitting, but it should give you a pretty smooth workflow.

 

[bluetooth]

This is what the mark-up tools in Acrobat Pro are for. Your office workers can mark-up the PDF and then email it to the design department. The professionals can then use InDesign to make the changes.

Let me put this delicately. Your office workers are neither designers nor typesetters. Giving them the ability to edit PDFs that go directly to the printer would create more disasters than you can possibly imagine.

All I was getting at is that in a lot of office settings, not everyone will have Acrobat Pro installed on their computers or know how to use it competently.

ie. the OP said "I need to create the document to make it easily editable for someone with experience of word."

So judging by that statement, I wouldn't think his project managers are likely familiar with Acrobat Pro. Although, it could be a suggestion if they have the budget for the software and interest in learning how to use it.

 

[MisterMe]

All I was getting at is that in a lot of office settings, not everyone will have Acrobat Pro installed on their computers or know how to use it competently.

ie. the OP said "I need to create the document to make it easily editable for someone with experience of word."

So judging by that statement, I wouldn't think his project managers are likely familiar with Acrobat Pro. Although, it could be a suggestion if they have the budget for the software and interest in learning how to use it.

Many more workers are likely to have Acrobat Pro than are to have InDesign. But that misses the point. Anyone can purpose or be issued a software license. However, the presence of a particular software title on their computer does not mean that they have the skills to use it properly. The OP compared the situation to Microsoft Word. In a way, I think that the comparison and contrast are appropriate. I see a multitude of very badly constructed documents done in Microsoft Word. If these same individuals were issued InDesign, then those crappy documents would be much more expensive to produce.