sharing indesign files btwn mac and pc?

[jkielmeyer]

does anyone know if it is possible to share Mac InDesign files with a PC InDesign user (relatively smoothly)?

i've created a flyer template in InDesign for a PC-using client, and we're trying to figure out the best way for him to change the particulars (events, dates, etc) on a quarterly basis and print it in-house. he considered getting InDesign for his PC, and having me send him my Mac InDesign file for him update every few months. i'm trying to find out whether this is a good option.

any information will be appreciated! thank you.

 

[flrazor]

I haven't really got a good yes/no answer for you, but in my experience you can usually get good compatibility between PC and Mac InDesign. Mostly the issues you'll have to deal with are font compatibility between platforms. If you stick with OpenType or TrueType fonts that will work on either Mac or PC, you'll have better luck getting everything to look the same. Collecting your files for output (all fonts and images along with the INDD file) will save lots of headaches when it's time to print. Only other issue I notice a lot is making sure you have the same version, or that you work up-version. You can downsave to CS2 from CS3 as an InDesign Exchange file (.INX), but you can't go lower and the CS2 user has to be up to date with updates to open it. CS3 will open older files with no trouble usually, but it can't save back below CS2.

Hope this helps you out some.

 

[MDARFUS]

MAC-to-PC InDesign

I've swapped sell sheet files with one of my customers for a few years now, between my Mac-based InDesign and her PC-based version. It seems to work rather smoothly as long as you are both using the same generation of InDesign (i.e. - both on CS2 or CS3 version) and it helps if you use good font sets in your designs that are common to both Macs and PCs... in fact, I've had the most luck when we both use the same identical sets of Open-Type format fonts. Hope this helps a little. Good luck!

 

[tsd]

The only time a PC and Mac have cross-platform issues is with the actual executable application file. So, for instance, you can't use indesign.exe on a Mac, but you CAN use ANY file made using indesign.exe on a Mac. Another way of looking at it is that you can share every file from every application every time. You can NOT share any application ever.

So, the answer to your question is yes. You can share .indd files all day long. You just can't run the Windows version of the InDesign executable.

Gosh, I hope that made sense.

 

[redheadpagan]

I am using the Mac InDesign version 3.0 and I had a similar problem trying to first open a .indd file from a windows CS2 user. I then had them export as a .inx file and it would still not open. So I installed an updated to 3.0.1 that fixed the issue. Link is here: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=2448

 

[mbrellisford]

I used to be a student working primarily on MAC's and at the time I had a PC at home.

The BIGGEST problem that I ran into was with fonts and images. If you do a Preflight+Package it will create one folder with all the fonts, images, and files that you need to open that file anywhere. HOWEVER, some fonts are obviously not cross platform so make sure you figure that out before hand (OT and TT fonts).

If worst comes to worst, he can edit the text but it may be in a different font on his computer, but when he sends it to you it will look exactly like it should with the fonts loaded.

Obviously they also need to be using the same InDesign version (unless saving as a lower version)