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Working with a book file
Adobe InDesign CS4 can organize and manage sets of InDesign files in a book file—a binder that
governs a collection of documents—to dynamically share attributes and formats. For example, a
reference book with 10 chapters can be created as 10 InDesign files that exist separately, but are
managed by the book file for pagination, indexing, and other operations. If a customer has used
a book file, it's best to manage prepress operations such as preflighting across all documents in a
book. This requires using the Book panel, which displays a book's individual InDesign docu-
ments as a list.
To open a book, choose File > Open and select the book file. Book files use the .indb file exten-
sion. (If you don't see any file extensions, you may need to turn on a setting in your operating
system that makes file extensions visible). A book file appears as a panel. The Book panel com-
mand doesn't appear in the Window menu until a book file has been opened. If more than one
book is open, you'll see multiple Book panels. A Book panel's name is the name of its book file.
To find commands that affect files in a book, look on the Book panel menu. For example, to
preflight a book, you choose Preflight Book from the Book panel menu. If you choose File >
Preflight, you'll preflight the active open document only, regardless of the documents selected in
the Book panel. Similarly, the File menu commands to print or export a PDF file affect the active
open document only, not books; to print or export books you must choose Print or Export com-
mands from the Book panel menu. The exact name of the commands can change according to
whether or not documents are selected in the Book panel.
Always preflight a book before creating output from it. Alert messages, such as those about
missing fonts and graphics, don't appear when you open a book file—only when you open an
individual document that is governed by a book file.
Note which documents are selected in the book file. Some commands in the Book panel menu,
such as the Preflight Book, Export Book To PDF, and Print Book commands, operate on the
selected documents only. To preflight, export, or print the entire book, make sure that either no
documents are selected or all documents are selected in the Book panel. When documents are
selected in the Book panel, the Preflight Book, Export Book To PDF, and Print Book commands
appear as the Preflight Selected Documents, Export Selected Documents to PDF, and Print
Selected Documents commands, respectively.
It's possible to create a book where the page size and orientation varies with each document in
the book. You may want to verify the page orientations of your book files before setting up output
media by double-clicking each file in the Book panel to open and check them.
Synchronizing, paginating, and preflighting a book file
A modified icon (
) appears when an individual document in a book has changed since the
last time the book was saved. When a document in a book has been modified, it's no longer cer-
tain that the book's pagination is correct because pages may have been added to or deleted from
the modified document. For this reason, the only way to resolve a modified icon is to repaginate
the book, so that InDesign can determine whether pages were added or deleted from the modi-
fied document and update the book accordingly.
Before you repaginate a particular book for the first time, preflight all the constituent documents
in the book first to ensure that all necessary fonts are present. Select all the document names in
the Book panel, and choose Preflight Book from the panel menu. If fonts are missing, text may
recompose during repagination, causing line breaks to change. Repaginate only after consulting
with the customer, because it may alter the content (such as page numbering) of documents in
the book. To repaginate a book, choose Repaginate from the Book panel menu.
A book's formatting is controlled by a style source document that controls all other documents
in the book. Any document in a book can be a style source document which is indicated by a
small icon (
) to the left of its name in the Book panel. Any InDesign document can belong
to multiple book files. For this reason, when customers use a book file, they should identify the
style source document; before you synchronize the book, confirm that the correct document is
earmarked as the source document in the Book panel. Because a book can contain complex
links, cross references, and other dependencies, it is best to have customers synchronize, pre-
flight, package, and proof book files to resolve outstanding book-level issues before the files are
handed off.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide
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