Managed-file workflow for high school yearbook?

[JMillerTHS]

Looking to move yearbook indesign files to the cloud but I need to keep multiple users from accessing a single file at the same time. Has anyone done this successfully?

[Steve Werner]

InDesign isn't capable of having multiple users accessing a single file.

You should explore an InCopy/InDesign workflow with the writers working in InCopy.

InCopy CC subscription is only $4.99 per month (annual subscription):

http://indesignsecrets.com/adobe-reduces-incopy-cc-subscription-fee.php#respond

[JMillerTHS]

What I mean is that if student A opens file 2-3.indd at home from Dropbox or Google Drive, I'd like student B to be locked out of opening the same file until student A closes it.

does the CC suite include incopy? I think my district has the full package.

[BobLevine]

There is no way to prevent that with that type of workflow. With Dropbox you’ll wind up with two copies in the folder with one marked as a conflicted copy.

InCopy can help but you still could wind up with two people trying to check out a file. There is no substitute for good communication.

[Joel Cherney]

I sometimes work in a Sharepoint environment that has the feature you're looking for; you check out a file, and that prevent other operators from working on it. It has a nice task dependency setup too, so if your images need to be finished before the page is finished, it won't let the next operator check out the page until you've checked in your image. It is slick. The Sharepoint developer who is wrangling that beast deserves every penny of the (I'm guessing here) $120k/yr that she is getting paid. Sadly, that kind of thing is out of the range of your yearbook staff.

The practical way to do this is to ask people to communicate with one another; this is typically something like a Google Sheet.

[Geоrge]

>> InDesign isn't capable of having multiple users accessing a single file.

It is not so right answer.

JMillerTHS​

1. You can use indd in indd links

2. Or you can use http://www.automatication.com/index.php?id=13 which use "indd in indd" principle more simple way

[Geоrge]

>> does the CC suite include incopy?

Yes

[JMillerTHS]

Thanks to everyone for your help. I've used the Google sheet sign-out before but only when it's a small group (<5) with access. To count on my whole staff (~50) of high schoolers to maintain that system would be naive at best... I'll speak w my district IT, bc we may already be using Sharepoint.

[Joel Cherney]

The point of my Sharepoint comment is that you couldn't use it as a workflow manager with InDesign without having the expensive developer on staff. You can search this forum for the term "Sharepoint" if you want to learn more about that.

one2edit sometimes gets mentioned when I talk to translation industry people about workflow management, but I have never seen it in action. Maybe it's worth a look?