Accessing HTML Files in InDesign Files

[Geobop]

I'm confused! I watched a series of Lynda.com tutorials, and I could have sworn they talked about the possibility of working directly with html files in InDesign. I thought the way to do it was to drag your file into a program called eCanCrusher, which reveals the HTML files.

However, I just remembered that's the way you analyze the contents of finished epubs. So how do you access HTML files inside InDesign books or documents (extension .indb or .indd)?

Thanks.

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

I’m afraid you’re mistaken. There is no HTML to access in an InDesign file.

[Geobop]

Wow, so that means there's no way to make changes "under the hood" until I've exported everything as an epub???

[BobLevine]

Given that I have no idea what you're trying to accomplish or what version of InDesign you're trying to accomplish it with, I'm going to wait for you to supply that information.

[Geobop]

CC2017; I'm trying to make a reflowable epub.

[BobLevine]

In that case, if you properly format the text in InDesign and tag all of the styles properly, you probably won’t have to have access the HTML. I’ve done a few recently, that while they required some additional CCS, I didn’t have to crack open the EPUB.

[Derek Cross]

If you're on a Mac BBEdit is an excellent ePub editor: Bare Bones Software | BBEdit 11

[Geobop]

Thanks for the tip; I gave BBEdit a try, and it works great.