

Where there are four they are set in a square block, two above and two below. Up to four agents’ logos are accommodated in each entry. It allows for three entries per A4 page, each set on a tinted background with a heading in white reversed out of colour.Įach entry consists of a park name (the heading) address website, if any a list of measurements, prices, road/rail connections, etc up to 50 words of descriptive copy the agents’ names and contact details and agents’ logos, where requested.Īs the directory is divided into regional sections, each region is assigned an identifying colour which is used in the page headers, park names and subheadings. (Click on any graphic for a larger version.)įor the 2011 directory a layout was prepared by EG’s art director using the magazine’s existing fonts and colour scheme. The magazine’s production team had been using cut-and-paste techniques to get the text on to the page but they approached the task with dread as each year rolled around. Also, each distribution park can be represented by multiple agents, so it is not uncommon for one park to be entered into the spreadsheet several times.Īs publication date approaches the agents are reminded to check and amend the data they have provided, and the updated spreadsheet becomes the source for the printed directory. This comes into the EG offices at different times and is handled by different staff members. The data is held in an Excel spreadsheet, which is updated from information provided by property agents. Mike Docker, InData developer extraordinaire, shares with us how he used InData with InDesign to build an annual commercial real estate directory.Įstates Gazette (EG) is the weekly magazine for the UK commercial property trade, and each year it produces a directory of warehousing and distribution parks across the country with space available for rent or purchase.
#DOCSFLOW PAGE NUMBER FULL#
A full license is $200 per InDesign seat, and it supports an unlimited number of Google Docs collaborators.InData builds annual commercial real estate directory
#DOCSFLOW PAGE NUMBER FREE#
The plugin requires InDesign CS 5 or higher, and it's free to try with a single Google Docs story. Then, the links panel alerted me of a change:ĭocsFlow looks like it will be a great tool for freelancers or smaller publications that can't afford traditional pagination systems (which can cost many thousands of dollars and require complex system integration services). I tested it with Victor by placing a document from Google Docs on a blank InDesign page, then I gave Victor edit permissions. The plug-in itself works beautifully and is very stable. For example, if I'm working on a page and the reporter wants to correct something in the story, they can just edit the Google Docs story connected to the InDesign file, and it's instantly updated.

It allows editing of the copy in real time and an individual document can be accessed by multiple people simultaneously. Google Docs, in turn, excels at collaboration. InCopy is great for formatting, line breaks, handing copy overflow, etc., and I like it a lot. Although it bills itself as not being a direct competitor to InCopy (no edit-to-fit functionality, for example), it's an interesting product on its own merits.
#DOCSFLOW PAGE NUMBER SOFTWARE#
The idea of leveraging Google's free web-based rich text editor for collaborative editing & then flowing those bits of copy into InDesign for newspaper or magazine layout is a sound one, but one of the issues is that there's no direct integration with Adobe InDesign that other solutions (such as Adobe InCopy or Woodwing's products) have.Īlmost as if they overheard us, Em Software (developer of the legendary QuarkXPress database publishing tools EmData and Xtags) has released the DocsFlow plug-in for InDesign that integrates Google Docs with Adobe's publishing software. Earlier this afternoon, I had lunch with a co-worker, and we discussed the pros and cons of using Google Docs in newsrooms.
