Windows/Mac compatibility?

[Grady_McGonagill@adobeforums.com]

I know that in principle Indesign is cross platform. However, before investing in it, I would appreciate hearing from people who have had experience moving files back and forth between Mac and PC for editing. Is it truly seamless?

Thanks

Grady McGonagill

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

It is truly seamless...provided that you're using the same fonts on both platform! For that I recommend OpenType fonts since they also work seamlessly across platform.

Although I work mostly on a Mac, I'm currently working on a project receiving InDesign files created in Windows. I can load their OpenType and Windows TrueType fonts and relink their graphics, and it works flawlessly.

[Erica_Thompson@adobeforums.com]

May I piggy-back on this? I'm currently on a Mac, using PageMaker 6.5. The company is moving us to Windows machines, and to InDesign CS for PageMaker. Does anyone have experience with this sort of shift? As long as I archive CDs to Windows-readable, our old files should be editable, yes?

[Bob_Levine]

You should have no problems at all. There will likely be some text
reflow issues and you'll need Windows versions of your Mac fonts.

If these are large projects that will only need an occassional tweak, I
would stongly encourage you to keep a copy of Pagemaker for simple edits.

Bob

[Jim_Oblak@adobeforums.com]

archive CDs to Windows-readable




Make sure that you save the files with Windows filename extensions and in Joliet format.

[sad anecdote...]A design agency that worked for us was going out of business and they were asked to supply all of our project files on CD before they shuttered. They thought that we could only read PC-format so they created PC-format CDs using some evil CD authoring application. All of the filenames were cut to 8.3 length and I have spent the past 3 years trying to sort through them. What is '!untitle.d$$'?

Better yet, keep all of your work on Mac format CDs and invest in MacOpener for the PC.

[Alan_Gold@adobeforums.com]

We've been archiving our old customer-supplied Mac files to DVD using a G5, and one recurring theme we see is the use of "/" im Mac file names. I'm guessing that nomenclature will be one seam in the Mac/PC conversion tapestry.

[Here's a sad slightly OT anecdote] We produce a trade magazine and probably get 10 files a month named [ourmagazine].pdf. What are these agencies thinking?

AG

[Ken_Grace@adobeforums.com]

"What are these agencies thinking?"

Probably the same as the authors of the countless versions of Press
Release.doc that I have received. Whatever happened to flair, ingenuity and
common sense in file naming?

Even further OT. If, like me, you receive emails with a variety of document
files and images, all with incomprehensible file names like X2345.jpg, and
you want to store them in associated groups, there is a neat freeware
program called rjhExtensions ([url]www.rjhsoftware.com[/url]) that extends the Windows
Explorer right click menu to enable you to select a group of files and
rename them in one action. This way you can add a meaningful first word to
all file names so they appear together in a folder list.

k

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

Erica,

We made the same move 2.5 years ago (albiet to ID 1.5 then 2.0). We had a
few problems, mainly with slashes in file names, and no filename extensions
on our linked art. We used NameCleaner to fix the filenames in batches.
[url]http://www.sigsoftware.com/namecleaner/[/url] The UI is dreadful, but it's far
faster than doing it manually. (BTW, in Win 2k these slashes show up in
WinExplorer with a little dot under the filename. Our Win Server can handle
the filenames, sort of, but the Win applications cannot.)

Otherwise, keep a Mac or two around. You never know when some project won't
convert and you'll have to go back and use that Mac. We've had to do that a
few more times than we expected.

Good Luck!

-John O

[Bob_Levine]

Those agencies weren't any dumber than a Mac user who puts a / in a file
name or leaves off extensions. They also aren't any dumber than a
Windows user who doesn't make sure that file name characters are okay on
a Mac.

The fact is that there's just too many people out there that simply
don't think outside of their own desks.

Bob

[Ken_Grace@adobeforums.com]

"The fact is that there's just too many people out there that simply
don't think outside of their own desks."

You can add to the list people who send Mac-created files as e-mail
attachments, when the resource fork is named identically to the main file
and tries to overwrite it when you save the attachments.

Or those who link explanatory graphics in documents and messages to local
files, don't embed them, then send you the document.

k

[Uwe_Rottkamp@adobeforums.com]

[another OT...]

> Or those who link explanatory graphics in documents and messages to local
> files, don't embed them, then send you the document.

or they want to send you a TIF and therefore put it into a word-DOC...

Uwe

[Alan_Gold@adobeforums.com]

Ken,

The rjhExtensions ([url]www.rjhsoftware.com[/url]) software you mentioned is great. It has a bunch of functions that work for me.
Thanks!

AG

[Ken_Grace@adobeforums.com]

Glad to help.

k

[Uwe_Rottkamp@adobeforums.com]

Ken,

those tools are great for some workarounds - thanks a lot for this hint!

Uwe

[Ken_Grace@adobeforums.com]

Gosh. I've pleased two people in one day. Got to be some sort of record.

k

[jimmiji@adobeforums.com]

"As long as I archive CDs to Windows-readable, our old files should be editable, yes?"

I am a newbie. What does the above comment mean? I have PM files created on a Mac and want to open them on ID on a pc. Can this be done?

[graffiti]

AS long as you have the correct file extension in the name, yes. Fonts may be an issue.

For more info, you may want to ask in the Pagemaker forum.

[Gordon_Anderson@adobeforums.com]

I've enjoyed this post. I wish some industrious (and knowledgeable) soul would jot down the top (pick a number) issues that you guys have touched on and relay how it should be done. I think it would be much appreciated and obviously a big help. Thanks.

Gordon