Preparing a Content Automation File for InDesign Ingest

This article applies to the following Content Automation permission levels: 

Overview

This article covers how to prepare your InDesign file to be Ingested and converted into a Content Automation Template. If you have already prepared your InDesign file and are ready to ingest (i.e. upload or import) it, check out the Ingesting An InDesign File To Create A Template article.

Important Note: This article applies to Content Automation templates only which are different from Brandfolder Custom Templates, and CI Hub. 

Key terms

• IDML- The abbreviation IDML stands for InDesign Markup Language, which is the interchange format for InDesign documents. This format (.idml) facilitates the transfer of Indesign files from InDesign to other softwares.
• XML - Stands for Extensible Markup Language. XML is a translation mechanism for data. XML tags are used in InDesign to label text and other content in a file so that applications, can recognize and present the data.
• Content Automation Template: Templates are files that act as a starting point when creating documents. Templates contain pre-formatted elements to help you design your collateral according to your brand's style guidelines. Each template is populated with and controlled by a number of Inputs which allow users to edit the template's content.

What is an InDesign template?

An InDesign template is a template that was created using a file that has been prepared and then imported from InDesign into Content Automation. 

Creating a template through InDesign Import is useful when: 

• The design is low complexity/low customization. 
• You have a static design that doesn’t require layout changes.
• You need to get content to market very quickly.
• You have a one-off piece of content.
• You’d like to test a template before further investment. 
• You’d like to take ownership of template creation.

Prepare the InDesign File using tags

Any data you would like to be transferred from InDesign to Content Automation so it can edited by the wider team will need to be labeled with XML tags in the InDesign program.

When importing from InDesign, Content Automation identifies XML tags in the IDML and converts these to inputs.

1. In InDesign, select Window>Utilities>Tags to open the Tags panel.
2. Show tagged markers via View>Structure>Show Tag Markers.
3. Show tagged frames via View>Structure>Show Tag Frames. If you still can’t see the tags visualized on your document, try pressing ‘W' which toggles InDesign’s Preview Mode.
4. Follow InDesign’s detailed help guide that can take you through how to create tags and tag elements available here.
5. Double check your tagging before exporting to avoid having to re-upload your IDML file to fix errors.

NOTE: Any effects or formatting that is applied to a tagged element in InDesign will also be applied to the output in Content Automation. E.g. if you set a black and white filter to a tagged InDesign image, any images that are uploaded into the image input will also appear in black and white.

Package the file as an IDML

The InDesign integration requires a package to be exported from InDesign including IDML file, linked images, and fonts.