Some way to synchronize and update styles (Paragraph and Character especially) across multiple InDesign documents.
Currently, there is no way other than the undesirable "book" workaround method to have a set of Paragraph Styles - that can be updated globally accross multiple InDesign documents.
There should be some way to synchronize and update styles (Paragraph and Character Styles especially) across multiple InDesign documents.
This could be done by some kind of external "Styles" library (ideally, both Local and or Cloud based) that can be applied to an .indd file, that when updated or changed, will then update or change any document using that same Styles Library.
Currently, it is very difficult to keep Styles updated across documents. If you build one template file, and save out copies of it, any changes made in the original template or in any of the copies you have made are local to that document and in no way can stay in sync with all others. This is madness.
2018 Adobe… this has been an issue for so long. Please fix it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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kevin
commented
I've wanted this feature for ages. Adobe XD has it. Would love to see it for InDesign too.
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jrich
commented
2023 and no update
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Anonymous
commented
Following on about swatches, i suggest that when a group is created for a colour swatch there could be a button that 'activates' that particular group as master swatch, with the idea of a butterfly effect so where ever that swatch colour is changed it will affect and ripple out to all adobe packages. So whatever element is pulling from that colour in the master swatch, the colour changes. This would give you greater control over hundreds of indesign files that are linked in a book.
...speaking of the book. A function to view the book as its own inDesign file to visually check how the book is laid out would be super useful The panel that includes the inDesign files that you can synchronise seems like an unfinished concept.
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Anonymous
commented
Any progress on this Adobe team?
I am in the process of developing a workflow having inDesign front and centre to managing a book I have created. At the moment I have a library of icons created in illustrator + colour swatches. I can work away fine on a single inDesign document creating content. The issue I am seeing is that I have over 200 pages that need to sync from the same character + paragraph styles.
Say I make an edit to a character style in the source file...either the name of the style or I make a typeface change. I hit sync in the book window, I jump to the file and it makes a duplicate of character style while retaining the original. When I revert back to the previous settings and hit sync, jump to the file that is sync the old edit remains.
It seems fine when I add a new style. Although, in the synced file it adds itself to the bottom of the group.
Another snag to a true sync feature is with the colour swatches. I made the colour swatch in illustrator and saved it out as a .ase file and imported it into inDesign. When i add a new global colour to swatches in illustrator it doesn't update in inDesign and there is no update option to resource the same .ase file that was overwritten. I need to import it again which creates a duplicate of the swatch group thus I need to manually update the existing imported swatch with the updates.
So say I have an icon in the library created in illustrator, id like the colour of a fill to be linked to the swatches colour I have chosen. Each time i open an icon the swatches i made needs to be opened manually each time, and once the colour is used, you save the icon to library, change the swatch colour and the icon doesn't update. In addition, if the swatches were linked it would be handy to edit the swatch global colour in indesign that reverts back to icon that was created in illustrator.
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James Kachan commented
It's insane that this major issue is still… a major issue!
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Ruth Bochte
commented
A master styles sheet beyond the book method would be so great for my current project, which consists of a pocket folder that will be filled with various but related booklets and cut-sheets that will carry the same corporate style. As it is, keeping everything synced as the design process progresses is going to be a tedious nightmare.