When people learn all the special things Cumulus can do with InDesign files, they swear Canto and Adobe must share engineering teams! If your organization uses InDesign and Cumulus, you’ve got some built-in functionality at your disposal that can definitely save you some time. If you use InDesign now, but you haven’t yet standardized on a DAM system, this article might tip the scales for you. (In favor of Cumulus, of course!)

InDescision is a Good Thing!

If you like to have plenty of asset choices when designing layouts, you’re in luck. The Cumulus Palette mode puts Cumulus right inside InDesign, offering you access to your entire asset collection without ever taking your eyes off your layout.

Using the Cumulus Palette mode is easy. Just select View>Palette Mode. The Cumulus window “shrinks” into a special mode that floats above other application windows. Just drag and orient it into place where you need it. To get back to the full Cumulus display, turn Palette Mode off in the View menu. As a shortcut, you can type Ctrl-Shift-P to toggle the Palette mode on and off.

To use Cumulus in palette mode, just find an image you want to use and just drag it into your InDesign layout. If you drag the asset into a picture frame, InDesign puts the dragged image inside the frame. If you drag and drop outside a frame, InDesign will create a new frame that includes the dragged asset.

The highlighted window is actually the Cumulus client software in Palette Mode. It “floats” above InDesign, remaining visible and active,
the entire time you’re working in InDesign. Find the images you need, and drag them right into place.

Cumulus Knows Its Way Around An InDesign File

Once your layout is complete, catalog it into Cumulus just like you would any other file—drag and drop, File menu option—whichever you prefer. When Cumulus catalogs an InDesign file, it searches deep into the file to extract lots of relevant information—and to perform some magic too!

In addition to all the standard metadata Cumulus can extract from your
InDesign files, such as XMP and the file system basics, a number of metadata
values unique to InDesign can be captured, which can really boost the
productivity of your InDesign pipeline.

Among the InDesign metadata Cumulus extracts, all of which becomes searchable within Cumulus, are:

1. Document Text – The entire text contents of your layouts (or a subset) can be extracted into searchable metadata. Imagine being able to find any layout based on a few keywords! No need to remember the project, the client, or even the date of production. If you need to find all layouts that reference an old product name, for example, now it’s easy.
2. Number of Layers – Cumulus keeps track of the number of layers in the layout, even if you add or delete some after checking out the file for editing.
3. Number of Pages – Likewise, you’ll always know the number of pages an InDesign layout contains, without ever having to launch, know how to use, or have access to InDesign itself.
4. Related Assets – Cumulus also keeps track of all the cataloged images referenced by the layout. At a glance, it’s easy to see which have been used. (More on that later.)
5. Font Names – Everyone in Publishing knows how confusing font management can be. But, having Cumulus track which fonts are used in absolutely every InDesign layout you have ensures that anyone in your production pipeline can access this information, even if they don’t have access to the layout file itself, or even InDesign. Now you can be certain your print house has the fonts they need before you submit the job.

All of this information is captured by Cumulus automatically when the layout is cataloged or updated, such as when a layout is checked back into Cumulus after editing.

All Relationships Should Be This Easy

One of the most powerful technologies built into Cumulus enables it to manage asset relationships, such as knowing which images were used in which layout, which presentations contain a given image, and so on. These relationships are supported for InDesign files in the following ways.

Per-Page Asset Records

Cumulus can create new asset records for each page in your layouts. This enables you to enter metadata on a per-page basis, which makes it easier to find exactly what you need. If you use Cumulus for project management, you can determine things like production status and due dates on a per-page basis, which can really help you keep things on track. As you check out and edit the layout, Cumulus can add and delete page records as needed.

Asset Usage Tracking

Cumulus knows which cataloged images you use in your layouts, and it’s easy to use those relationships to find assets. It works like this: you select one or more assets, and all assets related to those selected appear instantly. Uses include finding images based on selecting layouts they’ve been used in, or even finding layouts by selecting images that have been used in them.

Best of all, Cumulus manages asset relationships automatically. If the images you reference on your layouts have already been cataloged, Cumulus will link them to your layouts automatically. Some Cumulus servers can even automatically catalog images used in your layouts! This can be a huge time saver—imagine creating a new layout that includes scores of new images, none of which have been cataloged into Cumulus. When you catalog the layout, all those new images get cataloged (and linked to the layout) automatically in a single step!

The unique “split view” view mode offered by Cumulus makes it easy to see asset relationships. Above are three collection windows. In one, a layout file has been selected, and the pages contained in that layout appear below. In another, we see the images referenced by that layout. Below, the opposite is seen—an image is selected and we see the layout that references it in the pane below. If the image had been used in more than one layout, they all would have appeared. The user interface widgets used to split/close the panes and to choose an asset relationship type are highlighted.

Automatic InDesign Categories

When you cataloged InDesign layouts, Cumulus automatically creates a new category for the layout, which makes it really easy to quickly access all your layouts.

Under the automatically created “InDesign” category structure, you’ll find sub-categories for all your layouts. Assigned to each category will be the asset records for all the layout’s pages.

Preview Everything

Cumulus also offers high-resolution, multi-page previews of InDesign files—even to users without InDesign installed on their computers! This means managers and others can connect to Cumulus and actually see the progress being made by their teams, without having to know a thing about InDesign. Simple user interface widgets make it possible to browse through pages and zoom in and out.

High quality InDesign previews enable any Cumulus user to see InDesign layouts without having to open the layouts in InDesign, or
even have the program installed on their computers. Highlighted in this image are the tools used to browse pages and zoom the view.

The Source of the Magic

The Cumulus/InDesign communication described in this article is possible thanks to an InDesign plug-in Canto ships with all editions of Cumulus. Just drop it into the plug-ins folder of your InDesign installation, and the bridge between these two powerful programs is built! For installation details and more information on using InDesign with Cumulus, see the InDesign section of the Canto Cumulus User Guide.

Want Cumulus to manage the fonts in your InDesign (and Illustrator) documents?
TypeTrax, by Canto partner Moksa, brings font management to Cumulus. Now, when you catalog either InDesign or Illustrators files, Cumulus gathers font information and links it to your documents. Find documents by the fonts they use, or find the fonts you need just by selecting a document! TypeTrax also offers powerful pre-flighting, making it easy for anyone in your workflow to verify a file is ready to go.

Learn more: http://www.typetrax.com